SUMMER MUSINGS (FROM THE CONSORTIUM) (Part Four)

Transcription

1 SUMMER MUSINGS (FROM THE CONSORTIUM) (Part Four) My brothers and sisters in the Risen Lord, greetings to you! I hope you are enjoying your summer, a time that traditionally is a time of a slower pace of life for many of us! May God continue to bless your summer and make it a time of refreshment, renewal, and re-creation. Amen! I am just wanting to keep in touch with you over the slower summer period but I also have another purpose in sending you these materials/reflections. Our present Holy Father remains very active regardless of whether it is summer or not! And I would like to keep you informed about some of these important developments. In the Church under Pope Francis, therefore, a lot happens over a short period of time and I am happy to share with you, through these Musings, some of the things that are going on in our Church now and some of the things happening in the world that are impacting on today s Church. Hence these Musings! OPPOSTION TO AMORIS LAETITIA I begin this edition of the Musings with a very sorrowful heart because here I will be dealing with the developing strong opposition to Pope Francis great exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. You know from what I have written to you during the past year how very much I like this document as a major document that will set the direction of today s Church. I fully realize that it is not a perfect document no document (even from the Church we love) is ever perfect but I am unhappy with the opposition and the nature of the opposition of some people in the Church to Amoris Laetitia. Allow me to explain to you (and also to myself!) what is going on here! When the document was released earlier this year (2016), there were some die-hard Catholics on the (far) right who did not like it and said so; this did not trouble me very much because I expected this kind of reaction. But what follows below stunned me! Amoris Laetitia for me is the document that will set the course of Church development for the future and so I was very excited about it and very supportive of it: it was going to be the linch-pin in my ministerial efforts to get Catholics to know it and utilize it and to back up the efforts of Pope Francis to reform the Church. And then in my research I ran across all the opposition to it and criticism of it. This was widespread enough to almost overwhelm me but thank God it did not! Let me fill you in regarding this very important matter now! Parenthetically, we have a good illustration here of matter for reflection that could not wait for September (2016) to send out to you! As you go through this material, please say a little prayer wherever you think this is appropriate! Thank you! As soon as the exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, came out earlier this year, those who have opposed Francis reforms were immediately ready to discredit [it]. United States Cardinal Raymond Burke wrote that Amoris Laetitia is not an act of the magisterium. It is, Burke says, a personal, that is, non-magisterial document, a reflection of the Holy Father. One wonders if Burke says the same of Pope John Paul II s 1981 apostolic exhortation on the family, Familiaris Consortio, which was cited during the 2014 and 2015 synods of Bishops as a kind of gold standard for church thinking on the family. (Editorial, Take Amoris Laetitia s challenge seriously, National Catholic Reporter, April 22 May 5, 2016). Thus, American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a figurehead for archconservatives who was removed by Francis as the head of the Vatican s Supreme Court, insisted that the document was not part of the church s teaching magisterium but rather was a personal reflection on meetings of bishops about family matters. The personal, that is, non-magisterial nature, of the document is also evident in the fact that the references cited are principally the final report of the 2015 session of the 1

2 Synod of Bishops and the addresses and homilies of Pope Francis himself, Burke wrote in the National Catholic Register [a well-known American Catholic newspaper]. ( Vatican ratchets up defense of pope s family document. CRUX, July 20, 2016, at ). Of course, there were also Church officials who supported the exhortation. For example, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., attended both bishops synods and said that the document reflects the consensus of those meetings and many voices ; Cardinal Wuerl recently also has said only very few are unhappy with Pope Francis and his leadership but most people seem enthused with him. Another example. Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich stated that Amoris Laetitia is an authoritative teaching document faithful to what the bishops had approved with a two-thirds majority vote; he also stated the document should spark our imaginations and asked where that might lead. A final example. The Bishop of Portsmouth [England], Philip Egan has announced plans to review pastoral practice in his diocese following the publication of Pope Francis exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia. He said that despite controversy over the document s stance on Communion for divorced and remarried people, Pope Francis does not change church discipline. In a pastoral letter read in churches on Sunday [July 17, 2016], entitled Getting Married, Bishop Egan explained that he had asked his schools department to review what the curriculum said about what constituted a valid marriage. He added that, after consultation, anyone resident in the diocese who wanted to get married should give their priest a minimum of 12 months notice. This diocesan norm makes clear the desire of the Christian community to assist couples from the earliest opportunity, he said. This allowed for a fuller marriage preparation course. (News Briefing: From Britain and Ireland, The Tablet, July 23, 2016). A good desirable response by this bishop to Amoris Laetitia compared to Burke s inadequate response! More examples could be cited but these suffice for our purpose of showing good responses on the part of many Church officials. Some key passages in the exhortation may have come from articles written by today s theologians; this agitates some theological commentators and some of these then challenge the authority of the exhortation! Wow! I really like the response made to this by an excellent well-ranked theologian that I have used over the course of many years, including updating myself on Scripture studies (my major background), i.e., Father Gerald O Collins, S.J., Professor of Systematic and Fundamental Theology and writer in residence at the Jesuit Theological College, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. Below is his letter to the editor of The Tablet, titled Ghosts from the past, June 4, That several key passages of Amoris Laetitia, the Pope s recent exhortation on marriage and the family, may have come from articles written by an Argentinian theologian appears to agitate some commentators and even lead them to challenge the authority of the exhortation. Have they forgotten that modern popes often had their ghostwriters: for instance, Pius XII for his ground-breaking encyclical on the Scriptures (Divino Afflante Spiritu) and his equally important 1947 encyclical on worship (Mediator Dei)? He regularly used one or two German professors to write what he wanted to say and publish. Likewise, many of the texts published by Saint John Paul II also had their ghostwriters. Had commentators used the role of ghostwriters as an excuse for belittling the authority of the encyclicals and other documents in question, this would have rightly surprised and even outraged those two popes. Beware of the ghostwriter fallacy. Gerald O Collins, S.J., Parkville, Victoria, Australia. Very recently, a group of priests and theologians have taken the unprecedented step of writing to the College of Cardinals censuring Pope Francis most recent apostolic exhortation and demanding clarification. But putting out definitive statements is not the Catholic way. (O Collins in an article titled The illusion of certainty, The Tablet, July 30, 2016) The document Amoris Laetitia asks Catholic clergy to let their lives become wonderfully complicated by embracing God s grace/favour 2

3 at work in difficult and unconventional situations families face and has been criticized by Catholic [experts] at a level virtually unseen against papal documents in decades (Joshua J. McElwee, Signers of document critiquing Amoris Laetitia revealed, National Catholic Reporter, July 22, 2016). (This is available at ). This recent letter was sent by 45 theologians and clergy to the 218 Cardinals and Patriarchs asking them to get clarification from Pope Francis regarding the exhortation of last March (2016). The signatories include professors at diocesan seminaries, a member of a pontifical academy, and the head of the church s ecclesiastical structure in Afghanistan [who asked the Cardinals and Patriarchs] to response to the dangers to Catholic faith and morals from Francis Amoris Laetitia ( The Joy of Love ) (McElwee). The letter attracted press coverage earlier this month of July (2016) and is possibly a sign of wider disagreement with the exhortation; it was sent to Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, and to 218 individual cardinals and patriarchs. While organizers of the effort have not made the full document or the signatories names public, NCR [National Catholic Reporter] obtained a copy of the list of signatures and a short note the signers attached to a 13-page document they sent the cardinals explaining their views. (McElwee) Thank God for a good Catholic press that enables us to know these kinds of things! One of the signers is a Barnabite priest, Father Giovanni Scalese, who is the superior of the church s mission in Afghanistan. On July 21, 2016, he told NCR I signed the letter simply because I agreed with its contents I have the impression (but it is not for me to judge) that [Amoris Laetitia] does not constitute, as it might wish, a legitimate doctrinal development but rather a substantive breach with preceding teaching. It is not for him to judge (true!) but he proceeds to make the judgment anyway! Several signatories were members of the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, a religious order which was founded in 1979 partly on the belief that Pope John XXIII had committed heresy but reconciled with the Vatican in 