I PREFER THE MORE CHARITABLE AND ORTHODOX INTERPRETATIONS OF "THE JOY OF LOVE" AND JIMMY AKIN GIVES IT TO US!

This is a great summary from Jimmy Akin. We need this kind of review rather than the uncharitable anti-Francis commentaries. In fact I would prefer to give Holy Communion to a loving fornicator than to the uncharitable Francis haters!

From Jiimy Akin and thank you:

Pope Francis’s much-anticipated document on the family has now been released.

Here are 12 things to know and share.

1. What are the basic facts about the document?

It is called Amoris Laetitia (Latin, “the joy of love”), and it is what is known as a “post-synodal apostolic exhortation.”

An apostolic exhortation is a pastoral document in which the pope exhorts the Church. Although it contains doctrine, its primary focus is pastoral care. (Apostolic exhortations are different from encyclicals, which do focus on doctrine.)

When a pope issues an apostolic exhortation in response to a meeting of the synod of bishops (a gathering of bishops from around the world), it is called a post-synodal (“after the synod”) apostolic exhortation.

Amoris Laetitia was written in response to two meetings of the synod of bishops—one held in 2014 and one in 2015, both of which were devoted to the subject of the family.

2. What subjects does the document cover?

It is 255 pages long, so it covers a wide array of topics connected with the family. In his summary of its contents, Pope Francis explains:

I will begin with an opening chapter inspired by the Scriptures, to set a proper tone.

I will then examine the actual situation of families, in order to keep firmly grounded in reality.

I will go on to recall some essential aspects of the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family, thus paving the way for two central chapters dedicated to love.

I will then highlight some pastoral approaches that can guide us in building sound and fruitful homes in accordance with God’s plan, with a full chapter devoted to the raising of children.

Finally, I will offer an invitation to mercy and the pastoral discernment of those situations that fall short of what the Lord demands of us, and conclude with a brief discussion of family spirituality (AL 6).

At the two synods of bishops, two subjects of discussion were the pastoral care of those who are divorced and civilly remarried and of people with a homosexual orientation.

Although these are not the focus of Amoris Laetitiae—they represent only a small part of what it has to say—they are the subjects many people will be most interested to know about, so they are what we will cover here.

3. What does the document say about homosexuality?

It says very little. It notes that same-sex unions “may not simply be equated with marriage” (AL 52). It also says:

During the Synod, we discussed the situation of families whose members include persons who experience same-sex attraction, a situation not easy either for parents or for children.

We would like before all else to reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence.

Such families should be given respectful pastoral guidance, so that those who manifest a homosexual orientation can receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God’s will in their lives.

In discussing the dignity and mission of the family, the Synod Fathers observed that, “as for proposals to place unions between homosexual persons on the same level as marriage, there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.”

It is unacceptable “that local Churches should be subjected to pressure in this matter and that international bodies should make financial aid to poor countries dependent on the introduction of laws to establish ‘marriage’ between persons of the same sex” (AL 250-251).

And that’s it. Contrary to the hopes of some, the document did not attempt to reframe the Church’s teaching on same-sex activity or same-sex unions.

4. What does the document say regarding Cardinal Walter Kasper’s proposal to give Holy Communion to some who are divorced and civilly remarried after a “penitential period”?

Nothing. This proposal is not brought up.

5. Does the document propose a specific, concrete solution to the problem of divorced and civilly remarried?

No. After reviewing a variety of defective marital situations in which people may find themselves, the document states:

If we consider the immense variety of concrete situations such as those I have mentioned, it is understandable that neither the Synod nor this exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases (AL 300).

Instead, the document articulates a set of principles to be applied to the pastoral care of such individuals.

6. What are these principles?

The chapter discussing them is lengthy, so we can’t cover them fully, but they include:

• Not watering down the Church’s teaching on marriage
• Helping people grow toward realizing the Church’s teaching on marriage in their own lives
• Recognizing that people in defective situations are not all in the same situation
• Helping integrate such people into the life of the Church, based on what is possible in their individual cases

7. What does the document say about not watering down the Church’s teaching on marriage?

In articulating the Church’s basic teaching, it states:

Christian marriage, as a reflection of the union between Christ and his Church, is fully realized in the union between a man and a woman who give themselves to each other in a free, faithful and exclusive love, who belong to each other until death and are open to the transmission of life, and are consecrated by the sacrament, which grants them the grace to become a domestic church and a leaven of new life for society (AL 292).

Later, it states:

In order to avoid all misunderstanding, I would point out that in no way must the Church desist from proposing the full ideal of marriage, God’s plan in all its grandeur. . . .

A lukewarm attitude, any kind of relativism, or an undue reticence in proposing that ideal, would be a lack of fidelity to the Gospel and also of love on the part of the Church for young people themselves.

To show understanding in the face of exceptional situations never implies dimming the light of the fuller ideal, or proposing less than what Jesus offers to the human being (AL 307).

8. What does the document say about helping people grow toward realizing the Church’s teaching on marriage in their own lives?

It says:

The Fathers [of the synods] also considered the specific situation of a merely civil marriage or, with due distinction, even simple cohabitation, noting that “when such unions attain a particular stability, legally recognized, are characterized by deep affection and responsibility for their offspring, and demonstrate an ability to overcome trials, they can provide occasions for pastoral care with a view to the eventual celebration of the sacrament of marriage” (AL 293, emphasis added).

It also says:

Along these lines, Saint John Paul II proposed the so-called “law of gradualness” in the knowledge that the human being “knows, loves and accomplishes moral good by different stages of growth” (Familiaris Consortio 34).

This is not a “gradualness of law” but rather a gradualness in the prudential exercise of free acts on the part of subjects who are not in a position to understand, appreciate, or fully carry out the objective demands of the law.

For the law is itself a gift of God which points out the way, a gift for everyone without exception; it can be followed with the help of grace, even though each human being “advances gradually with the progressive integration of the gifts of God and the demands of God’s definitive and absolute love in his or her entire personal and social life” (ibid., 9).

9. What does the document say about people in defective situations not all being in the same situation?

It says:

The divorced who have entered a new union, for example, can find themselves in a variety of situations, which should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment.

One thing is a second union consolidated over time, with new children, proven fidelity, generous self giving, Christian commitment, a consciousness of its irregularity and of the great difficulty of going back without feeling in conscience that one would fall into new sins.

The Church acknowledges situations “where, for serious reasons, such as the children’s upbringing, a man and woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate” (John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio 84).

There are also the cases of those who made every effort to save their first marriage and were unjustly abandoned, or of “those who have entered into a second union for the sake of the children’s upbringing, and are sometimes subjectively certain in conscience that their previous and irreparably broken marriage had never been valid” (ibid.).

Another thing is a new union arising from a recent divorce, with all the suffering and confusion which this entails for children and entire families, or the case of someone who has consistently failed in his obligations to the family.

It must remain clear that this is not the ideal which the Gospel proposes for marriage and the family (AL 298).

10. What does the document say about helping integrate such people into the life of the Church, based on what is possible in their individual cases?

It says:

I am in agreement with the many Synod Fathers who observed that “the baptized who are divorced and civilly remarried need to be more fully integrated into Christian communities in the variety of ways possible, while avoiding any occasion of scandal. . . .

“Their participation can be expressed in different ecclesial services, which necessarily requires discerning which of the various forms of exclusion currently practiced in the liturgical, pastoral, educational and institutional framework, can be surmounted.

“Such persons need to feel not as excommunicated members of the Church, but instead as living members, able to live and grow in the Church and experience her as a mother who welcomes them always, who takes care of them with affection and encourages them along the path of life and the Gospel.

“This integration is also needed in the care and Christian upbringing of their children, who ought to be considered most important” (AL 299).

It also says:

Naturally, if someone flouts 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; this is a case of something which separates from the community (cf. Matt.18:17).

Such a person needs to listen once more to the gospel message and its call to conversion.

Yet even for that person there can be some way of taking part in the life of community, whether in social service, prayer meetings or another way that his or her own initiative, together with the discernment of the parish priest, may suggest (AL 297).

