This is big, because it is from the Dutch Bishops!
How cool would it be that a Dutch Cardinal, let me repeat that, a Dutch Cardinal, Willem Cardinal Eijk, the Archbishop of Utrecht, if His Eminence became the next pope! Wow, that would be cool!
Press title for the Catholic Herald article!
4 comments:
I'm not sure this is a "rejection" per se. A lot threading of the needle here in my opinion. That said it is significant that a liberal European Bishops Conference is going towards a rejection vs towards acceptance. This, unlike the USCCB which seems to be nothing more than a waffling, milk toast group of cowards. Even the younger, more orthodox new breed as I call them, are falling in line throwing up their hands in chorus as if to say 'if we can't beat'em, join em'."
Supposition all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes; For treason is but trusted like the fox, Who, ne'er so tame, so cherished and locked up, Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.
William Shakespeare Henry IV, Part 1)
The Catholic Herald headline reads:
-- Chaos deepens as Dutch bishops collectively reject blessings for same-sex couples
Simon Caldwell
What chaos?
The Dutch bishops declared "As our Church is a welcoming Church, the Dutch bishops, with Pope Francis, underline the pastoral importance of closeness and accompaniment."
"The bishops' conference notes that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, in its
statement Fiducia supplicans, holds, in accordance with Sacred Scripture and the
Tradition of the Church, that marriage is only possible between a man and a woman and
is indissoluble, and that irregular relationships of any kind encounter intrinsic moral
objections."
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The Catholic Herald article stated also that the "Dutch bishops follow the entire Catholic leadership of Africa who last week rejected blessings for same-sex unions en masse."
"The African bishops issued an emphatic, and unified, “no” in response to a Vatican declaration authorizing the non-liturgical blessing of same-sex unions..."
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From: La Croix International:
-- North African bishops express openness to blessing couples in "irregular situations", distancing themselves from the body encompassing all the episcopal conferences of Africa
"In a statement following their Plenary Assembly from January 11 to 15, the Catholic bishops of North Africa said they were open to the blessing of "irregular couples and those of the same sex."
"When persons in irregular situations come together seeking a blessing, it can be given as long as it does not create confusion for them or others," says a new statement issued by the Regional Episcopal Conference of North Africa (CERNA).
The conference -- which includes the actively serving and retired Catholic bishops from Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara -- expressed openness towards implementing the Vatican document Fiducia supplicans during its January 11-15 assembly in Rabat (Morocco)."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Bishops of Guyana and French West Indies reject Fiducia Supplicans: Couples in an "irregular situation" or "of the same sex" may not be blessed.
From their press release dated January 19:
"Le ministres d'Eglise se doivent benir, sans condition prealable, toute personne qui demande individuellement une bénédiction spontanée, MAIS ils ne peuvent conférer de bénédiction à des couples en situation irrégulière ou de même sexe."
My translation: The ministers of the Church should bless, without prerequisite, all persons who individually ask for a spontaneous blessing, BUT they are NOT able to confer a blessing on couples in an irregular situation or of the same sex.
Cardinal Fernandez: It is not possible for bishops to prevent such blessings altogether.
Hundreds of bishops: We prevent such blessings in our dioceses.
Deo gratias for such orthodox bishops and priests who, in holy and calm fashion, have rejected a document that they have deemed "blasphemous," "heresy," and "contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church," claiming that Pope Francis "does not walk uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel.”
According to said bishops, Fiducia Supplicans is not a teaching of the true Church, which is why they reject it. I see the work of the Holy Ghost operating mightily in raising up such orthodox prelates to defend the true faith against those they claim are spreading "heresy."
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