1988 [and] several members of a non-profit organization of academics called The Roman Forum, founded in 1968 to defend Pope Paul VI s encyclical Humanae Vitae (McElwee). Do you see a pattern developing here? There are others, of course who are signatories and the full list of signatories, as they appear on the document can be found at the address connected to the Joshua J. McElwee reference given above; this reference and its listing is well worth getting for your use. In their short note to the cardinals, the letter s signatories state that Amoris Laetitia contains a number of statements that can be understood in a sense that is contrary to Catholic faith and morals. We request that the Cardinals and Patriarchs petition the Holy Father to condemn the errors listed in the document in a definitive and final manner, and to authoritatively state that Amoris Laetitia does not require any of them to be believed or considered as probably true, they ask. (McElwee) According to Joseph Shaw, chairman of the Latin Mass Society and spokesman for the letter writers: It is important that Catholics who are troubled by some of the statements in Amoris Laetitia be aware that steps are being taken to address the problem it raises It is hardly controversial that the document is being read in widely different ways, some of them quite at odds with the perennial teachings of the Church, and all we are asking is that Pope Francis make clear that putative heretical implications of the document are just that: heretical. (O Collins, The illusion of certainty ) Said simply but accurately, Shaw (who is a philosopher at Oxford University) wants Pope Francis to clarify that some interpretations of the document are wrong. The document is not as clear as one would like. What s urgent of course is that some people are using the document to support positons which are clearly contrary to the teaching of the church, contrary to identifiable doctrines, such as those taught infallibly by the Council of Trent or other authoritative sources said Shaw. He continued: What we are asking the cardinals to do is to request of the Holy Father that he make it clear that some interpretations are wrong. That what was contrary to the faith remains so, what the council of Trent taught remains the teaching of the church. Shaw said the organizers are not expecting a 3

4 response from individual cardinals, as they have asked the prelates [cardinals] to speak to the pope and not the writers of the letter (McElwee). Do note that Shaw refers back to the Council of Trent and not at all to Vatican I and Vatican II! Furthermore, to my ears at least, his words are very brazen and show no understanding of the charism and special grace of leadership given to the Pope at his election/selection. Thus, according to Shaw, the letter regarding Amoris Laetitia reportedly wants definitive and final clarifications of the texts selected from Pope Francis exhortation an odd and bizarre request. Anyone who has studied questions about the interpretation of texts should know that definitive and final clarifications can never be expected. It would be very strange to select 19 passages from Saint Paul s Letter to the Romans and demand that they be interpreted in a definitive and final way. We are not accusing the Pope of heresy, said a spokesman [spokesperson] for the authors, and then swiftly added, but we consider the numerous propositions in Amoris Laetitia can be construed as heretical upon a natural reading of the text. Additional statements would fall under other established theological censures such as scandalous, erroneous in faith, and ambiguous among others. [And ] in fact the letter asks for something that official teachers of the Church have regularly and rightly refrained from doing. When councils, popes and other bishops publish a teaching document, they do not subsequently publish declarations clarifying what they have taught. Doing that could lead to calls for clarifications of the clarifications, and so on ad infinitum. Instead, when significant teaching appears, it is up to bishops, theologians and other qualified members of the church to clarify, interpret and apply this teaching. (O Collins, The illusion of certainty ) The authors of the letter fear the exhortation could lead people astray. But this is an empty commonplace. Any religious teaching, even inspired scripture, can lead readers astray as the history of Christianity demonstrates repeatedly. (ibid.) As is obvious at this point, I am relying heavily upon the work of Father Gerald O Collins because he is an excellent well-known and well-acknowledged theologian who understands Pope Francis, his thinking, and his exhortation much better than most of the signatories of the letter in discussion. So let us continue with his exposition in his article, The illusion of certainty. Father O Collins notes that Pope Francis is a realist who is well aware of the complexities of the human condition. He refuses to produce carefully codified solutions for each problem. In a very important passage [of the exhortation] (number 304), he appeals to the distinction Saint Thomas Aquinas made between general principles and matters of detail. General rules have a clarity that is often not available in the actions that constitute the concrete life of human beings. The Pope has a dependable moral guide in Thomas Aquinas [he certainly does since Aquinas traditionally and in today s Church has been widely accepted as one of the Church s greatest theologians and philosophers!]