And it says:

Conversation with the priest, in the internal forum, contributes to the formation of a correct judgment on what hinders the possibility of a fuller participation in the life of the Church and on what steps can foster it and make it grow.

Given that gradualness is not in the law itself (cf. Familiaris Consortio, 34), this discernment can never prescind from the gospel demands of truth and charity, as proposed by the Church.

For this discernment to happen, the following conditions must necessarily be present: 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.

These attitudes are essential for avoiding the grave danger of misunderstandings, such as the notion that any priest can quickly grant “exceptions,” or that some people can obtain sacramental privileges in exchange for favors (AL 300).

11. Does the document foresee any possibility for sacramentally absolving and giving Communion to people who are civilly remarried if they are not living as brother and sister?

It does. In the main text of the document, it begins by noting certain principles to be taken into account, stating:

For an adequate understanding of the possibility and need of special discernment in certain “irregular” situations, one thing must always be taken into account, lest anyone think that the demands of the gospel are in any way being compromised.

The Church possesses a solid body of reflection concerning mitigating factors and situations.

Hence it can no longer simply be said that all those in any “irregular” situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace.

More is involved here than mere ignorance of the rule. A subject may know full well the rule, yet have great difficulty in understanding “its inherent values,” or be in a concrete situation which does not allow him or her to act differently and decide otherwise without further sin. . . .

The Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly mentions these factors: “imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors” (CCC 1735).

In another paragraph, the Catechism refers once again to circumstances which mitigate moral responsibility, and mentions at length “affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen or even extenuate moral culpability” (CCC 2352).

For this reason, a negative judgment about an objective situation does not imply a judgment about the imputability or culpability of the person involved. (AL 301-302).

The document thus envisions the case of a person who may be living in an objectively sinful situation but who is not mortally culpable because of a variety of factors of a cognitive or psychological nature.

Nothing in this is new. The Church has long recognized that people living in objectively grave sin may not be in a state of mortal sin. Consequently, the document goes on to state:

Because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin—which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such—a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end (AL 305).

At this point the text contains a footnote that states:

In certain cases, this [i.e., the Church’s help toward him growing in grace and charity] can include the help of the sacraments.

Hence, “I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium [24 November 2013], 44: AAS 105 [2013], 1038).

I would also point out that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak” (ibid., 47: 1039) (AL footnote 351).

The document thus envisions administering sacramental absolution and Holy Communion to those living in objectively sinful situations who are not mortally culpable for their actions due to various cognitive or psychological conditions.

Since they are not mortally culpable, they could be validly absolved in confession and, being in the state of grace, they could in principle receive Communion.

12. Does the document say how common such situations are?

No. However, the fact it only makes this application of the principles in a footnote suggests that such situations are not common and that they are not to be presumed.

The same is indicated by the large number of cautions contained in the text regarding such things as:

• The obligation to proclaim God’s full vision of marriage, not watering it down with “a lukewarm attitude, any kind of relativism, or an undue reticence in proposing that ideal” (AL 307).
• That people in such situations should either become sacramentally married (AL 293) or separate (AL 298) or live as brother and sister (cf. AL footnote 329).
• People who flout Church teaching on marriage need to listen to the gospel message and convert (AL 297).
• That misunderstandings like a “priest can quickly grant ‘exceptions’” must be avoided (AL 300).
• That cognitive or psychological conditions must exist which keep a person’s objective grave sin from becoming mortal (AL 301-302, 307).
• The need to avoid scandal (AL 299).

---

Jimmy Akin is an internationally known author and speaker. As the senior apologist at Catholic Answers, he has more than twenty years of experiencing defending and explaining the Faith.

Jimmy is a convert to the Faith and has an extensive background in the Bible, theology, the Church Fathers,...

ARE TRADITIONALISTS TOO PREOCCUPIED BY WHO IS RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION AND IS THIS BASED ON THEIR OWN ANXIETIES ABOUT THEIR OWN PECCADILLOES OR TEMPTATIONS?

At the outset, given the confused reading and interpretations of "The Joy of Love", our local bishops must give priests and laity sound teaching on the use of the Internal Forum.

But with that said, every priest and lay person knows that people who should not receive Holy Communion do receive and each Sunday. That's a fact. My attitude about this is that we make clear who is eligible, but if the ineligible receive, I simply place them into the hands of our merciful God and let Him worry about it.

Our Easter Mases are an example of this . All our Masses were packed and our 9:30 AM Mass people were standing outside! I did not know the majority who received, presuming they were visitors from out of town. But deep down I know they are nominal Catholics or are fringe  Catholics.

My only consolation is that where ignorance and sin abound, God's grace is more abundant!

POPE FRANCIS' BOMBSHELL FOR THE SSPX! YES! MORE!

Some believe that Pope Francis is too liberal with people who disagree with certain aspects of the Church. Here's even more proof reported by Mark Thomas:

Bishop Fellay has offered the following information in regard to his meeting last week with His Holiness Pope Francis:

http://www.lesalonbeige.fr/

-- Pope Francis will never condemn the SSPX.

-- Pope Francis insisted that the Society is Catholic.

-- Pope Francis will extend beyond the Holy Year his recognition of the SSPX's administration of the Holy Sacrament of Penance.

-- Bishop Fellay has been encouraged to establish a seminary in Italy. 

I THINK POPE FRANCIS IN "THE JOY OF LOVE" TIPPED HIS TIARA TO THE REINSTITUTION OF SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY IN THE CALENDAR OF THE ORDINARY FORM!

It is very obscure, but this is what Pope Francis wrote:

In paragraph 208 of Amoris Laetitia, the pontiff discusses various social and cultural forces that can help married couples, and ends by mentioning traditional religious practices.

“To give just one example, I think of Saint Valentine’s Day,” he said. “In some countries, commercial interests are quicker to see the potential of this celebration than are we in the Church.”--Pope Francis

THIS OBITUARY IS IN SUNDAY MORNING'S MACON TELEGRAPH

Every life no matter how fallen has some dignity! Through the grace of conversion and repentance complete dignity is restored in Jesus Christ.

There is no dignity in the death penalty! 

This obituary below is a powerful homily and testimony to God's love and mercy! It brings tears to my eyes.

 Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace!

Josh Bishop (1975 - 2016)

Obituary

 Josh Bishop

Macon, GA- Josh Bishop, 41, was executed by the State of Georgia and died on March 31, 2016. His last words were ones of repentance and love.

Josh lived a Dickensian childhood in the modern era. He grew up under bridges in Milledgeville, Georgia, in group homes and foster care, often hungry or afraid. He loved the outdoors, though, and later—wholly without bitterness—described golden days of his childhood as ones where he could fish for food or fry up green tomatoes left out for trash by families who had more than they needed.

Everyone who knew him as a boy recalls his sweetness, eagerness to help others, and his devotion to his mother.

Unlike the street urchins of the Dickens stories, however, Josh was never saved by a kindly, wealthy gentleman—or even by the State agencies charged with protecting abused children. Instead, he fell into drug and alcohol abuse and at age 19 made horrible mistakes that were not otherwise in his character. His addiction, and what came of it, cost him his life, and he wanted youth growing up in similar circumstances to learn from his story.

In the bleak and alienated world of Georgia's Death Row, however, Josh found that he could be loved by others and by God, and he came to flourish there as an artist and as a man. He was embraced by the Shertenlieb family, who ministered to him, visited him, and taught him that no is one beyond the reach of forgiveness and redemption. He was baptized as a Catholic.

He taught himself to draw, and, having little else to offer, gave gifts of his art to his friends and family—and even other prisoners and guards. He began to read ("Anne Frank blowed my mind!") and never tired of discussing the Old Masters, Sturgill Simpson songs, or the beauty of the natural world. He was accepted and cared for by others who came to write and visit him—Amy and Ryan Dunn, Gene and Kathi Gunter, Timothy Tew—and he blossomed in their love and friendship. He was a friend to them, too.

