Lead kindly light is a good prayer
Cardinal John Henry Newman, beatified by Pope Benedict only last Sunday, distinguishes between sin committed “in darkness”, as in the case of Saul’s persecution of Christians before his illumination, and sin committed “against the light”, as would...
Cardinal John Henry Newman, beatified by Pope Benedict only last Sunday, distinguishes between sin committed “in darkness”, as in the case of Saul’s persecution of Christians before his illumination, and sin committed “against the light”, as would have been the case if he had gone on harming them.
Whether committed “in darkness” or “against the light”, an evil action is always sinful, albeit the degree of personal responsibility depends on three conditions: the action’s objective evilness, knowledge of what one is doing and freedom of will in doing it.
Given these conditions, the Church speaks of sinfulness, whatever the issue.
One matter being debated is the case of a Catholic opting for divorce legislation. In the case of priests – or “ecclesiastics” if one wanted to distance oneself from the caste – the matter is still more serious since what they say is a guide in matters of Christian faith and morals.
Of course, for non-Catholics all this would be a non-issue if it were not that the opinion of Catholics cannot be discounted in the event of certain legislation coming up for a parliamentary decision or a referendum.
For Catholics, on the other hand, it is a personal issue because teaching on marriage is clear and allows for no plasticisation of conscience.
Indeed, it reaches into the very peculiarity of Catholic Christianity with respect to Orthodoxy, Anglicanism and Protestantism.
From the pastoral perspective, this is good because it is upon the distinction and correlation between principle (doctrine) and practice (love) that the Church shepherds Christ’s flock, made up more of sinners than saints.
The tragedy would be for the Church to adjust to a culture of falsehood and mislead Christ’s faithful into the belief that what he said is not, after all, what he meant.
As, for example, by saying that “it is not a sin to vote for divorce”. Because, given the clarity of Christ’s teaching regarding marriage, this would be an offence “against the light”.
I would say that, for a Catholic, the real issue is not whether he can be for divorce but, rather, how to discern the voice of Christ within his conscience.
The question is: Can a voice, within my conscience, be truly Christ’s voice when it is at odds with the teaching which, upon Christ’s own authority, the Catholic Church holds and proclaims?
The answer is that it may not. Any action a Catholic takes according to an alleged God’s inner voice in the knowledge that it is at variance with the word of Christ constitutes a sin “against the light” that the Christian knows to be Christ.
Over the last 50 or so years, a mixture of curious impulses has drugged a number of Catholic theologians into the conviction that there exists a post-Vatican II Church that has somehow conceded its teaching office to theological faculties or religious columnists.
A case in point is what has been referred, in recent editions of The Sunday Times, as coming from St Thomas Aquinas (1525-74).
In a disagreement that he had struck with elder theologian Peter Lombard, St Thomas is alleged to have said he’d rather die excommunicated than violate his conscience.
Really! But it seems that, rather than affirming the possibility of a praiseworthy act of conscience in conflict Church teaching, St Thomas was in fact asserting the validity of a marriage against a bishop who seemed to be undermining it. Lombard had acquiesced to the bishop. St Thomas disagreed.
He wrote: “Hic magister falsum dicit, quia potius esset excommnicatus mori quam coniugatus illi quae non est qua uxor.”
In plain English, St Thomas holds that “the Master” is wrong in submitting to the bishop’s decision in favour of a public marriage when a valid clandestine marriage had preceded it. The Aquinate point was that the spouse should rather die excommunicated than live with a woman who was not his wife!
Such cases happened since, prior to the Council of Trent, an authorised minister and witnesses were not required for a validly celebrated Christian marriage.
Difficulties may, of course, arise in a Catholic’s conscience. They are helpful insofar as they make us aware of human finitude. The magisterium of the Church is there to guide us into Christ, who is “the” Truth. There is no other.
When the newly-beatified Anglican was seeking this Truth he prayed: “Lead kindly light.”
It makes a good prayer.
The author is a lecturer at the Faculty of Theology, University of Malta.