AS IN INSIDER WITH POPE FRANCIS AND A PART OF THE SYNOD ON THE FAMILY, HE WOULD KNOW!

What Cardinal Donald Wuerl is saying is very important, very clear, very orthodox and very common sense!

Question: On the topic of persons who have entered into a civil remarriage after divorce and do not have a declaration of nullity: In concrete terms, what are we talking about when we talk about the “internal forum,” and how do you see pastors using this as a tool to help Catholics in those situations?

Cardinal Wuerl's answer: Within the synod, there was discussion about the need for better clarity in our terminology, and so, right away, we must explain what is meant by speaking with a pastor in the “internal forum.” A perhaps oversimplified definition is that it involves personal, private spiritual guidance and counseling toward the goal of individual inner discernment, as opposed to public acts, the “external forum.” Homilies, classroom instruction and similar activities play an important role in helping people to learn, know and grow in the faith, and legal structures such as marriage tribunals are important in determining the sacramental validity of a putative marriage. However, the one-on-one, hands-on personal interaction in the privacy of an office or the confessional is essential if we are to minister to people in their individual situations and help them to understand in the context of their own personal situations how to live the faith more vibrantly and grow in the proper formation of conscience.

Question:Of course, there is a lot of speculation that priests may use the internal forum to counsel Catholics in divorced-and-remarried situations without annulment to receive Communion. Is that really possible for a priest to do that in the internal forum, or is this an issue you think that Pope Francis will have to clarify for the Church?

Cardinal Wuerl: The message of the synod, like the message of the Church as a whole on all matters, is one of mercy, not moral indifferentism. The teaching on conscience and the role of the Church in the formation of consciences is not changed. Neither was it suggested that the internal forum, or other subjective discernment, be a substitute for the objective tribunal process. The synod was clear that in these conversations with a pastor, the person’s discernment could not properly be contrary to the truth and charity of the Gospel as taught by the Church. Certainly in all of this, we welcome the Holy Father in offering the light of God to help those in difficult situations to find their way.

Question: As the synod concluded, you commented in a pair of interviews that, moving forward, the Code of Canon Law would no longer serve as the “framework” or “frame of reference” for pastoral responses. Could you elaborate on what you meant by this, in terms of when and how the Code of Canon Law would be supplanted as a framework? How might this play out in practical terms?

In the governance of the Church, it is important to have a set of rules and norms. Following our archdiocesan synod last year in Washington, we instituted various statutes to guide our efforts. Yet it is also important to understand that these rules exist to serve our Gospel mission, not frustrate it.
In promulgating the current code, Pope John Paul II reiterated that it is not intended to be a substitute for faith, grace and especially charity. Instead, there is a primacy of these things. Canon law is at the service of the Gospel. It’s God’s love that saves, not the Code of Canon Law. Law provides order in the Church’s activities, but we’re not saved by those words in the law — we’re saved by Jesus on the cross. The point here, really, is that we should not have an overly legalistic approach that looks only at the printed words on the page and does not see the person in front of us. That does not mean ignoring canon law, but interpreting and applying canon law in light of the Gospel.

In the Church, we have always said: You speak the teaching of the Church with clarity. And then, as a pastor of souls, you work with the person, where that person is. The two go together. That’s always been the Tradition of the Church: Speak the truth and minister with love. If those struggling with Catholic teaching have a perception of being alienated permanently and essentially from the Church, this raises a barrier in the effort to live it in real, concrete situations.

Read  the entire interview HERE.