In his last years, working with a clinic at Mercer Law School, he taught close to fifty students lessons about justice that they could never learn in a classroom. He offered abject apologies to the families of his victims, and was comforted in the grace offered by a number of those he had hurt. His heart bled for children who lived without hope for a better life, and did what he could to encourage teenagers who struggled with bitterness or apathy. From his prison cell, Josh reached others with his kind and open heart. He bore others up. He made the world better.

In his last hours, Josh comforted his friends, prayed with us, reminded us to take care of one another, and sang "Amazing Grace." He hoped that his death would "take away from the pain and add to the peace" of those he had hurt. His continued concern for the suffering of others while he faced the ultimate penalty showed that the evil the State wanted to stamp out was not there, and all that was lost was the potential of a redeemed soul to do good. If there is justice in heaven, if not on earth, he is painting with Rembrandt and humming along with Merle Haggard.

Josh is survived by his brother, Mike Bishop: his best fishing buddy, surrogate parent, and hero. His other beloved relatives include his niece, Sarah, and nephew, Tristan; their mother, Christy Lewis; and his cousins, Crystal Bishop Griffin and Adam Bishop. He is preceded in death by his mother, Carolyn Bishop.

A Mass will be celebrated at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Conyers, Georgia, at 10:30 am on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. A burial will follow at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. Centenary United Methodist Church in Macon, Georgia, will also host an ecumenical service in Josh's honor on Sunday, April 17, 2016, at 2pm.

In lieu of flowers, we encourage donations to the Methodist Home for Children and Youth, 304 Pierce Avenue, Macon, Georgia 31204.

A JESUITICAL STROKE OF GENIUS?

As we all know, the liberal progressives of the Church after Vatican II created tremendous dissension and division in the Church. Of course they were pushing for this, that and the other behind the scenes and secretly before the Council but afterwards they came out in steroidal full force with their de-Catholicisization of the Church. They, not orthodox Catholics, are responsible for the state of confusion, dissension and division in the Church today. But what is done is done.

Under Popes John Paul II and Benedict, there appeared to be progress in restoring sanity and orthodoxy to the Church. But one method of trying to do this noble work of charity was the use of repressing discussion on the hot button issues of the Church as it concerns human sexuality and gender ideologies, not to mention same sex marriage and female priests (these later two are intimately linked to each other).

Thus, when Pope Francis allowed discussion on issues once thought closed to discussion during the past two synods on the family, everyone thought that this was the beginning of the end of the John Paul II and Benedict eras. And in a sense it was, as discussion was allowed rather than repressed.

However, the open discussion and the reactions these provoked in the hierarchy of the Church allowed all to have their say, meaning the most important players, those bishops in the synod (along with the lay voices that were invited to speak to the bishops). It brought out into the open the heterodoxy of bishops in Germany and other European countries where the Church is now on life-support because of the heterodoxy and genuflecting to secularism as they receive their bloated salaries from the state!

And now, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, after having heard the orthodox, the heterodox and everything in between has spoken (or written) in his final word on the subjects in the Apostolic Exhortation "The Joy of Love."

And after having read it, I must say that we are seeing a continuation of the Popes John Paul II and Benedict eras with a pastoral sensitivity that only a pope from the peripheries could bring, a pope who as a priest, bishop and cardinal worked as a pastor, not a university professor,  in the trenches and on the periphery and knows the reality on the ground and not from an ivory tower or what others have told him about the peripheries or real life. 

The new direction of Pope Francis is pastoral realism but he embraces every bit of the doctrines and dogmas of the Church that his heterodox bishops and cardinals do not. He has reiterated these.

And now that the heterodox have had their day and say in the sun of the Vatican and before the pope himself, they have be called to unity and oneness with the true Church and her Magisterium but more importantly to embrace completely the "Deposit of Faith!"

One has to understand that the term "Deposit of Faith" had fallen into disrepute with heterodox progressives as they viewed it as static and preventing them from desconstructing the Catholic Faith.

Pope Francis, time and time again, has referred to the "Deposit of Faith" and recovered the feminine nature of the Church, anathema to heterodox progressives because of its implications for preventing them from accomplishing their dastardly deeds of heterodoxy.

We have seen the writing on the wall and in the daily homilies that this pope, while down to earth and practical in his love for the sheep, was and is the Trojan Horse warrior against heterodox Catholicism and in a stroke of Jesuitical Genius has conquered them in a brilliant way!

THREE TIMES DENYING JESUS AND THREE TIMES AFFIRMING HIS LOVE FOR JESUS: DOMINE, NON SUM DIGNUS, DOMINE, NON SUM DIGNUS, DOMINE, NON SUM DIGNUS!

The revision of the 1962 Missal, but worse yet, the inadequate and intentionally distorted original English translation of the revised 1970 Missal, lost many Scriptural allusions in the texts and repetitions of the Mass. For the most part, the glorious and new English translation of the new Mass recovered much of this which was always in the Latin version of the new Mass.

One thing, though, that was eliminated in the Latin and English and remains eliminated in the new Mass (but gloriously restored in the Ordinariate's, Divine Worship, the Missal,) is the three fold "Lord, I am not worthy..."

THIS IS NOT USELESS REPETITION! IT HEARKENS BACK TO SAINT PETER'S THRICE DENYING JESUS AT THE PASSION AND HIS TRICE AFFIRMING HIS LOVE FOR JESUS AS JESUS QUIZZES PETER ABOUT HIS LOVE FOR HIM AFTER THE RESURRECTION. 

IT IS VERY SCRIPTURAL FOR US TO SAY:

Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.

Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. 

In addition to affirming our guilt and need for healing which mimics Peter's thrice denial and thrice affirming his love for the Risen Lord, it also ties into the three-fold "Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us." I am sure there were those in Bugnini's camp that wanted to do away with that "useless" repetition too. Fortunately they failed.

But where Bugnini and his ideologues failed, pastoral musicians succeeded in adding additional "Lambs of God" to "cover" the "action" of "breaking the Bread" and "pouring the Cup" at Mass, completely obfuscating the symbolism of the three-fold lamb of God and Domine, non sum dignus. Fortunately, I don't think adding Lambs of God occurs very frequently today by choir directors and musicians.

During this year of mercy, let us petition the Congregation for Divine Worship and Robert Cardinal Sarah to make a grand gesture in the liturgy for the begging of mercy by restoring to  the Ordinary Form the Mass the following:

Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.

Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

BOMBSHELL GOOD NEWS FOR THE CHURCH KEEPS COMING! NOW THAT THE WONDERFUL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION "THE JOY OF LOVE" IS RELEASED, IT WILL LEAD TO PEACE AND TRANQUILITY IN THE POPE FRANCIS' ERA OF THE CHURCH! BUT MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY, THE FSSXP WILL BE COMPLETELY OR PLENARYLY REINTEGRATED INTO THE PLENARY (FULL) CANONICAL COMMUNION OF THE CHURCH AND BY POPE FRANCIS TO BOOT!

Copied from Rorate Caeli:

Main Vatican (Ecclesia Dei) official: Vatican II disagreements no obstacle to SSPX structure

Abp. Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, spoke to the semi-official daily of the French episcopate, La Croix, on the relations between the Holy See and the Society of St. Pius X, and among other relevant things said the following:

"The difficulties raised by the SSPX regarding Church-State relations and religious freedom,the practice of ecumenism, and the dialogue with non-Christian religions, of certain aspects of the liturgical reform, and of its concrete application, remain the object of discussion and clarification, Abp. Pozzo [of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei] added, but they are not an obstacle for the canonical and legal recognition of the SSPX."

BOMBSHELL TELLING IT LIKE IT IS! THE UK'S DAMIAN THOMPSON OF THE SPECTATOR NAILS IT: HE SAYS THAT "THE JOY OF LOVE" DUMPS THE KASPERITES, EFFECTIVELY!!!!!

If Damian Thompson likes "The Joy of Love" than we all should. And  I do, I do!

