Letter #181, 2023, Sunday, December 24: Blessings

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Letter #181, 2023, Sunday, December 24: Blessings

[2023-12-24]

[Engleză]

A text from St. Peter’s First Letter, in which he speaks of what we must do when there is a crisis of faith in the Church

“Wherefore, having the loins of your mind girt up, being sober, trust perfectly in the grace which is offered you in the revelation of Jesus Christ,

As children of obedience, not fashioned according to the former desires of your ignorance:

But according to Him that hath called you, who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy:

Because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

—Letter 1 of St. Peter, 1:13-16

***
Letter #181, 2023, Sunday, December 24: Blessings

A storm has arisen in the Church.

The storm has been brewing for some time — for decades really — and is coming to a height precisely now, during this Christmas season of 2023, which we will begin to celebrate tomorrow, with the coming of Christmas Day, the day celebrating the birth of Christ.

It is a storm in which Christian tradition is being swamped by powerful waves of innovation, widely mocked by a communications media which has instantaneous global reach, a storm in which fidelity to doctrine — handed down in ancient times by Christ Himself — is being disintegrated by a new, worldly vision of what is said to be our true human identity and our ultimate human destiny.

***

During this Christmas, therefore, amid this gathering storm, may we all turn, once again, to the greatest of gifts… the greatest of all blessings… the coming into our fallen world of the very Logos of God, the incarnate Word, one in being with the Father — whose being is, above all, holiness itself — in the form of a little child, Jesus, the son of the Virgin Mary.

And so here I cite again the first letter written by St. Peter “to the strangers dispersed through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect”:

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:6-9)

And St. Peter writes this also in this, his first letter:

“For all flesh is as grass; and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass is withered, and the flower thereof is fallen away. But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the Gospel hath been preached unto you.” (1 Peter 1:22-25)

So, even as in other past storms in the Church, so in this one, we must keep our eyes fixed on Christ, so as to receive the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.

To all, Merry Christmas. —RM

***
A dispute over blessings

Almost three years ago, in early 2021 (we are now almost in 2024), the chief doctrinal authority in the Church issued a “Responsum” (“response”) to a question:

“Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?”

The answer, dated February 22, 2021, and published on March 15, 2021, was:

“Negative.”

That seemed clear enough.

And that 2021 “Responsum” explained why the answer was “no,” in the 6th paragraph of the response (the text is published in its entirety below):

“It is not licit [Ed. Note, emphasis added] to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex. The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan.”
The newest letter, on blessings

However, that response was not satisfactory to a number of people, and they made their unhappiness known.

Now, just a few days ago, on December 18, 2023, the chief doctrinal authority in the Church has come back to the same question.

In a Declaration entitled Fiducia Supplicans (“The Supplicating Trust”) On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings, the new head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Argentine Cardinal Victor Fernandez — telling us that Pope Francis has also seen and approved this text — tells us why he wrote this Declaration:

“… this Declaration remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage, not allowing any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion. The value of this document, however, is that it offers a specific and innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings, permitting a broadening and enrichment of the classical understanding of blessings, which is closely linked to a liturgical perspective.”

So Cardinal Fernandez is saying two things:

1) that this Declaration “remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage” — that is, that it is orthodox, it keeps the teaching of all time on marriage and human sexuality

2) but that, while remaining faithful to the traditional teaching on marriage, this document is, in fact, arguing for a change, a development, in the traditional teaching on blessings (“The value of this document, however, is that it offers a specific and innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings, permitting a broadening and enrichment of the classical understanding of blessings”).

Essentially, what Fernandez is saying is this:

—our traditional faith in Christian marriage does not allow any blessing by Catholic priests of relationships that are not between one man and one woman, but

—our modern, “broadened and enriched” understanding of blessings may allow people, even in same-sex or other “irregular” relationships, to be blessed by a Catholic priest, under certain conditions…
The worldwide explosion in reaction to the document

The publication of the document led to a worldwide explosion of differing reactions.

(See, for example, this useful December 19 list of dozens of reactions from all over the world, updated on December 20 and 21, from Luke Coppen of The Pillar, link.)

Entire Bishops’ conferences stated that they would not accept the reasoning of this document, and would not bless same-sex couples, in so far as they are couples, not individuals, even under this new understanding of “blessings.”

Many have spoken of this text, no matter how carefully it has been written, as wrongly introducing the blessing of objective evil into the teaching of the Church.

The bishops of Cameroon in north central Africa, for example, said:

“Faithful to the constant teaching of ecclesial tradition which declares acts of homosexuality intrinsically disordered and contrary to the natural law (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 2357), we, the bishops of Cameroon, reiterate our disapproval of homosexuality and homosexual unions. Consequently, we formally forbid all blessings of ‘homosexual couples’ in the Church of Cameroon.” (Statement, the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon)

Many others have agreed with them, in many nations.

At the same time, “progressive” Catholics in many places have said they were very pleased by this document.

The group LGBT+ Catholics Westminster in London, England, as Coppen notes in his piece, said it was delighted to receive “this welcoming, Christmas gift from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and Pope Francis.”

The group added: “This is a massive step forward in the recognition and acceptance of all who seek a blessing for their loving and committed relationships.”

So this is an incontestable fact: this document has led to widely differing reactions, and some progressive Catholics are interpreting it as, in fact, a type of “recognition and acceptance” for “their loving and committed” same-sex relationships.

No matter what the document says, this is how it is being received by many.

The issue is whether Christian moral teaching, especially on the question of homosexuality, can be changed to suit our current culture.

