Posted on 12/14/2014 5:26:28 PM PST by ebb tide
I have been assured, over and over again, sometimes condescendingly and sometimes not, that the Kasper Proposal is a dead letter.
First it was Cardinal Muller's letter in L'Osservatore Romano. Then it was some random papal comment affirming marital indissolubility (which ignored the fact Cardinal Kasper swearsies he's all about keeping marriages intact). Then, most recently, it was the supposed door-slamming vote at the end of the Synod, which asserted that the matter was--this time for sure, how could you ever doubt it?--done. Over. Locked into a safe, wrapped in chains and dumped square in into Challenger Deep, where it could never be seen again, thanks to our Papal Guarantee of Unassailable Orthodoxy. Take that, Huns!
Well, I was skeptical about that. Very much so.
And it appears my skepticism was warranted. Like the villain in a bad horror movie, the damned thing keeps rising from assured death to menace the protagonists again. Behold Question 38, straight from the Pope's handpicked secretary at the Vatican:
38. With regard to the divorced and remarried, pastoral practice concerning the sacraments needs to be further studied, including assessment of the Orthodox practice and taking into account “the distinction between an objective sinful situation and extenuating circumstances” (n. 52). What are the prospects in such a case? What is possible? What suggestions can be offered to resolve forms of undue or unnecessary impediments?
So much for the matter being closed, shut, finito. There's a wake-up call, for those so inclined to grab the receiver.
And then there's the Pope's words, just this week, offered in the Time-Honored Magisterium of Newspaper Interviews:
[Q:] In the case of divorcees who have remarried, we posed the question, what do we do with them? What door can we allow them to open? This was a pastoral concern: will we allow them to go to Communion?
[A:] Communion alone is no solution. The solution is integration. They have not been excommunicated, true. But they cannot be godfathers to any child being baptized, mass readings are not for divorcees, they cannot give communion, they cannot teach Sunday school, there are about seven things that they cannot do, I have the list over there. Come on! If I disclose any of this it will seem that they have been excommunicated in fact!
Thus, let us open the doors a bit more. Why cant they be godfathers and godmothers? "No, no, no, what testimony will they be giving their godson?" The testimony of a man and a woman saying "my dear, I made a mistake, I was wrong here, but I believe our Lord loves me, I want to follow God, I was not defeated by sin, I want to move on."
Anything more Christian than that? And what if one of the political crooks among us, corrupt people, ate chosen to be somebody´s godfather. If they are properly wedded by the Church, would we accept them? What kind of testimony will they give to their godson? A testimony of corruption?
Things need to change, our standards need to change.
"Communion alone is no solution." That's an...interesting formulation. There are other problems with the interview, too, as someone less biased on the topic than I am has noted. This one is particularly insightful, and warrants a careful read.
Those of you who are Anglicans will have seen this movie before: dialogue does not end until the proper result is reached. Then it becomes the Laws of the Medes and Persians, hater.
Given what the Vatican just issued, the most recent interview shows the Pontiff's mind quite clearly (not that it was particularly opaque before). Throw that in with the papal power-invoking rhetoric in the wildly-overpraised speech he gave at the conclusion of the 2014 Synod (reinforced by more explicit authority to depose), and I think it's more likely than not that he forces through some variation on the Kasper proposal in 2015.
Welcome to horribly interesting times.
No guessing needed about Catholic doctrine — just check out the Catechism online at http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/epub/index.cfm
In brief: Grace — Christ’s divine life in our soul — is essential for salvation (by grace you have been saved), which is infused into the soul usually through the sacrament of baptism (Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins), which may be experienced as a baptism of desire or martyrdom in unusual circumstances. The supernatural life of charity grows by means of other sacraments — confirmation, the Eucharist, confession, anointing of sick, sacramental marriage, — as well as works of mercy. In fact, physically receiving Communion is obligatory only once a year (the so-called Easter Duty).
Accompanying Charity are the theological virtues of Faith and Hope. Thus, Catholic theology points to an objective transformation of the soul, a New Birth, worked out in the Church, the Bride and Body of Christ.
Because sacramental marriage intertwines with everything else, the Pope is calling for a re-examination of remarriage — which becomes adultery when the previous marriage has not been annulled. The question facing pastors is if someone FEELS sorry about their state and wants to amend their life (repent), what ACTIONS of repentance return the soul to an OBJECTIVE STATE OF GRACE — and what is the Church’s role in this reconciliation.
These are very complex questions that impact a person in time and eternity. Given the high number of remarried Catholics, the Pope wants the Bishops to work on an answer — and starting out, it hasn’t been pretty.
Tried to stay out of it, but that comment brings me back to those who wanted to continue in the "old ways" by taking specific actions to be worthy of the Gift. They were chastised as having fallen from Grace because they would not allow themselves to be free in His sacrifice and gift. How does putting an extra load on one make them free or freer? How does one posit that Christ's gift of His body and blood needs human/religious intervention to become reality? Your words serve cheapen His sacrifice.
So you have never sinned? Is that right?
These are very complex questions that impact a person in time and eternity.
It's not complex at all. Go to confession and stop committing adultery. Either rejoin with your real spouse or life a chaste life with the current one. It's that simple.
The Holy Sacraments are not an "extra load", they're instruments of grace.
Do you have them confused with the Ten Commandments? Do you consider those to be an "extra load", also?
No you didn't.
You said this.....
Quote - Look it up; it's in your bible. - Unquote
That is NOT a reference.
Read the Scripture references.
Cause it seems that you haven’t.
The sin has been erased. The record of debt has been canceled.
Since there is no sin credited to my account, God is free to deal with me as if I had never sinned, regardless of the fact that I have and do.
Remarriage to the first spouse after a marriage to anther one is condemned by God as an abomination.
But it wouldn't be the first time Catholics have encouraged something God has condemned.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
The 10 Commandments were given, by God and at the request of Men, so that sin would increase and that we would realize that we could not be worthy by our own efforts - we needed a Savior. They are a seriously good ideal to aspire to, but to use them as a tool for Salvation is to spit on the body and blood of Christ. He gave us the two great commandments:
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
With all due respect, Jesus is the instrument of Grace.
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