Colorado Catholics are reacting to Pope Francis’ controversial letter about love, marriage and family life, which calls for the faithful to be less judgmental and for congregations to interpret the doctrine to suit their own culture.
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In a New York Times article Friday titled “Francis’ Message Calls on Church to Be Inclusive”, the authors write that the Pope “seemingly signaled a pastoral path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive holy communion”.
Pope Francis is continuing on his mission to bring the traditional Catholic church’s into the modern era by using his latest edict to encouraging priests to welcome single parents, gay people and unmarried straight couples who are living together. “I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion”.
“We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them”.
But in the landmark paper, the Pope rejects gay marriage and repeats the church’s position that same-sex unions can not be equivalent to marriage between man and wife. HRC and LGBT Catholics remain committed to continuing our work, along with our many supportive fellow congregants, toward full inclusion and participation in the Church.
This is, of course, not to insinuate that their second marriage is not objectively disordered, but it is to say that the pressures, difficulties, and dilemmas might mitigate their culpability. It requires a finding that the marriage is “substantially defective”, not just the wishes of a couple that has fallen out of love or doesn’t want to be married, he said.
“Right now, on average, less than 15% of parishes have any support for divorced Catholics”, Frese said.
He tells priests to back off enforcing rules and show more sensitivity, writing, “A pastor can not feel that it is enough to simply apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular situations as if there were stones to throw at people’s lives”. In his address, Pope Francis said that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be treated with dignity and consideration, while “every sign of unjust discrimination” is to be carefully avoided.
Francis, however, has already moved to make it easier to get an annulment. Basically it’s a proclamation about Catholic family life.
Thomas Groome, a theology professor at Boston College and a former priest, said he thought the most striking thing in the document was that it never spoke of artificial birth control.
Similarly, in discussing the need for “responsible parenthood” and regulating the number of children, Francis made no mention of the church’s opposition to artificial contraception.
“This is a communications problems we have”, he said. The church needs a lot of changes.
“What I see here is that he is starting a process, one that will redefine the moral teachings of the Roman Catholic Church”, he said.
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Church teaching says that a remarried person must receive an annulment of an earlier marriage to take part in Communion. “SO it’s not about doing this so that we increase their attendance at mass, but that we really accompany them, and integrate them, and let them know that they’re not alone, and that the church shares the joy of their family”, he said.