Pope Francis’s revolution has been cancelled:

Damian Thompson

Damian Thompson is an associate editor of The Spectator

Here’s the beginning of the Guardian’s report on Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love), Pope Francis’s response to the Synod on the Family:

Pope Francis has called for the Catholic church to revamp its response to modern family life, striking a delicate balance between a more accepting tone towards gay people and the defence of traditional church teachings on issues such as abortion.

In a landmark papal document entitled Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love), Francis outlined his vision for the church on family issues, urging priests to respond to their communities without mercilessly enforcing church rules: “Each country or region, moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs,” he wrote.

Can you spot what’s missing? Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics. That’s because the document doesn’t mention it – except in a confusing footnote referring to how the Church can help such Catholics grow in grace:


As Private Eye would say: er, that’s it.

Some quick reactions:

1. Francis has many interesting things to say in Amoris Laetitia, which reads in places like a self-help manual, but they don’t include changes of the rules regarding hot-button subjects. His mood music is gentler than that of his predecessors, but then it was already. Andrew Brown of the Guardian says that Francis has ‘lost this battle for reform’ and that this statement represents ‘a draw between liberals and conservatives’. I’m not sure how a lost battle can also be a draw, but then Brown has a vivid imagination.

2. Catholic liberals had guessed that the Pope wasn’t going to readmit divorced-and-remarried people to Communion. They pinned their hopes on an announcement that bishops’ conferences would be given the power to bend the rules fairly dramatically. That’s not happening either. This exhortation encourages priests to reach spiritual accommodation with repentant divorcees – but the only hint that this may include admitting them to Holy Communion is banished to the above footnote. ‘But the devil is in the footnote,’ conservatives are wailing already. Oh, please. If the ‘devil’ (i.e. liberals) has achieved his aim, why are the proponents of ‘reform’ in such despair today?

3. Gay people get some familiar reassurances about their dignity as human beings etc but also scare quotes around same-sex ‘marriage’, which is roundly condemned. I’ve always said Francis wasn’t interested in secular gay rights and this exhortation bears that out.

4. In effect the Pope has decided not to go down the route of the Anglican Communion, which devolves major questions of doctrine and pastoral practice to local churches. That’s wise of him, because look what happened to international Anglicanism.

5. The Kasperites have been dumped, effectively. Hardline German liberals must be asking themselves why Francis encouraged them so extravagantly, then squashed their ambitions.

6. The answer lies in the proceedings of the 2015 Synod, where the liberals were outmanoeuvred by (among others) ferociously orthodox African bishops. Of whom more later.

MY COMMENTS: THANK GOD FOR THE AFRICANS AND FOR THE RECORDED RACIST STATEMENT ABOUT AFRICANS THAT CARDINAL KASPER MADE TO THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER'S JOURNALIST EDWARD PENTIN AND THEN TO KASPER'S BALDFACED LIE THAT HE HAD NOT SAID IT ONLY TO HAVE THE RECORDED STATEMENT RELEASED TO PROVE HE HAD SAID IT AND HE WAS A LIAR IN DENYING IT! THE HOLY SPIRIT AND AFRICANS SAVED THE CHURCH. THE HOLY SPIRIT ALWAYS DOES!

PARITAL AND PLENARY INDULGENCES; PARITAL AND PLENARY ABSOLUTION; PARTIAL AND PLENARY COMMUNION WITH THE CHURCH

In light of Pope Francis not allowing those in irregular sexual unions be these civil marriages or simple cohabitation, but allowing by way of a footnote in His Holiness' Apostolic Exhortation, to still go to Confession and receive a partial absolution for a particular mortal sin for which there is true sorrow and repentance, should we not review what is actually practiced in the Church under the terms partial and plenary?

A plenary indulgence means that by the merits of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the full remission of the temporal punishment due to sacramentally forgiven sins is obtained. The person becomes as if just baptized and would fly immediately to heaven if he died in that instant. A partial indulgence means that a portion of the temporal punishment due to forgiven sin is remitted. Partial indulgences are received either by doing some act to which a partial indulgence is attached (e.g. praying a partially indulgenced prayer), or by the incomplete fulfillment of the conditions attached to a plenary indulgence.

The above is Church teaching and it appears that the following, in light of "The Joy of Love" is also Church teaching:

A plenary absolution means that by the merits of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the full remission of sacramentally forgiven sins is obtained. The person becomes as if just baptized and would fly immediately to heaven if he died in that instant. A partial absolution means that only those sins where there is true contrition is forgiven or remitted. Partial absolutions are received either by doing some act of confession  to which a partial absolution is attached , or by the incomplete fulfillment of the conditions attached to a plenary absolution. One who receives a partial absolution may not be admitted to Holy Communion.

Of course the Baltimore Catechism speaks of perfect and imperfect contrition apart from Sacramental Confession, a sort of partial absolution that hinges on a future Confession.

We already know that there is partial and plenary communion with the Church which could be extended to Catholics who are in irregular sexual relationships either through a civil marriage or cohabitation:

All validly baptized Christians from Protestant sects are partially in Communion with the Catholic Church. They are partial Catholics. Those Christians who are in full communion with the Vicar of Christ and the teachings of the Church are in plenary communion with the Church.

Those who are seeking the plenary communion of the Church either through Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist, or those who are validly baptized as Protestants seeking full communion through Profession of Faith, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist are partially in communion with the Church but more so once they have celebrated the Rite of Acceptance (Welcome) in the RCIA process.

I have had over the years a number of RCIA candidates (already baptized) who have not gone on to the Rite of Election or the Easter Vigil, but attend Mass each and every Sunday. Since they are in partial communion with the Church, they cannot receive Holy Communion. However, they are allowed to go to Confession and receive absolution. I have had a number of people in this situation. They are candidates for Plenary Communion but have not taken the final step toward it, but are baptized and have celebrated the Rite of Acceptance (Welcome) or the RCIA and they go to Confession and receive absolution regularly all the while being in partial communion with the Church.

Thus we come to a reorientation of who is allowed to received partial and plenary absolution. A person who lives in an irregular sexual relationship with a partner, be it a civil marriage or simply cohabitation, is not allowed to receive Holy Communion due to the persistent mortal sin of this situation.  However, that person, while not allowed to receive Holy Communion, is not excommunicated from the Church.

If that person has an abortion or their male partner participates in that person obtaining an abortion, then both are excommunicated from the Church.

It seems to me that the pastoral solution that Pope Francis is proposing in "The Joy of Love" is that one can receive a partial absolution and a complete lifting of the excommunication attached to abortion by going to Confession even though they have not come to a point of repenting of their irregular and sinful sexual relationship.They are then forgiven of the abortion and the excommunication is lifted. But because this entails only partial absolution they are not free to receive Holy Communion.

So the final question I pose once again: Is the Church's teaching that all mortal sins must be confessed with sincere sorrow and a firm purpose of amendment as a means to a good and valid Confession simply a discipline of the Church or defined as an actual doctrine. If a doctrine, is it solemnly defined as a dogma. I've never thought about this before and simply took the teaching at face value. But should we?

I sincerely ask the final question for I am not sure that it is a dogma or defined doctrine, but simply a canonical discipline. Certainly one can be forgiven for a sin one is truly repentant of while not repenting of other sins. More importantly allowing those who are not free to receive a plenary absolution but only a partial absolution keeps them close to the Sacrament of Mercy but does not permit them to receive Holy Communion. So they are partially in communion with the Church in a sacramental way, because they are still baptized and still Confirmed but they are barred under normal circumstances from receiving Holy Communion, but they can still participate partially in the Sacrament of Penance by receiving a partial absolution.

Would this not keep them closer to the Church rather than pushing them further away by demanding an all or nothing approach to Communion with the Church?

FOR THOSE IN IRREGULAR MARRIAGE OR MARRIAGE LIKE SITUATIONS, NO, NO, NO TO HOLY COMMUNION, BUT YES TO THE ABILITY TO CONFESS AND BE FORGIVEN FOR OTHER SINS WHILE NOT ALLOWING A RETURN TO HOLY COMMUNION!