At the very heart of orthodoxy for all Christians is the belief that Christians individually and the Church as a whole must hold fast to the “depositum fidei” (“the deposit of the faith”), a collection of teachings and commandments delivered by Christ to the Apostles and handed down now for almost 2,000 years, despite many challenges, controversies and persecutions.

And yet, many today would like this teaching, the teaching on homosexuality, to be changed.

What must we do in this circumstance?

We must adhere to the traditional teaching, handed down since the beginning — otherwise we depart from orthodoxy.

If we do depart from orthodoxy, we depart from communion with Christ.

***
The Two Documents

Here below are the two documents on this question, one from early 2021, one from last week.

Both were written by heads of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. So, in that sense, with an equal level of authority.

Readers will therefore have the possibility to read both documents, and to judge for themselves the validity what is being argued and taught in these two texts.

I would be happy to receive, and to publish, letters from readers on this important matter. —RM
Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium
regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex
dated February 22, 2021
(first published on March 15, 2021)

TO THE QUESTION PROPOSED:

Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?

RESPONSE:

Negative.

Explanatory Note

In some ecclesial contexts, plans and proposals for blessings of unions of persons of the same sex are being advanced. Such projects are not infrequently motivated by a sincere desire to welcome and accompany homosexual persons, to whom are proposed paths of growth in faith, “so that those who manifest a homosexual orientation can receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God’s will in their lives”[1].

On such paths, listening to the word of God, prayer, participation in ecclesial liturgical actions and the exercise of charity can play an important role in sustaining the commitment to read one’s own history and to adhere with freedom and responsibility to one’s baptismal call, because “God loves every person and the Church does the same”[2], rejecting all unjust discrimination.

Among the liturgical actions of the Church, the sacramentals have a singular importance: “These are sacred signs that resemble the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, which are obtained through the Church’s intercession. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions of life are sanctified”[3]. The Catechism of the Catholic Church specifies, then, that “sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it” (#1670).

Blessings belong to the category of the sacramentals, whereby the Church “calls us to praise God, encourages us to implore his protection, and exhorts us to seek his mercy by our holiness of life”[4]. In addition, they “have been established as a kind of imitation of the sacraments, blessings are signs above all of spiritual effects that are achieved through the Church’s intercession”[5].

Consequently, in order to conform with the nature of sacramentals, when a blessing is invoked on particular human relationships, in addition to the right intention of those who participate, it is necessary that what is blessed be objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to the designs of God inscribed in creation, and fully revealed by Christ the Lord. Therefore, only those realities which are in themselves ordered to serve those ends are congruent with the essence of the blessing imparted by the Church.

For this reason, it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex[6]. The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan.

Furthermore, since blessings on persons are in relationship with the sacraments, the blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit. This is because they would constitute a certain imitation or analogue of the nuptial blessing[7] invoked on the man and woman united in the sacrament of Matrimony, while in fact “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”[8].

The declaration of the unlawfulness of blessings of unions between persons of the same sex is not therefore, and is not intended to be, a form of unjust discrimination, but rather a reminder of the truth of the liturgical rite and of the very nature of the sacramentals, as the Church understands them.

The Christian community and its Pastors are called to welcome with respect and sensitivity persons with homosexual inclinations, and will know how to find the most appropriate ways, consistent with Church teaching, to proclaim to them the Gospel in its fullness. At the same time, they should recognize the genuine nearness of the Church – which prays for them, accompanies them and shares their journey of Christian faith[9] – and receive the teachings with sincere openness.

The answer to the proposed dubium does not preclude the blessings given to individual persons with homosexual inclinations[10], who manifest the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching. Rather, it declares illicit any form of blessing that tends to acknowledge their unions as such. In this case, in fact, the blessing would manifest not the intention to entrust such individual persons to the protection and help of God, in the sense mentioned above, but to approve and encourage a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered to the revealed plans of God[11].

At the same time, the Church recalls that God Himself never ceases to bless each of His pilgrim children in this world, because for Him “we are more important to God than all of the sins that we can commit”[12]. But he does not and cannot bless sin: he blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow himself to be changed by him. He in fact “takes us as we are, but never leaves us as we are”[13].

For the above mentioned reasons, the Church does not have, and cannot have, the power to bless unions of persons of the same sex in the sense intended above.

The Sovereign Pontiff Francis, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Secretary of this Congregation, was informed and gave his assent to the publication of the above-mentioned Responsum ad dubium, with the annexed Explanatory Note.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the 22nd of February 2021, Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle.

+ Luis F. Card. Ladaria, S.I.

Prefect

✠ Giacomo Morandi

Archbishop tit. of Cerveteri

Secretary

_______________________

[1] FRANCIS, Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, 250.

[2] SYNOD OF BISHOPS, Final Document of the XV Ordinary General Assembly, 150.

[3] SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, 60.

[4] RITUALE ROMANUM ex Decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. Il promulgatum, De bendictionibus, Praenotanda Generalia, n.9.

[5] Ibidem, n. 10.

[6] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2357.

[7] In fact, the nuptial blessing refers back to the creation account, in which God’s blessing on man and woman is related to their fruitful union (cf. Gen 1:28) and their complementarity (cf. Gen 2:18-24).

[8] FRANCIS, Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, 251.

[9] Cf. CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Letter Homosexualitatis problema On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, 15.

[10] De benedictionibus in fact presents an extended list of situations for which to invoke the blessing of the Lord.

[11] CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Letter Homosexualitatis problema On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, 7.

[12] FRANCIS, General Audience of December 2, 2020, Catechesis on Prayer, the blessing.

Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com

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