. The authors of the letter deplore lack of precision in Amoris Laetitia, a criticism that could be levelled against much of Jesus teaching on faith and morals [e.g., Matthew 11:12] The signatories also fear that the papal exhortation has fostered confusion. [Parenthetically, it is well worth your while to get a copy of O Collins article at The signatories seem loathe to accept that there can be changes in Church teaching and practice. Such changes do not touch the essentials of faith professed in the Creed. But they have occurred in official teaching about such important matters as slavery, torture, the death penalty, religious freedom, sharing prayer with other Christian and followers of other faiths, and the anointing of the sick to cite some major examples. Apropos of the last example, although the Council of Florence and the Council of Trent taught that only the dying should receive extreme unction [as the sacrament was known in the Middle Ages], the Second Vatican Council [ ] removed this limit. It opened the sacrament up to those who are seriously ill or advanced in years Pope Francis has done something similar, albeit not identical, by opening the door for the civilly remarried, after due discernment and in appropriate 4

5 circumstances, to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation [Confession] and Eucharist. (O Collins, The illusion of certainty ) Note this last very important point carefully! Know the following point of history and current events. After the publication of Pope Francis Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia in April this year [2016], there was a good deal of debate, still unresolved, as to whether footnotes 351 and 329 gave permission for divorced and remarried persons whose earlier marriage was not annulled to receive communion (Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, Germany: Church teaching requires clarity, not loosely worded footnotes, The Tablet, July 23, 2016). At the present time, there are many Catholic clergy ministering to the separated/divorced (including myself) and many Catholic theologians and pastoral theologians (like Father Gerald O Collins, S.J.) who work within the internal forum to discern whether such Catholics can receive Communion. However, critics like the signatories of the letter to the Cardinals and patriarchs have been particularly harsh on the exhortation s call for Catholic priests to use the logic of pastoral mercy [which for many of us priests includes the possibility of the internal forum] when dealing with persons who have divorced and remarried without first obtaining annulments (McElwee). In preparing for this change [opening the door for the civilly remarried - above], three years ago the Pope wrote in Evangelii Gaudium ( The Joy of the Gospel;) of the Eucharist as not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak (number 47) [- something we have already seen in earlier materials/reflections sent to you from the Consortium]. In an accompanying footnote he cited what Saint Ambrose of Milan and Saint Cyril of Alexandria taught about receiving the Eucharist for the forgiveness of sins. (O Collins, The illusion of certainty, emphasis added) O Collins also points out in our modern liturgy places where we pray for the same thing, e.g., The Post-Communion Prayer for Monday of the Second Week of Lent and The Post- Communion Prayer for Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent. There is something very important here that we should make sure we understand. In opening the door to this change in the discipline of the sacraments, the Pope retrieves some ancient Christian teaching about the forgiving, healing and nourishing power of the Eucharist. As happened at the Second Vatican Council, change to something new involved the retrieval of some old tradition. (ibid.) There is absolutely nothing heretical in doing so and many of the letter signatories who are not aware of this are misusing the term heretical in their discussion of Amoris Laetitia! So at this point we can make at least the following conclusion. When it was released in April, The Joy of Love [Amoris Laetitia] immediately sparked controversy because it opened the door to civilly remarried Catholics receiving Communion. Church teaching holds that unless these divorced and remarried Catholics obtain an annulment a church decree that their first marriage was invalid they cannot receive the sacrament, since they are seen as committing adultery. Francis did not create a church-wide pass for these Catholics, but suggested in vague terms and strategically placed footnotes that bishops and priests could do so on a case-by-case basis after accompanying them on a spiritual journey of discernment. The conservative criticism was swift. Italian Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, another leading conservative, has criticized the exhortation as vague and confusing, and denied that it opened the door to communion, since doing so would contradict previous church