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Not Alone
“Confraternities of Catholic Clergy”
of Three Nations:
Reject
Fiducia supplicans
(the Blessing of Same Sex Couples)
Did you know
that the
Confraternities of Catholic Clergy from three nations
— to say nothing of the continent of Africa — reject Fiducia supplicans
outright and refuse to implement it?
What? Here in America?
Yes! In Britain? Yes! In Australia?
Yes!
These are
not the tepid and ambiguous statements of, for example, the
USCCB that:
while
we acknowledge “a distinction between liturgical (sacramental)
blessings, and pastoral blessings” … we want “to accompany [people
in homosexual “unions”] through the imparting of pastoral blessings.”
(United
Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops)
No.
The rejection by these national priestly Confraternities stands in
bold and stark contrast to the bishops’ hand-wringing:
American Confraternity:
-
“Sinful behavior and disordered inclinations can never be blessed
or condoned. Even the appearance of endorsement of any moral evil
must be avoided at all cost lest one infer that the one giving the
‘blessing’ is also a formal cooperator in evil, which is always
forbidden.”
-
“great care is
warranted lest the façade be made that not only the person but also
their actions and beliefs are also receiving an ‘imprimatur’ of
sorts.”
-
“the
contemplative must not defer to the senses; however credible their
reports may appear. Moreover, St. John argues, in their tangible
dimensions, these sensuous communications cannot, in reality, bear
any proportion to, and are in fact the ontological opposite of,
the spiritual reality which they purport to convey.”
British Confraternity
-
“Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which
presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition
has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.”
They are contrary to the natural law.”
-
“we
see no situation in which such a blessing of a couple could be properly
and adequately distinguished from some level of approval. Thus,
it would inevitably lead to scandal – to the individuals concerned
– to those involved directly or indirectly in the blessing – or
to the minister himself”
-
“With honest
parresia and from our own experience as pastors we conclude
that such blessings are pastorally and practically inadmissible.”
Australian Confraternity
-
“sexual acts between persons of the same
sex are intrinsically disordered and are contrary to the natural
law.”
-
“such blessings
of their nature are ordered to communion with God; to conversion
and sanctification, and so can never be bestowed on sinful acts
nor legitimize relationships that are intrinsically incompatible
with the divine plan.”
Despite a predictable absence of reporting
about this in the media, and the growing resistance to Fiducia supplicans,
it would appear that many of our priests still burn with an Apostolic
zeal that has long since burned out of Francis & Friends, leaving only
smoldering wicks. For that we must be immensely grateful, and remember
these good men in our prayers and sacrifices.
Geoffrey K. Mondello
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
January 31, 2024
Feast of St. John Bosco
Printable PDF Version
Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
Totally
Faithful to the Sacred Deposit of Faith entrusted
to the Holy See in Rome
“Scio
opera tua ... quia modicum habes virtutem, et servasti verbum
Meum, nec non negasti Nomen Meum”
“I
know your works ... that you have but little power, and
yet you have kept My word, and have not denied My Name.”
(Apocalypse 3.8)
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