The anti-Francis gang, those faux Catholics, and the secular press are using an obscure footnote in Pope Francis exhortation that seems to allow for Catholics in irregular sexual unions to receive Holy Communion. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

BUT THIS LITTLE FOOTNOTE DOES SEEM TO OPEN THE DOOR TO SOMETHING TRULY NEW AND NOVEL ABOUT THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE: PARTIAL ABSOLUTION FOR A SERIOUS SIN, LIKE ABORTION, FOR SOMEONE IN AN IRREGULAR SEXUAL UNION WHICH DOES NOT ALLOW FOR REGULARIZING THAT UNION OR IN ANY WAY ALLOWING FOR HOLY COMMUNION!

 What is novel in this approach, is that it is therapeutic and for the forgiveness of a sin that is no longer being committed. It is a partial absolution--something novel and I'd have to study more about it.

Discernment Cardinal Schonborn says, was a key word in Pope Francis’ Exhortation. It is very “Jesuitical” – discernment of spirits – and that leads him to an attitude that was already present in Pope Benedict’s teaching, in Pope [St.] John Paul II’s teaching, that the Church offers help to those who are in so-called “irregular situations”. He adds a little note, where he says, “In certain cases, also, the aid, the help of the sacraments.” That’s all he said.

Cardinal Schonborn states, "I  think it is fairly clear: there are circumstances in which people in irregular situations may really need sacramental absolution, even if their general situation cannot be clarified."

The example Cardinal Schonborn uses actually comes from Pope Francis in describing the situation of  a woman who has committed the grave sin of abortion, who wants to go to confession to seek forgiveness of that sin of abortion, but she is in an irregular marriage not recognized by the Church.

Schonborn says Pope Francis has taught that "a priest  has to help this person to be freed from her burden of having had an abortion for which she is now repentant. Even if the priest can't tell her that her marital situation has been regularized by this absolution, you cannot let her leave the confessional with the burden of her grave sin of abortion she finally had the courage to come and confess. 

Cardinal Schonborn concludes "that was the example he (Pope Francis) had given, and I think it is a very good example for what this little (foot) note could mean in certain cases: i.e. “[…]even the help of sacraments.” 

JUSADBELLUM MAKES IT CLEAR ABOUT THE POPE'S EXHORTATION, LIKE MIKEY ABOUT LIFE CERIAL: HE LIKES IT!

TAKE IT FROM ONE WHO IS ACTUALLY READING THE LENGTHY DOCUMENT!!!!!!

Jusadbellum has left a new comment on your post "THIS IS SAFE HIGH SPIN FROM HIGH PLACES!":

I'm about a third of the way through the document so far and I have to say, when you read the paragraphs in context they're not ambiguous AT ALL.... so far it's a tour de force in rock solid Catholic orthodoxis and orthopraxis.

He clearly and unequivocally declares contraception, abortion, fornication, living together, concubinage, same-sex unions, and adultery to be wrong. But the 'spin' is that they're wrong because the beauty of heterosexual, exclusive, and permanent marriage is such a glorious thing that we should all cringe at the self-destructive if deluded behavior of people who don't grasp what they're missing or who despair of its reality.

So far this is by far the most readable and 'fluid' document I've read from Pope Francis.

THIS IS SAFE HIGH SPIN FROM HIGH PLACES!

Card. Schönborn: Reconciliation key to 'accompaniment'

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna at Vatican Radio, April 8, 2016 - RV

08/04/2016 12:28

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’ post-Synodal Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, on “The Joy of Love”, was officially released to the public at noon on Friday. Presenting the highly anticipated document in the Press Office of the Holy See were Cardinals Lorenzo Baldisseri – Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops – and Christoph Schönborn – Archbishop of Vienna and a leading Father of both the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2014 and the Ordinary Assembly that followed in 2015.
Cardinal Schönborn spoke exclusively with Vatican Radio ahead of the press conference, saying that the Holy Father’s desire in writing the exhortation was to give expression to the Church’s confidence in the family as intended by God in his design for humanity.
“I think the key message is: ‘Don’t speak first about problems, speak first about the achievement of the family,’ [and] I would like to [shout it] out. The Church has been seen as a ‘warner’ – everywhere warnings and dangers and crises and problems. I think Pope Francis wants us to say, ‘Please, just look first at the enormous gift that is marriage and family,’” he said.
The Cardinal-Archbishop of also discussed the concerns expressed by observers and not a few Synod Fathers over matters of process, direction, and content during the Assemblies themselves.
“The diversity of critiques that has been expressed during the Synod is quite large, and I am sure that not everybody will be satisfied with this document. It was never the case – I can’t remember any post-Synodal Exhortation that received applause from everybody. The fact is, Pope Francis has based his Exhortation largely on the results of the two Synods, and the texts he used for [the basis of] his own writing were voted on by an over 2/3 majority of the Synod Fathers, so there is a large consensus behind it,” said Cardinal Schönborn.
On one point, in particular, Cardinal Schönborn offered significant clarification, explaining that, when Pope Francis discusses the possibility of admitting people in irregular marital situations “to the sacraments,” the Holy Father is speaking first and foremost of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“I think it is very clear,” said Card. Schönborn, “there are circumstances in which people in irregular situations may really need sacramental absolution, even if their general situation cannot be clarified.”
Below, please find a full transcript of Cardinal Schonborn’s English-language remarks to Vatican Radio  
****************************
CRA: Amoris laetitia is an “exhortation”: to what is Pope Francis exhorting the Church?
Card. Schönborn: To the joy of love. Yes, it’s really that: rejoice in the joy of familial and marital love – and he speaks about marital love, not in a romantic way, not in an abstract way, it is very realistic – it is close to life, close to daily life, with all the worries and sorrows and joys of daily life. You can feel that he is a shepherd, a pastor, who has been always very close to the people, to the families, to their daily sorrows and joys. So, I think the key message is: “Don’t speak first about problems, speak first about the achievement of the family,” [and] I would like to [shout it] out. The Church has been seen as a “warner” – everywhere warnings and dangers and crises and problems. I think Pope Francis wants us to say, “Please, just look first at the enormous gift that is marriage and family.”
CRA:  The Holy Father does seem to have the idea that the family is an asset?
Card. Schönborn: Absolutely. I would say it is the asset.
CRA: And yet, one not without its difficulties. The Holy Father is not without encouragement for people facing difficulties, and even for people who have to deal with the dissolution, the disintegration of family life…
Card. Schönborn: Yes, but there is an important pedagogical point [regarding] the whole document: it is not just for people who have visible problems in their marriage and family, but everybody – even, so to say, the “best” family, even the exemplary family; they all need God’s mercy, they all need conversion, they all need the help of grace – and the distinction is not so much between those who are successful in their marriages and those who are less successful in their marriage and family, but [the question is], “How do we accept God’s mercy, God’s help? The Church’s fellowship? The Church’s aid? How do we help each other on this way?” The key word is “inclusion”: we are all included under sin, and we are all included under God’s mercy. So, include people in difficulty, and help them.
CRA: Observers and some Synod Fathers expressed concern during the two Assemblies regarding process, direction and content: to the extent that those concerns were legitimate, can those who voiced them be satisfied with the document?
Card. Schönborn: The diversity of critiques that has been expressed during the Synod is quite large, and I am sure that not everybody will be satisfied with this document. It was never the case – I can’t remember any post-Synodal Exhortation that received applause from everybody. The fact is, Pope Francis has based his Exhortation largely on the results of the two Synods, and the texts he used for [the basis of] his own writing were voted on by an over 2/3 majority of the Synod Fathers, so there is a large consensus behind it. He is not innovating: he is continuing with what the Synod had already prepared and offered him.
CRA: You have said that the continuity runs also between this document and another, specifically, St. John Paul II’s Familiaris consortio… 
Card. Schönborn: I am profoundly convinced that, 35 years after Familiaris consortio, Pope Francis has given us a beautiful example of what [Bl.] John Henry Newman calls, “the organic development of teaching.” [St.] John Paul II has already innovated in some points: not a break with tradition, but his “Theology of the Body” was something very new; his words on graduality in Familiaris consortio were rather unusual; his words on “discernment” in Familiaris consortio #84 were quite surprising – his strong invitation to discern different situations. Pope Francis is very much in continuity with this, and the Synod was – the two Synods were [as well]. Discernment was a key word in Pope Francis’ Exhortation. It is very “Jesuitical” – discernment of spirits – and that leads him to an attitude that was already present in Pope Benedict’s teaching, in Pope [St.] John Paul II’s teaching, that the Church offers help to those who are in so-called “irregular situations”. He adds a little note, where he says, “In certain cases, also, the aid, the help of the sacraments.” That’s all he said.
CRA:  That brings us nicely to the point, because, when we are talking about discernment, we are inevitably also must discuss conscience – but we must let Mother Church form our consciences – and Pope Francis certainly knows this, though it does bear mention. The sacraments: which ones, and in what order?
Card. Schönborn: I think it is fairly clear: there are circumstances in which people in irregular situations may really need sacramental absolution, even if their general situation cannot be clarified. Pope Francis has himself given an example: when a woman [in an irregular marital situation] comes to confess her abortion – the sin, the grave sin of abortion – not to relieve her, even if her situation is irregular – the discernment of the shepherd can be, and I would say, “must be”: you have to help this person to be freed from her burden, even if you cannot tell her that her marital situation has been regularized by this absolution – but you cannot [let her leave] the confessional with the burden of her grave sin she finally had the courage to come to confess. That was the example he had given, and I think it is a very good example for what this little note could mean in certain cases: i.e. “[…]even the help of sacraments.” 