teaching on the indissolubility of marriage. Francis own doctrine czar, German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, concurred with Caffarra, saying the pope would have been more clear if he had intended such an opening. Mueller argued in a May 4 [2016] speech in Spain that decisions about whether someone can receive the sacraments cannot be arrived at purely in the realm of individual, private discernment. A privatization of the sacramental economy would certainly not be Catholic, he said. ( Vatican ratchets up defense of pope s family document, CRUX) And together with this, keep in mind what has been said above in regards to O Collins and his work! O Collins concludes his thinking as follows. The saddest feature of the letter about Amoris Laetitia is the arrogant, global accusation made against some (read many) cardinals, bishops, and priests that by following and practising what they rightly take to be the teaching of Pope 5

6 Francis, they are contradicting the real teachings of the Catholic Church and of divine revelation and betraying their duty to Jesus Christ and to the care of souls. [I would like to ask the signatories who gave them the charism of becoming papal critics??!?] They need to ponder the response of the Pope: if we put so many conditions on [God s] mercy that we empty it of its concrete meaning and real significance, we will be indulging in the worst way of watering down the Gospel (Amoris Laetitia, 311)? (O Collins, The illusion of certainty ) AMEN! In all this, there is an important observation to be made. Revelation of the list of signatories to the letter to the cardinals and their short explanatory note give insight into which groups appear to be organizing the main opposition to Francis document/exhortation and papacy. One signatory said in a short statement to NCR that he signed the letter because there are mixed signals emanating from Rome and this Pontiff, and the Catholic faithful need a reassuring clarity and consistency. Statements that lend themselves to being interpreted at odds with the church s historical teaching may delight revisionists, but they are not helpful to the integrity of the church s mission or to the faithful, said Paul Blosser, a philosophy professor at the Detroit archdiocese s Sacred Heart Major Seminary. (Mcelwee) On the list of signatories, I was surprised to see people/scholars like Doctor/Father Aidan Nichols, O.P. of Oxford University whom I have used in my own ministry and theological journey. I was also surprised to see, by my count, how many of the signatories were philosophers (11 out of 45 about 25%); the question quickly came to me how such professionals who are in a non-theological field (but a related field) had the wherewithal to question Francis theology are they really qualified to do so? One last point that came to me as I studied this further. I must confess that in my own theology, I range from middle of the road to the left and thus I would be classified as a liberal. In my first 45 years as a priest (before Pope Francis was elected pope), my tendency was certainly to accept papal teaching but I looked for ways to operate liberally with such teaching. I certainly was not alone in this because there were many clergy and theologians who did the same and I certainly felt I was in good company! Now when Pope Francis appeared, I was really pleasantly surprised that this was no longer a concern for me for he was a very kindred spirit and he is the kind of model pope I think our Church desperately needs. So I decided to change my ministry to support and promote him and his theology; thank God my superiors allowed me to do this and in this way the Consortium was born. When the Consortium began, I saw its purpose to be a promoter of Francis theology and Church reforms. At the time, I did not know fully how this was to be done but today with all the growing opposition to Francis and especially to his exhortation Amoris Laetitia, the need for the Consortium and Its purpose has become very clear and much needed. It really is true that God works in mysterious ways! I end this section of these materials/reflections by asking you to help the Consortium reach its purpose and end because this is really needed at the present time. Please pray for this and do all you can to help the Consortium do its work. Thank you! I certainly do not want to suggest from all of the above that the opponents of Amoris Laetitia are only the signatories to the letter of concern discussed above. There are other opponents. Here is another example. Church teaching requires clarity of expression, Archbishop Georg Gӓnswein, personal secretary of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, told the Schwӓbische Zeitung [a German newspaper] on a visit to Germany. If a Pope wants to change something in Church teaching, then he must clearly also state that this is binding. Important tenets of faith cannot be changed in half-sentences or looselyworded footnotes, Gӓnswein said With reference to the outcome of the two synods on Marriage and the Family, the Church was not divided, Gӓnswein said, but some bishops are really worried that the Magisterium [the teaching office or charism of the Church] could suffer from the lack of crystalclear stipulations. As far as the possibility of allowing remarried divorcees [male and/or female] to 6

