Posted on 03/25/2015 6:22:04 AM PDT by marshmallow
Editors Note: Cardinal Raymond Burke spoke with LifeSiteNews Paris correspondent Jeanne Smits in Rome on January 21. We are running the interview along with an article (available here) drawing out some of the cardinal's most significant points. Smits has also published a French version of the interview on her blog.
LifeSiteNews: Since the extraordinary synod on the family, we have entered a period of uncertainty and confusion over several hot-button issues: communion for divorced and remarried couples, a change of attitude towards homosexual unions and an apparent relaxing of attitudes towards non-married couples. Does your Eminence think that this confusion is already producing adverse effects among Catholics?
Cardinal Burke: Most certainly, it is. I hear it myself: I hear it from Catholics, I hear it from bishops. People are claiming now, for instance, that the Church has changed her teaching with regard to sexual relations outside of marriage, with regard to the intrinsic evil of homosexual acts. Or people who are within irregular matrimonial unions are demanding to receive Holy Communion, claiming that this is the will of the Holy Father. And we have astounding situations, like the declarations of the bishop of Antwerp with regard to homosexual acts, which go undisciplined, and so we can see that this confusion is spreading, really, in an alarming way.
LSN: Archbishop Bonny says Humanae vitae was disputed by many: now is the time to dispute other things. Aren't we in a period when the Church's teachings are being disputed more than before?
CB: Yes, I believe so. It seems now that people who before did not dispute the Church's teaching, because it was clear that the authority of the Church prohibited certain discussions, now feel very free to dispute even the natural moral law, including a teaching like Humanae vitae which......
(Excerpt) Read more at lifesitenews.com ...
Matthew 19:6 says: “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” What are the requirements of a sacramental marriage, i.e., in what situation has “God” united the two parties? Just any old shacking up? I don’t think so. The Church’s apostolic tradition and teaching office, as entrusted by Christ to the bishops as successors of the apostles in communion with the successor of Peter, having the power to bind and loose and being guided into all truth by the Holy Spirit, have specified what the requirements are for a valid sacramental marriage to exist. An annulment is an official recognition that one of the requirements for a valid marriage did not exist.
I never said anything about a spouse who killed their spouse "in order to marry someone else"!
EXACTLY!!!!!
So, now the Holy Father is opening up a discussion on the merits of allowing Communion to those who have remarried, and everyone is up in arms!
Seems, like I see plenty of 'Taliban' mentality in our "Christian" community.
Yes, but you won't find it in a book. If you're looking for "written" guidelines, there are none. You have to apply for an "annulment" and see what the bureaucrats say about your "application".
My best advice, is stay close to God in service and prayer, and your 'heart' will lead you to the right decision.
The Pope hasn’t endorsed the heresy yet. Pope Paul VI ended up holding the line on the prohibition on artificial contraception. If the Pope endorses heresy, I will have to reassess. As for the Taliban swipe, as I don’t see anyone here talking about killing anyone as the Taliban does, I think it extremely rude, uncalled for, calumnious and evidence of bad faith.
People like you are more concerned about 'orthodoxy' than the mercy of Christ, which is where the Holy Father is trying to guide the Church in this direction. It's not about "endorsing heresy".
Mercy divorced from truth is NOT mercy in any meaningful sense. The faith revealed in Christ has content. Our Lord himself said divorce and remarriage was adultery. St Paul himself said that one should not take the body of the Lord in vain. So because you think it’s “merciful”, all that gets thrown out the window. We have to embrace the filthy sexual morality that modern society is promoting, and toss out the whole notion of sin and repentence. Who cares? If it feels good do it. I’m sorry, but that is not Christianity. Love and mercy is never divorced from repentance. Why don’t you go to the Episcopalians or other mainstream Protestant apostates from Christian moral teaching if you just want to wallow in your jollies without guilt and feel a false “mercy”!
Sorry, “in vain” should be “unworthily”.
That's a very nice sounding refrain to try and substantiate your point of view on this very debatable issue (which you and others say cannot be up for debate). But if this issue is such an absolute ("doctrine") from the view of you and others, then why are there 'exceptions' to this "Doctrine" concerning Divorce (i.e. 'Annulments').
As far as I know, there are no 'exceptions' with other "Doctrines" of the Church.... Trinity, Christ Son of God, Original Sin, Christ's Resurrection
And to retort with a knee-jerk all-or-nothing point of view with ..."who cares" and ...."embrace the filthy sexual morality that modern society is promoting", is not delving into the mysteries of human conditions within the Spirit of Christ's message of salvation.
I’ve already explained that an annulment is a ruling that no sacramental marriage existed in the first place due to a defect of one of the conditions. I have specifically addressed every single one of your rather rudely phrased questions and explained why the Kasper proposal is wrong and the unchanging moral teaching of the Church is right. And of course the whole purpose of Kasper, Marx, Baldisseri and the whole stinking lot of them is to get the Church to drop the 2000 year traditional teaching of the Church from Christ and the apostles and embrace all of the world’s sexual mores. If you think the forces working to turn the Catholic Church into the Unitarians are going to stop at divorced and remarried and not plow on to embrace homosexual activity, the breaking down of the family and sexual identity, fornication, etc., then you are beyond naive.
bttt
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