LET THE SPINNING BEGIN! HERE'S THE SUMMARY AS POSTED BY RORATE CAELI--I'VE HIGHLIGHTED IN RED WHAT I THINK IS IMPORTANT

UPDATE!  READ THE ENTIRE EXHORTATION IN ENGLISH BY PRESSING THE "here" BELOW FROM THE VATICAN!!!! READ IT, NOT JUST SUMMARIES AND SECULAR COMMENTARIES!!!!!!!!!

The text of the official summary of the Apostolic Exhortation ‘Amoris Laetitia’ or The Joy of Love can be found below. The full, unabridged text, can be found here on the Vatican website.

UPDATE: Associate Press states: "Pope Francis insisted that individual conscience be the guiding principle for Catholics negotiating the complexities of sex, marriage and family life in a major document released Friday that rejects the emphasis on black and white rules for the faithful."

EVERYBODY AND I MEAN EVERYBODY READ AND REREAD THE SECTION IN THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CONCERNING THE PROPER FORMATION AND USE OF CONSCIENCE! DON'T TAKE AS GOSPEL WHAT THE SECULAR PRESS IS WRITING AND THEIR SPIN! 

TO MAKE IT SIMPLE FOR YOU SIMPLY PRESS THIS LINK AND READ WHAT IT SAYS!!!!

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SECOND EDITION

---

PART THREE
LIFE IN CHRIST SECTION ONE
MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER ONE
THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
ARTICLE 6MORAL CONSCIENCE 

MY COMMENTS FIRST: Overall I am impressed with the summary. I have no idea what is in the complete text and it will take time to read and study. I urge everyone to read the summary and the text for themselves before swallowing commentaries hook, line and sinker. Don't do knee jerk negative howling about this!

 

Pope Francis is a pastor and this document is written by a pastor who is not a university professor teaching from an ivory tower. He knows what pastors and priests experience. But most importantly, His Holiness knows what the laity experience in the trenches.

 

All of us know what families experience, good, bad, ugly and indifferent and if we look at our own families we know first hand that most families are not ideal even if they present themselves as such on the surface. Just scratch and you'll find the truth. I can speak from personal experience in this regard! 

 

The pope doesn't say this, but I think we must be very careful not to condemn but rather understand that most Catholics who support a more liberal agenda concerning divorced and remarried as well as the treatment of gay people in civil law do so from  a profound Catholic sense of human justice and understanding. They may veer off course or become too secular in this regard forgetting eternal truths and the narrow path to salvation, but the motives behind their perspective are Catholic.

 

My strongest critique right now, after having read the document below is that Pope Francis seems to support the practical pastoral position of pastors who  are more lenient and tolerant of parishioners in irregular situations. I see no advice to us on Catholics who clearly are in an irregular situation and everyone knows it, who receive Holy Communion every Sunday. Here I speak not only of divorced and now in a union not recognized by the Church or of gay civil marriages where together the gay couple come to receive Holy Communion, but also public persons who support abortion, the death penalty and unjust war! 

 

As a priest I would like to have more concrete direction on how to deal with this and a more uniform direction that is fair to all Catholics in irregular situations. By this I mean every priest gives the same advice. This would avoid one priest allowing someone in an irregular situation to receive Holy Communion but the pastor next door who follows canon law doesn't allow it. And what about those who are faithful to the letter of the law and they see others being allowed to receive because a priest told them they could? Where is the fairness and justice in this approach?

 

 Below I highlight in red what I think is important or ambiguous and in blue over an occasional comment on what immediately precedes: 

FROM RORATE CAEILI: Summary of Amoris Laetitia

Summary of Amoris Laetitia: 

On Love in the Family

It is not by chance that Amoris Laetitia (AL), “The Joy of Love”, the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “on Love in the Family”, was signed on 19 March, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph. It brings together the results of the two Synods on the family convoked by Pope Francis in 2014 and 2015. It often cites their Final Reports; documents and teachings of his Predecessors; and his own numerous catecheses on the family. In addition, as in previous magisterial documents, the Pope also makes use of the contributions of various Episcopal Conferences around the world (Kenya, Australia, Argentina...) and cites significant figures such as Martin Luther King and Erich Fromm. The Pope even quotes the film Babette’s Feast to illustrate the concept of gratuity.

Introduction (1-7)

The Apostolic Exhortation is striking for its breadth and detail. Its 325 paragraphs are distributed over nine chapters. The seven introductory paragraphs plainly set out the complexity of a topic in urgent need of thorough study. The interventions of the Synod Fathers make up [form] a “multifaceted gem” (AL 4), a precious polyhedron, whose value must be preserved. But the Pope cautions that “not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium”. Indeed, for some questions, “each country or region … can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs. For ‘cultures are in fact quite diverse and every general principle … needs to be inculturated, if it is to be respected and applied’” (AL 3). This principle of inculturation applies to how problems are formulated and addressed and, apart from the dogmatic issues that have been well defined by the Church’s magisterium, none of this approach can be “globalized”. In his address at the end of the 2015 Synod, the Pope said very clearly: “What seems normal for a bishop on one continent, is considered strange and almost scandalous – almost! – for a bishop from another; what is considered a violation of a right in one society is an evident and inviolable rule in another; what for some is freedom of conscience is for others simply confusion.”

The Pope clearly states that we need above all to avoid a sterile juxtaposition between demands for change and the general application of abstract norms. He writes: “The debates carried on in the media, in certain publications and even among the Church’s ministers, range from an immoderate desire for total change without sufficient reflection or grounding, to an attitude that would solve everything by applying general rules or deriving undue conclusions from particular theological considerations” (AL 2).

Chapter One: “In the light of the Word” (8-30)

Following this introduction, the Pope begins his reflections with the Holy Scriptures in the first chapter, which unfolds as a meditation on Psalm 128 (which appears in the Jewish wedding liturgy as well as that of Christian marriages). The Bible “is full of families, births, love stories and family crises” (AL 8). This impels us to meditate on how the family is not an abstract ideal but rather like a practical “trade” (AL 16), which is carried out with tenderness (AL 28), but which has also been confronted with sin from the beginning, when the relationship of love turned into domination (cf. AL 19). Hence, the Word of God “is not a series of abstract ideas but rather a source of comfort and companionship for every family that experiences difficulties or suffering. For it shows them the goal of their journey...”
(AL 22).