7 receive the Eucharist, for example, statements that could be interpreted differently were a risky matter, he said. (Christa Pongratz-Lippitt) The source and direction of this criticism surprised many, including myself. Of course, the Pope and the Vatican responded to these criticisms and we will consider this in the next issue of the SUMMER MUSINGS. In the meantime, please pray for our Holy Father and his work and do beg the Holy Spirit to keep him strong. Thank you! (TO BE CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS Anointing of the Sick and Separated/Divorced Persons May I introduce you to PTSD? PTSD = Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. What is it? Here is a description from an expert in the field. The brain can be suddenly and permanently rewired by traumatic events, as if struck by lightning, and it can be gradually mis-shapen and damaged through life experiences that eat away at our fundamental notions of safety, love, and justice [Memories of traumatic experiences] stay rattling around in short-term memory so that the individual is compelled to relive them with all their terrifying emotional impact rather than simply remember them And when traumatic memories are relived, the person in the present feels that he/she is threatened as he/she was in the past, and can respond with uncontrollable aggression or overwhelming panic, totally out of conscious control. The trauma shakes us to the very core, and we may suffer lasting damage to our ability to be hopeful and optimistic The distinctive feature of PTSD is that we experience intrusive memories or symptoms of the traumatic event, so vivid that we feel we are back in the trauma. These memories often seem to come out of the blue and take over the mind. So people with PTSD are always on the alert for danger, in a state of chronic stress So people with PTSD are always anxious and can overact to the normal stresses and strains of life in a very self-defeating way When you live with a condition like PTSD, certain self-destructive patterns are expectable. When your memory is scrambled and you are re-experiencing the emotional impact of events all over again, you are likely to confuse the past with the present and blame current events for your reactions. So you yell at loved ones or threaten the kids when they irritate you and they become afraid of you. And you start to feel that you are indeed out of control, maybe a little dangerous, and you lose trust in yourself You are likely to withdraw from and be suspicious of others, and your world can become one of isolation and fear. Perhaps worst of all, because of memory damage, you feel separated from your own past as if there are two yous pre- and post-trauma and the pre-trauma self is lost. So the whole story of your life does not make sense anymore Perhaps the heart of the problem is that the individual does not realize she/he has PTSD. (Doctor Richard O Connor, Rewire: Change Your Brain to Break Bad Habits, Overcome Addictions, Conquer Self-Destructive Behavior a book all ministers should be familiar with!) People who experience divorce often experience PTSD or aspects or shades of it. So why not celebrate the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick with them? They certainly are candidates who are in need of this sacrament! If you are the leader (parish priest, for example) of a community or a member of the pastoral team for such a community, why not celebrate this sacrament with them? This would be an excellent outreach for the Year of Mercy! If you need some basic background for this Sacrament, please get the pamphlet, Anointing of the Sick, published by the Archdiocese of Toronto (Catholic Office of Religious Education, 1155 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4T 1W2). 7

8 Our Call To The New Evangelization In an earlier Synod preceding the two Synods of the Family (2014 and 2015) on Evangelization (The New Evangelization), all of us were called to participate in the new evangelization needed to revitalize today s Church. Please think about this call and begin living it out. As you do so, please remember that Jesus is the master catechist and model for us all (Bill Huebsch, religious author and catechist, Jesus the Master Catechist). The Police and the Year of Mercy We are all aware of the many police shootings in the United States this year and all of us are aware that in our own countries there yearly are a number of police officers who are shot doing their duty and protecting us. When was the last time you and I approached a police officer and thanked him or her for all that they do for us? A great act for this Jubilee Year of Mercy! Prayer of Gratitude I share with you a prayer of gratitude that is one of the very best that I have come across over the years! Here it is. I say to God, if you can help me, thank you. If I don t deserve, OK, thank you the same. (Claudio Ranieri, city manager for Leicester City in England) God bless in a special way the summer time you still have left to wind down. Amen. Father Fred Scinto, C.R., Resurrection Ministries, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. (fscinto@rogers.com) ( or toll free ) 8