Last month, “in line with the directions given by Pope Francis”, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech issued a document offering “guidelines to priests in our dioceses, in order to accompany” those who are in so-called ‘irregular situations’ through “a responsible personal and pastoral discernment” to “an awareness of their situation before God” (Amoris Laetitia 300).
For diverse reasons, these guidelines took many (both clergy and laity) by surprise: some were elated that our bishops had taken a step which by several standards may be considered both pastoral and courageous; others felt our bishops had betrayed the Church’s official teaching. A proof that the latter position is untenable is that if it were so, the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) would have publicly come down on them like a ton of bricks!
Personally I was struck by the almost total lack of comment by the media. Most of the media is very quick to report what a certain member of the clergy is objecting to; but the media itself has mostly stood on the fence.
In their guidelines the bishops expressed their respect to the voice of conscience. In the same vein, I respect the conscience of those who object to the bishops’ position even if my position is consonant with that of our bishops.
What makes me think twice are their arguments. I expect better from people who have studied theology (not catechism). At least I expect an intellectual integrity that admits that the Church has changed its pastoral position several times.
The bishops’ guidelines are as sober as they are pastoral. In a nutshell, the bishops: (a) stated the fact that there are people living difficult situations, who love God and are living, as humanly as possible, a Christian way of life, but so far do not receive communion because of a so-called ‘irregular’ situation; (b) called for “responsible personal and pastoral discernment”; (c) reminded members of clergy on the need to commit themselves to enter into dialogue with, and to come to know, people who find themselves in these difficult situations, in a spirit of authentic charity; (d) declared that the clergy’s role is to patiently help these Christians form and enlighten their own conscience, so that they themselves may be able to make an honest decision before God and act according to the greatest good possible – in a way similar to Christians committing other sins (my italics); (e) stressed the need to distinguish between one situation and another; and (f), quoting Pope Francis’s Amoris Laetitia, they clearly said that “if someone flaunts an objective sin as if it were part of the Christian ideal, or wants to impose something other than what the Church teaches, he or she can in no way presume to teach or preach to others”.
Then came the guideline that has become a bone of contention: “If, as a result of the process of discernment, undertaken with ‘humility, discretion and love for the Church and her teaching, in a sincere search for God’s will and a desire to make a more perfect response to it’ (Amoris Laetitia 300), a separated or divorced person who is living in a new relationship manages, with an informed and enlightened conscience, to acknowledge and believe that he or she are at peace with God, he or she cannot be precluded from participating in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist (Amoris Laetitia, 336 , 351).
I fail to see anything unorthodox in all this. So whom are the anonymous Veri Cattolici and the anonymous parish priest who gave an interview to this newspaper, aiming at? Is their aim the Maltese bishops or Pope Francis himself? Our Lord taught us that truth will make us free; the anonymity of these does not indicate this freedom of spirit. They do not seem quite prepared for a ‘persecution’ in defence of truth.
May I suggest that they read paragraph 2 of Vatican II’s Decree Concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops: “The bishops themselves, however, having been appointed by the Holy Spirit, are successors of the Apostles as pastors of souls.
“Together with the supreme pontiff and under his authority they are sent to continue throughout the ages the work of Christ, the eternal pastor…. Bishops, therefore, have been made true and authentic teachers of the faith, pontiffs, and pastors through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to them.”
joe.inguanez@gmail.com
Fr Joe Inguanez, a sociologist, is executive director of Discern.