Chapter two: “The experiences and challenges of families” (31-57)

Building on the biblical base, in the second chapter the Pope considers the current situation of families. While keeping “firmly grounded in [the] reality” of family experiences (AL 6), he also draws heavily on the final Reports of the two Synods. Families face many challenges, from migration to the ideological denial of differences between the sexes (“ideology of gender” AL 56); from the culture of the provisional to the antibirth mentality and the impact of biotechnology in the field of procreation; from the lack of housing and work to pornography and abuse of minors; from inattention to persons with disabilities, to lack of respect for the elderly; from the legal dismantling of the family, to violence against women. The Pope insists on concreteness, which is a key concept in the Exhortation. And it is concreteness, realism and daily life that make up the substantial difference between acceptable “theories” of interpretation of reality and arbitrary “ideologies”.

Citing Familiaris consortio, Francis states that “we do well to focus on concrete realities, since ‘the call and the demands of the Spirit resound in the events of history’, and through these ‘the Church can also be guided to a more profound understanding of the inexhaustible mystery of marriage and the family’” (AL 31). Conversely, if we fail to listen to reality, we cannot understand the needs of the present or the movements of the Spirit. The Pope notes that rampant individualism makes it difficult today for a person to give oneself generously to another (cf. AL 33). Here is an interesting picture of the situation: “The fear of loneliness and the desire for stability and fidelity exist side by side with a growing fear of entrapment in a relationship that could hamper the achievement of one’s personal goals” (AL 34).

The humility of realism helps us to avoid presenting “a far too abstract and almost artificial theological ideal of marriage, far removed from the concrete situations and practical possibilities of real families” (AL 36). Idealism does not allow marriage to be understood for what it is, that is, a “dynamic path to personal development and fulfilment”. It is unrealistic to think that families can sustain themselves “simply by stressing doctrinal, bioethical and moral issues, without encouraging openness to grace” (AL 37). Calling for a certain “self-criticism” of approaches that are inadequate for the experience of marriage and the family, the Pope stresses the need to make room for the formation of the conscience of the faithful: “We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them” (AL 37). Jesus proposed a demanding ideal but “never failed to show compassion and closeness to the frailty of individuals like the Samaritan woman or the woman caught in adultery” (AL 38).

Chapter three: “Looking to Jesus: The vocation of the family” (58-88)

The third chapter is dedicated to some essential elements of the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family. This chapter is important because its 30 paragraphs concisely depict the vocation of the family according to the Gospel and as affirmed by the Church over time. Above all, it stresses the themes of indissolubility, the sacramental nature of marriage, the transmission of life and the education of children. Gaudium et Spes of Vatican II, Humanae Vitae of Paul VI, and Familiaris Consortio of John Paul II are widely quoted.

The chapter provides a broad view and touches on “imperfect situations” as well. We can read, in fact: “‘Discernment of the presence of ‘seeds of the Word’ in other cultures (cf. Ad Gentes 11) can also apply to the reality of marriage and the family. In addition to true natural marriage, positive elements exist in the forms of marriage found in other religious traditions’, even if, at times, obscurely” (AL 77). The reflection also includes the “wounded families” about whom the Pope – quoting the Final Report of the 2015 Synod extensively – says that “it is always necessary to recall this general principle: ‘Pastors must know that, for the sake of truth, they are obliged to exercise careful discernment of situations’

(Familiaris Consortio, 84). The degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases and factors may exist which limit the ability to make a decision. Therefore, while clearly stating the Church’s teaching, pastors are to avoid judgements that do not take into account the complexity of various situations, and they are to be attentive, by necessity, to how people experience and endure distress because of their condition” (AL 79). MY COMMENT: THERE IS AN ART TO DOING THIS AND IT IS AN ART NOT A SCIENCE AND MULTIPLE WAYS OF CARRYING THIS OUT.


Chapter four: “Love in marriage” (89-164)

The fourth chapter treats love in marriage, which it illuminates with Saint Paul’s Hymn to Love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. This opening section is truly a painstaking, focused, inspired and poetic exegesis of the Pauline text. It is a collection of brief passages carefully and tenderly describing human love in absolutely concrete terms. The quality of psychological introspection that marks this exegesis is striking. The psychological insights enter into the emotional world of the spouses – positive and negative – and the erotic dimension of love. This is an extremely rich and valuable contribution to Christian married life, unprecedented in previous papal documents.

This section digresses briefly from the more extensive, perceptive treatment of the day-to-day experience of married love which the Pope refuses to judge against ideal standards: “There is no need to lay upon two limited persons the tremendous burden of having to reproduce perfectly the union existing between Christ and his Church, for marriage as a sign entails ‘a dynamic process…, one which advances gradually with the progressive integration of the gifts of God’” (AL 122). On the other hand, the Pope forcefully stresses the fact that conjugal love by its very nature defines the partners in a richly encompassing and lasting union (AL 123), precisely within that “mixture of enjoyment and struggles, tensions and repose, pain and relief, satisfactions and longings, annoyances and pleasures” (Al 126) which indeed make up a marriage.

The chapter concludes with a very important reflection on the “transformation of love” because “Longer life spans now mean that close and exclusive relationships must last for four, five or even six decades; consequently, the initial decision has to be frequently renewed” (AL 163). As physical appearance alters, the loving attraction does not lessen but changes as sexual desire can be transformed over time into the desire for togetherness and mutuality: “There is no guarantee that we will feel the same way all through life. Yet if a couple can come up with a shared and lasting life project, they can love one another and live as one until death do them part, enjoying an enriching intimacy” (AL 163).

Chapter five: “Love made fruitful” (165-198)

The fifth chapter is entirely focused on love’s fruitfulness and procreation. It speaks in a profoundly spiritual and psychological manner about welcoming new life, about the waiting period of pregnancy, about the love of a mother and a father. It also speaks of the expanded fruitfulness of adoption, of welcoming the contribution of families to promote a “culture of encounter”, and of family life in a broad sense which includes aunts and uncles, cousins, relatives of relatives, friends. Amoris laetitia does not focus on the so-called “nuclear” family” because it is very aware of the family as a wider network of many relationships. The spirituality of the sacrament of marriage has a deeply social character (cf. AL 187). And within this social dimension the Pope particularly emphasizes the specific role of the relationship between youth and the elderly, as well as the relationship between brothers and sisters as a training ground for relating with others.

Chapter six: “Some pastoral perspectives” (199-258)

In the sixth chapter the Pope treats various pastoral perspectives that are aimed at forming solid and fruitful families according to God’s plan. The chapter use the Final Reports of the two Synods and the catecheses of Pope Francis and Pope John Paul II extensively. It reiterates that families should not only be evangelized, they should also evangelize. The Pope regrets “that ordained ministers often lack the training needed to deal with the complex problems currently facing families” (AL 202). On the one hand, the psycho-affective formation of seminarians needs to be improved, and families need to be more involved in formation for ministry (cf. AL 203); and on the other hand, “the experience of the broad oriental tradition of a married clergy could also be drawn upon” (AL 202).

The Pope then deals with the preparation of the engaged for marriage; with the accompaniment of couples in the first years of married life, including the issue of responsible parenthood; and also with certain complex situations and crises, knowing that “each crisis has a lesson to teach us; we need to learn how to listen for it with the ear of the heart” (AL 232). Some causes of crisis are analysed, among them a delay in maturing affectively (cf. AL 239).

Mention is furthermore made of accompanying abandoned, separated or divorced persons. The Exhortation stresses the importance of the recent reform of the procedures for marriage annulment. It highlights the suffering of children in situations of conflict and concludes: “Divorce is an evil and the increasing number of divorces is very troubling. Hence, our most important pastoral task with regard to families is to strengthen their love, helping to heal wounds and working to prevent the spread of this drama of our times” (AL 246). It then touches on the situations of a marriage between a Catholic and a Christian of another denomination (mixed marriages), and between a Catholic and someone of another religion (disparity of cult). Regarding families with members with homosexual tendencies, it reaffirms the necessity to respect them and to refrain from any unjust discrimination and every form of aggression or violence. The last, pastorally poignant part of the chapter, “When death makes us feel its sting”, is on the theme of the loss of dear ones and of widowhood.

