The Catholic church has to respect decisions divorced and remarried people make about their spiritual lives after they examine what their conscience is telling them to do, Chicago’s Archbishop BlaseCupich said during a press briefing.
Advertisement
“The more a few synod fathers claim that no doctrinal change is sought on matters of divorce and remarriage – only a change in “discipline” – the more other synod fathers worry”. And it’s a debate that has Chaput anxious.
“And for good reason”.
“Practice inevitably shapes belief”, he warned.
Chaput’s concerns reflected worries shared by many in the orthodox camp. “But in a provocative way in order to create problems for the Synod and for Francis”.
The pull of those two demands is something the archbishop said he has felt for 40 years as a priest.
“I don’t share the anxiety at all”, Cupich told reporters at a briefing. “He just looked so refreshed, calm, at peace”, Cupich said. “Each conference of bishops is responsible for pastoral care in its cultural context and must preach the Gospel in its own, original way”, Marx said. In 1971 the Synod on the Ministerial Priesthood and Justice in the World produced a final document called Justice in the World written collaboratively by the bishops.
He said he “really liked” Pope Francis’ two “motu proprios” on annulment reform announced in September, which will be “enormously helpful to us”. The priest issued a series of ten “demands”, including that the Catholic Church change its teaching on the morality of gay sex. A few of these included: the need to defend Church doctrine and ensure we are faithful to the tradition of the Church; correct understanding of Scripture texts; clarification of Church teaching on marriage; a possible catechetical pathway for accompanying the divorced and remarried; the important role that the sacrament of reconciliation plays; the teaching of the Church on sin should be highlighted and not lost; the complexities of inter-faith, inter-cultural, inter-religious and multi-racial marriages; the trafficking of women and children and the suffering of couples who are not able to have children – adoption was spoken about in such cases. Many in the synod – prompted by direct suggestions from Francis – are pushing for ways around that ban. “That view brings us directly back to the work of the Holy Spirit”.
He said the much same about gay people. “That would be a big mistake”.
“We have to believe in the mercy of God and the grace of God to trigger conversion, rather than having it the other way around as though you’re only going to get mercy if you have the conversion”, said the archbishop.
Advertisement
“Catechesis can not be just about giving people the fixed doctrines … but also helping them, accompanying them by showing them the way, the path that the church has outlined in terms of making prudent decisions”, he said. If we can’t in principle accept the possibility of discomfort, suffering and even martyrdom, then we’re not disciples. Bishop Drennan said the synod is about praying to the Holy Spirit for guidance in the way our faith evolves.
