Posted on 02/12/2015 9:20:08 AM PST by marshmallow
ROME — A key African participant in October’s looming Synod of Bishops on the family said Tuesday he’s open to allowing divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion, belying impressions of a uniformly hostile African stance toward change on such matters.
Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, Ghana, said in a Crux interview that he supports allowing local bishops to make those decisions on a case-by-case basis, and also believes that’s the result Pope Francis wants from the October summit.
Palmer-Buckle, 64, is one of four executive officers for the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), the continent-wide assembly of Catholic bishops in Africa who met Pope Francis last Saturday in Rome.
In late January, Francis confirmed the election of Palmer-Buckle by his fellow bishops in Ghana as a participant in the Synod of Bishops, set to assemble at the Vatican Oct. 4-25.
When it does, Palmer-Buckle says he’ll be disposed to cast a “yes” vote on the proposal of German Cardinal Walter Kasper to allow Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the Church to return to Communion under certain circumstances
(Excerpt) Read more at cruxnow.com ...
translation: So many Catholics have divorced and remarried this is the only hope of keeping the collection baskets filled.
Wouldn't this result in schism? Wouldn't implementation of this make each local bishop his own church by establishing at least two conflicting theologies as existing church policy?
Nailed it!
Now there are some preachers on TV,
With a suit and a tie and a vest,
They want you to send your money to the Lord,
But they give you their address,
‘Cause all of your donations are completely tax free,
God Bless you all but most of all send your money
~ Hank Williams Jr., The American Dream
Yes, in fact, speaking as one of the many who have divorced and remarried; keeping me from communion could tend to cause me to disassociate from the church. In most cases I don’t take communion anyhow (among a myriad of other reasons: it isn’t always offered at the church I attend). If the pastor was to tell me I couldn’t ever take communion because I was divorced and remarried I would stop attending the church altogether.
Plain and simple facts of the dynamic.
"Yes" to both questions.
If accepted as Church law, divorce and remarriage must automatically become valid for those in doubt.
We were listening to a very good teaching last night on the subject of families, and the preacher made a point that I think applies in many areas of our Christian walk. He said that Jesus always preached the ideal - what God expects, what is holy and right - but He always dealt with people in their reality - where they were at that time. In other words, there is a holy standard that Jesus wants us to strive for, that we are to live our lives to try to achieve. But His Grace meets us where we are right now, forgives us of our sins and gives us the strength to continue to strive for that ideal - even though we will never reach it in this life or in our own strength. But we are never to use the fact that we cannot achieve that ideal as an excuse for not trying to reach that goal.
I cannot imagine Jesus ever saying that because of a mistake in your past for which you have repented, you can never fully participate as a member of the Body of Christ.
I attend some social meetings and Bible studies at various Protestant churches.
I’ve lost track of how many people I’ve met there who tell me “I used to be a Catholic”.
And those churches all practice tithing. Accountants at the Vatican have noticed, apparently.
Well when Jesus established the communion at the Last Supper he said “do this in rememberance of me” he did not say “do this in rememberance of the Jews” or “do this in rememberance of the Catholic Church” or “you can’t do this if you are divorced and remarried”.
I’m Catholic and I have for many years watched the contortions the Catholic church will go through to grant annulments so people who were married for years and had multiple children could again take communion. There is a hypocrisy in the church about communion.
The problem is that Church simply does not recognize the second "marriage" since in its eyes, it does not exist. There is one and only one marriage and what God has joined, man cannot rupture. This does not mean that those in irregular unions are "forever lost". True repentance in this case would require heroic chastity and abstinence from sexual relations with the current partner. Examples of this are likely rare but not unknown.
Forgiveness of sins means that we don't continue to live in a state of sin. That's the issue here. However much the breakup of a marriage is regreted, subsequent unions, in which sexual relations occur outside of marriage, are objectively sinful.
The point about Pelosi is also true.
While I am not a Catholic either, I think their response to your point is Jesus' statment that someone who is divorced and remarried is in a continuing state of adultery, thus it is hard to claim repentence when one is in continuous adultery.
It is not wise to issue blanket statements of this kind when faithfully administering the Sacrament of the Altar. The local parishioners are to be dealt with individually with love and care for all, forgiving the sins of those who repent and retaining the sin of those who do not, i.e. who boast of their sin and try to make others do the same or try to justify their unrighteousness with excuses rather than confess it before God.
So then King David could not possibly have been right with God, as he was married to several women that had been married to other men. But the Bible describes David as a man after God's own heart. Not only did God not require David to leave Bathsheba, she was the mother of Solomon! So it appears that there is redemption even in those kinds of circumstances, and that God can fully restore and do great things with those who have fallen.
And what of those who divorced and remarried before being saved? What if children are involved? What are those people to do? Should those people divorce and leave the children fatherless/motherless?
Some mistakes or sins can't be "fixed" in this life - all we can do is ask to be forgiven. And thank God, He forgives ALL sins.
As I recall God killed David's son, condemned his kingdom to permanent warfare and promised armed conflict within in own house ( subsequently manifested in the Absolom uprising). So there were permanent consequences to David's actions.
Your comment: “I cannot imagine Jesus ever saying that because of a mistake in your past for which you have repented, you can never fully participate as a member of the Body of Christ. “
Jesus cannot embrace sin. He can and does forgive sin with the understanding that the person will go and sin no more. Jesus can not condone someone to continue to sin by having relations outside of marriage. Jesus is a just judge, but also has divine mercy.
The African Bishops are usually so orthodox. I thought the great Cardinal Arinze might get elected Pope in 2005. I’ll never forget when he spoke hard moral truths at a Georgetown Commencement and the teachers started leaving the stage while some students and parents started leaving the audience. I’ve read they don’t have enough room for all the African men who want to enter the seminary. In poor places where the people suffer, orthodoxy seems to have a better chance at survival as opposed to the rich, fat countries like the U.S., Canada, and the countries of Europe in which the faithful often become like the pagans that surround them. If God doesn’t punish the “Christian” pagans soon, will the just Israelites in Heaven who had to suffer when Israel took on the ways of the child-murdering, lustful, moon-howling pagans who surrounded them, in defiance of God’s instruction and warning, start to complain?
Yes there were. I never said there were no earthly consequences to sin. My point is that God can forgive sin and still use a person for great things, even in a circumstance or situation that originated in sin.
If you were to commit a murder, and then later turn to God, you could be forgiven of the sin of murder - but you would still have to pay the price of that murder here on earth. That may be prison or the death penalty. But there have been people who have committed murder, served their time, and gone on to do great things for God. God doesn't promise to absolve us of the earthly consequences of our choices - only the eternal ones.
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