Chapter seven: “Towards a better education of children” (259-290)

The seventh chapter is dedicated to the education of children: their ethical formation, the learning of discipline which can include punishment, patient realism, sex education, passing on the faith and, more generally, family life as an educational context. The practical wisdom present in each paragraph is remarkable, above all the attention given to those gradual, small steps “that can be understood, accepted and appreciated” (AL 271).

There is a particularly interesting and pedagogically fundamental paragraph in which Francis clearly states that “obsession, however, is not education. We cannot control every situation that a child may experience… If parents are obsessed with always knowing where their children are and controlling all their movements, they will seek only to dominate space. But this is no way to educate, strengthen and prepare their children to face challenges. What is most important is the ability lovingly to help them grow in freedom, maturity, overall discipline and real autonomy” (AL 260).

The notable section on education in sexuality is very expressively entitled: “Yes to sex education”. The need is there, and we have to ask “if our educational institutions have taken up this challenge … in an age when sexuality tends to be trivialized and impoverished”. Sound education needs to be carried out “within the broader framework of an education for love, for mutual self-giving” (AL 280). The text warns that the expression ‘safe sex’ conveys “a negative attitude towards the natural procreative finality of sexuality, as if an eventual child were an enemy to be protected against. This way of thinking promotes narcissism and aggressivity in place of acceptance” (AL 283).

Chapter eight: “Guiding, discerning and integrating weakness” (291-312)

The eighth chapter is an invitation to mercy and pastoral discernment in situations that do not fully match what the Lord proposes. The Pope uses three very important verbs: guiding, discerning and integrating, which are fundamental in addressing fragile, complex or irregular situations. The chapter has sections on the need for gradualness in pastoral care; the importance of discernment; norms and mitigating circumstances in pastoral discernment; and finally what the Pope calls the “logic of pastoral mercy”.

Chapter eight is very sensitive. In reading it one must remember that “the Church’s task is often like that of a field hospital” (AL 291). Here the Holy Father grapples with the findings of the Synods on controversial issues. He reaffirms what Christian marriage is and adds that “some forms of union radically contradict this ideal, while others realize it in at least a partial and analogous way”. The Church therefore “does not disregard the constructive elements in those situations which do not yet or no longer correspond to her teaching on marriage” (AL 292).

As far as discernment with regard to “irregular” situations is concerned, the Pope states: “There is a need ‘to avoid judgements which do not take into account the complexity of various situations’ and to be attentive, by necessity, to how people experience distress because of their condition’” (AL 296). And he continues: “It is a matter of reaching out to everyone, of needing to help each person find his or her proper way of participating in the ecclesial community, and thus to experience being touched by an ‘unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous’ mercy” (AL 297). And further: “The divorced who have entered a new union, for example, can find themselves in a variety of situations, which should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment” (AL 298). (MY COMMENT: This is what most pastors I know, including myself, have been doing. I've been trying to do it for the past 36 years! In this exhortation, we are reading a pope who has been a pastor, not a university professor and he knows first hand what pastors and priest experience in the trenches!)

In this line, gathering the observations of many Synod Fathers, the Pope states that “the baptized who are divorced and civilly remarried need to be more fully integrated into Christian communities in the variety of ways possible, while avoiding any occasion of scandal”. (MY COMMENT: Didn't I say this a few posts back?????)“Their participation can be expressed in different ecclesial services… Such persons need to feel not as excommunicated members of the Church, but instead as living members, able to live and grow in the Church… This integration is also needed in the care and Christian upbringing of their children” (AL 299).

In a more general vein, the Pope makes an extremely important statement for understanding the orientation and meaning of the Exhortation: “If we consider the immense variety of concrete situations, … it is understandable that neither the Synod nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases. What is needed is simply a renewed encouragement to undertake a responsible personal and pastoral discernment of particular cases, one which would recognize that, since ‘the degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases’, the consequences or effects of a rule need not necessarily always be the same” (AL 300). The Pope develops in depth the needs and characteristics of the journey of accompaniment and discernment necessary for profound dialogue between the faithful and their pastors. (MY COMMENTS: Here we will hear howling because of the ambiguity of this statement that reaffirms the ambiguity from priest to priest on how to deal with these pastoral situations. My question, is it fair to the laity to have priests deciding situations that are more liberal for some and more rigid for others? What about fairness that a simple canonical approach brings to everyone???)

For this purpose the Holy Father recalls the Church’s reflection on “mitigating factors and situations” regarding the attribution of responsibility and accountability for actions; and relying on St. Thomas Aquinas, he focuses on the relationship between rules and discernment by stating: “It is true that general rules set forth a good which can never be disregarded or neglected, but in their formulation they cannot provide absolutely for all particular situations. At the same time, it must be said that, precisely for that reason, what is part of a practical discernment in particular circumstances cannot be elevated to the level of a rule” (AL 304).

The last section of the chapter treats “The logic of pastoral mercy”. To avoid misunderstandings, Pope Francis strongly reiterates: “To show understanding in the face of exceptional situations never implies dimming the light of the fuller ideal, or proposing less than what Jesus offers to the human being. Today, more important than the pastoral care of failures is the pastoral effort to strengthen marriages and thus to prevent their breakdown” (AL 307).

The overall sense of the chapter and of the spirit that Pope Francis wishes to impart to the pastoral work of the Church is well summed up in the closing words: “I encourage the faithful who find themselves in complicated situations to speak confidently with their pastors or with other lay people whose lives are committed to the Lord. They may not always encounter in them a confirmation of their own ideas or desires, but they will surely receive some light to help them better understand their situation and discover a path to personal growth. I also encourage the Church’s pastors to listen to them with sensitivity and serenity, with a sincere desire to understand their plight and their point of view, in order to help them live better lives and to recognize their proper place in the Church.” (AL 312).

On the “logic of pastoral mercy”, Pope Francis emphasizes: “At times we find it hard to make room for God’s unconditional love in our pastoral activity. We put so many conditions on mercy that we empty it of its concrete meaning and real significance. That is the worst way of watering down the Gospel” (AL 311).

Chapter nine: “The spirituality of marriage and the family” (313-325)

The ninth chapter is devoted to marital and family spirituality, which “is made up of thousands of small but real gestures” (AL 315). The Pope clearly states that “those who have deep spiritual aspirations should not feel that the family detracts from their growth in the life of the Spirit, but rather see it as a path which the Lord is using to lead them to the heights of mystical union” (AL 316). Everything, “moments of joy, relaxation, celebration, and even sexuality can be experienced as a sharing in the full life of the resurrection” (AL 317). He then speaks of prayer in the light of Easter, of the spirituality of exclusive and free love in the challenge and the yearning to grow old together, reflecting God’s fidelity (cf. AL 319). And finally the spirituality of care, consolation and incentive: the Pope teaches that “all family life is a ‘shepherding’ in mercy. Each of us, by our love and care, leaves a mark on the life of others” (AL 322). It is a profound “spiritual experience to contemplate our loved ones with the eyes of God and to see Christ in them” (AL 323).

In the final paragraph the Pope affirms: “No family drops down from heaven perfectly formed; families need constantly to grow and mature in the ability to love … All of us are called to keep striving towards something greater than ourselves and our families, and every family must feel this constant impulse. Let us make this journey as families, let us keep walking together. (…) May we never lose heart because of our limitations, or ever stop seeking that fullness of love and communion which God holds out before us” (AL 325).

The Apostolic Exhortation concludes with a Prayer to the Holy Family.

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As can readily be understood from a quick review of its contents, the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia seeks emphatically to affirm not the “ideal family” but the very rich and complex reality of family life. Its pages provide an openhearted look, profoundly positive, which is nourished not with abstractions or ideal projections, but with pastoral attention to reality. The text is a close reading of family life, with spiritual insights and practical wisdom useful for every human couple or persons who want to build a family. Above all, it is patently the result of attention to what people have lived over many years. The Exhortation Amoris laetitia: On Love in the Family indeed speaks the language of experience and of hope.