Posted on 01/11/2016 7:52:54 AM PST by NYer
Addressing news about a church cantor who was terminated after entering into a gay marriage, Washington's Cardinal Wuerl posted this on his blog:
Recently you may have heard stories in the news about how the employment of a person in public ministry at a local parish was no longer possible when he indicated that he would continue to openly live in contradiction to what the Church proclaims as true, specifically a civil "same-sex marriage." Since mercy is at the heart of our Catholic faith, this outcome is unfortunate and I would like here to discuss the principles involved in this and other similar situations.
First, any person who struggles in trying to live according to the revealed truth of Catholic teaching should know the Church recognizes his or her dignity as created by God and that the person need not face life's challenges apart from the grace of the Lord and his Church, which seeks only the highest good for everyone.
The Church recognizes that we all need to grow in faith and in closeness to the Lord. Simply acting contrary to Church teaching on occasion would not preclude serving as a ministerial employee or volunteer. For us to acknowledge that we are sinners, as we do, is to admit that occasionally we too have at times not lived up to the truth. On those occasions, we are expected to acknowledge our failings and seek to amend our lives in Christ.
However, if one persists or effectively insists that they are right and the Church is wrong, in the face of such irreconcilable differences it is not discrimination or punishment to say that continued ministerial service is not possible. It is not a question of personal private activity, but the social consequences of conduct which undermines the Church's ability to fulfill her mission. When there is the potential for scandal that might lead people astray regarding the Catholic faith, continued service becomes untenable.
The purpose of our parishes, schools, ministries and other Catholic entities - "and the task of those who work for them - is to lead people to Jesus," as I wrote last spring in my pastoral letter Being Catholic Today: Catholic Identity in an Age of Challenge (13). That purpose and task is challenged by a secular culture that is in contradiction to traditional concepts of marriage, family, the common good and objective right and wrong.
"Those who agree to assist the Church in her mission and ministries represent the public face of the Church," and thus they have a special responsibility to "respect our Catholic identity and avoid behavior that contradicts the very mission of the Catholic institution" (14). The Catholic faithful, and the other people that our ministries serve, have a right to the Gospel and to receive authentic Church teaching (Redemptoris Missio, 44; Evangelii Gaudium, 14). Conversely, people are denied that right, and our mission and Catholic identity can be compromised "either through explicit dissent, miscatechesis or personal conduct that tends to draw people away from the communion of the Church" (Being Catholic Today, 22). "When people are faithful and give good witness, they lead people to Christ. But when we give bad witness, we can lead people away from Christ" (16).
Catholic ping!
Liberals will spin this as the Catholic Church being bigoted and all that.
There is a homosexual themed church, Metropolitan Community Church. I suggest that these people go there.
While we may have been compelled to accept homosexual marriage in our civil laws, I just don’t see how we, as a society, are compelled to change every institution, including religious institutions, to accept open homosexuality.
Frankly, I’m stunned. Cdl Wuerl is the one of the last people I’d have expected it from. His whole statement is very, very good and worth reading. Such as this:
“In this, the Church claims no special privilege. Every entity, religious or secular, has the right to its own identity, mission and message, including the freedom of association to retain only people who will faithfully serve those interests and not act in ways that prejudice what the entity stands for. It is not unusual for companies to part ways with employees who do something in their personal lives that puts the companies in an unfavorable light. And no official would ever continue to employ someone who in his off-hours publicly demonstrated that he was opposed to the official’s policies or campaigned for the official’s opponent.”
“Beyond these common freedoms, the Church also enjoys freedom of religion to decide who will carry out Catholic ministry. This includes the right to determine when conduct is otherwise adverse to the Church’s ability to fully pursue its mission and interests.”
“The Church we serve is not ours, but Christ’s. The greatest mercy of the Church is to be faithful witnesses of his truth and love. It is precisely through the witness of authentic Catholic teaching, which is the revealed truth of the Gospel, that the parishioners in the pews, the young people in our schools, the people served in our charitable ministries, and the world at large will find salvation.”
- See more at: http://cardinalsblog.adw.org/2015/12/at-the-service-of-the-truth-and-love-of-jesus-christ/#sthash.jDAWHCLQ.dpuf
I’m not catholic and disagree with most catholic doctrines, but they have my full admiration and support. Stand Strong.
kudos and thanks to Cardinal Wuerl. Now drop the hammer on Pelosi and Biden.
I just glanced out my window to see a pig flying by.
Visualize Wuerl’d Peas....doing a very un-PC thing. Amazing.
Sounds like Pelosi.
Why is she not excommunicated?
This is so ENCOURAGING! Back a few years ago, I added Cardinal Wuerl to a list of clerics that I pray for regularly. From time to time, I would wonder as I continued to pray for him...
I SHOULD have known better. Of COURSE, God listens to our prayers and hears them all. It is up to us to TRUST HIM. I have now confessed my lack of deep trust and will continue....no matter what I may see, hear or read.
:-)
If they are drawing a salary from the church and the specific conditions of church employment are to meet the moral standards of the church, then the sewer should not have a leg to stand on.
It is no different that if a condition of my employment was to pass a drug test and, after the fact, I decided to start using drugs, the company ought to be able to kick my sorry @$$ out the door for violating a condition of employment.
Given the way that Cardinal Dolan has danced around the issue, I expected even less from Wuehrl. Now if he would apply the same standard to any priest caught out.
Even if the drug were alcohol or tobacco . Both are legal substances, but that ought not to deny to the employer the right to fire an employee who is caught drinking or smoking “on the job†so to speak.
Because there are in the Church many priests and even bishops who would not support that, and equally important, many powerful lay Catholics whose daughters have had abotions.
Stay with it, Cardinal. There is much, much more you need to address.
There are many of us who have been praying....
Excellent. My thoughts, as well.
Why should the Cardinal have to explain anything.
***
But I am glad he has drawn this out so clearly.
Prayers continue for this cardinal, all of the bishops, and for the pope.
BTW, Deacon Kandra, there is nothing gay about the homosexual life choices.
It is a church teaching and the man is a part of the ministry. I would expect no less had he been unmarried and living with a woman, or divorced and remarried. The church is in the right in this matter.
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