Thank you Archbishop Sample for caring for our immortal life.
PORTLAND, Oregon, July 10, 2017 (
LifeSiteNews)
Pete Baklinski
An American archbishop has released guidelines upholding the
Church's constant teaching that Catholics in "serious sin" – including
active homosexuals and those in adulterous unions – must repent before
receiving Communion.
The new guidelines from Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon are intended to implement Pope Francis’s Exhortation
Amoris Laetitia in a way that he said is “compatible with Church teaching.”
The guidelines state that those in “serious sin,” including divorced
and civilly-remarried persons living unchastely as well as persons in an
active same-sex relationship, must “sacramentally confess all serious
sins with a firm purpose to change, before receiving the Holy
Eucharist.”
Sample wrote in his May 2017 guidelines that
Amoris Laetitia
“calls for a sensitive accompaniment of those with an imperfect grasp
of Christian teaching on marriage and family life, who may not be living
in accord with Catholic belief, and yet desire to be more fully
integrated into Church life, including the Sacraments of Penance and the
Holy Eucharist.”
But true accompaniment, he said, can only take place within the “tradition of the Church’s teaching and life.”
“In fact, pastors must always convey Catholic teaching faithfully to
all persons – including the divorced and remarried – both in the
confessional as well as publicly. They should do this with great
confidence in the power of God’s grace, knowing that, when spoken with
love, the truth heals, builds up, and sets free (cf. Jn 8:32),” the
guidelines state.
The Archbishop said that there have been “misuses” of the Pope’s
Exhortation “in support of positions that are not compatible with Church
teaching.”
Among these is the notion that an individual’s conscience has, after
Amoris Laetitia, become the final judge in moral matters. Such a position is taken by Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich,
who has argued
that the civilly-divorced-and-remarried as well as active homosexuals
should be able to receive Communion if they came to the decision “in
good conscience.”
But, following what the Church has always taught, the Archbishop’s
guidelines state: “Catholic teaching makes clear that the subjective
conscience of the individual can never be set against the objective
moral truth, as if conscience and truth were two competing principles
for moral decision-making.”
They continue:
As St. John Paul II wrote, such a view would ‘pose a challenge to the
very identity of the moral conscience in relation to human freedom and
God's law. . . . Conscience is not an independent and exclusive capacity
to decide what is good and what is evil’ (Veritatis Splendor 56, 60). Rather, ‘conscience is the application of the law to a particular case” (Veritatis Splendor
59). Conscience stands under the objective moral law and should be
formed by it, so that “[t]he truth about moral good, as that truth is
declared in the law of reason, is practically and concretely recognized
by the judgment of conscience’ (Veritatis Splendor 61).
Archbishop Sample said that in view of Catholic teaching on
conscience, “priests must help the divorced and civilly remarried to
form their consciences according to the truth.”
“This is a true work of mercy,” he said.
Divorced and civilly-remarried Catholics wishing to return to a
sacramental life within the Church must either “‘regularize’ their
marital status in the Church” (receive a declaration of nullity
for first union and then marry within the Church) or, if this cannot be
done, “refrain from sexual intimacy” by living “as brother and sister.”
“Undertaking to live as brother and sister is necessary for the
divorced and civilly-remarried to receive reconciliation in the
Sacrament of Penance, which could then open the way to reception of the
Holy Eucharist. Such individuals are encouraged to approach the
Sacrament of Penance regularly, having recourse to God’s great mercy in
that sacrament if they fail in chastity,” the guidelines state.
They continue:
[W]here pastors give Holy Communion to divorced and remarried persons
trying to live chastely, they should do so in a manner that will avoid
giving scandal or implying that Christ’s teaching can be set aside. This
is left to the prudential judgement of the pastor involved. In other
contexts care must also be taken to avoid the unintended appearance of
an endorsement of divorce and civil remarriage; thus, divorced and
civilly remarried persons would not hold positions of responsibility in a
parish (e.g. on a parish council), nor would they carry out liturgical
ministries or functions (e.g., lector, extraordinary minister of Holy
Communion).
The guidelines specifically address what pastors must do when a same-sex couple presents themselves openly in a parish.
The Church welcomes all men and women who honestly seek to encounter
the Lord, whatever their circumstances. But two persons in an active,
public same-sex relationship, no matter how sincere, offer a serious
counter-witness to Catholic belief, that can only produce moral
confusion in the community. Such a relationship cannot be accepted into
the life of the parish without undermining the faith of the community,
most notably the children.
“Those living openly same-sex lifestyles would not hold positions of
responsibility in a parish, nor would they carry out any liturgical
ministry or function until they are reconciled with the Church and are
living in accord with the Church’s moral teaching,” they add.
Sample said that while the guidelines may be a “hard teaching for
some” they “correspond[] with our belief about the nature of the Holy
Eucharist, marriage and the Church.”
The Archbishop said that guidelines are to be “considered normative
for the Archdiocese of Portland, and they are to be carefully and
faithfully observed.”
“The sanctity of marriage and God’s plan for a joy filled marriage
require all those engaged in pastoral ministry to exercise the
tremendous responsibility entrusted to them with complete fidelity to
Catholic teaching coupled with mercy and compassion,” he said.
