Dear readers, due to the present controversy in our Holy Church caused by the recently published “Declaration Fiducia Supplicans” by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, and the aftermath of counter declarations by various Episcopal Conferences as well as the Major Superiors of several Religious Congregations, I would like, as a Catholic content creator not to give any form of declaration because I am not competent to do so, but rather to give a compared opinion to the pastoral situation and context where I minister.
Reading through various declarations by Episcopal Conferences and Major Superiors, and talking to several people including some laity who have received the information about the document with a lot of confusion, I realize that a very sensitive cord has been pinched and the reaction is overwhelming. In the first few documents issued by some Episcopal Conferences, the tone adopted was that of trying to clarify what the Fiducia Supplicans intended to mean, especially concerning the section that seeks to expand the concept of blessing to include the blessing of same-sex couples, deeming it vague and confusing to the ordinary faithful.
However, in the later counter-declarations, the tone that I read is that of a position taken seeking to contradict the declaration that catholic clergy can now bless same-sex couples in a form of blessing that is not in a liturgical context. In one of the counter-declaration, I was particularly struck by the comment that explains a blessing as “speaking well of”. You cannot bless something or some state of life that you do not intend to speak well of. When someone seeks a blessing, he/she submits to the will of he who blesses – God. The will of God is found in the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of the Church whose head is Christ himself. There cannot be a way around the concept of blessing as the document seeks to find.
When I was posted to my current mission, I was faced with a similar situation. The community I minister to is culturally polygamous, and initially, polygamous men and women in polygamous unions were allowed to receive the Eucharist. Some argued that these people cannot change their ways and the Church needs to treat them exceptionally. Some even argued that since the Church met them practicing Polygamy, it has therefore no right to ask them to change. Many attempts have been made even at the diocesan level to try and find a way to regularize polygamy for this particular community. I found this position to hold no water because it is like telling someone who has lost direction that since you already are lost, there is no need to turn around and follow the right direction. It can also be compared to a mother who sees her 2-year-old son putting his socks on his hands rather than on his legs and telling him that it is alright to continue doing so. The only way to repair a leakage of mistakes is to seal the point of leakage.
In my effort to educate and evangelize the community, I asked some questions for their reflections which has bore very positive fruits four years down the line. These include the following: 1. If someone tells you that you can remain practicing what is wrong because you have no capacity to either understand or change to do what is right, is that a compliment or a mockery? 2. If someone sees you on the road and realizes that you have lost direction, and does not tell you so, is he/she a friend or a foul? 3. If some people are not able to understand the truth, do we alter the truth to accommodate them or do we find innovative ways to help them understand and embrace it? Does any government exempt any of its citizens from following the law because of their contradictory traditions and customs?
During the first centuries after Christ, the Church faced physical persecution, and many Christians died for their faith. We call them martyrs whose blood became the seed of faith that we enjoy today. The difference with today’s persecution of the Church is that persecutors have changed tactics and instead of cutting people’s throats, they are attacking people’s convictions and moral fabric. The tragedy today is that very few are prepared to suffer modern-day martyrdom for what they believe to be true. Worse even is that the very people who are supposed to lead the queue to the chopping board are the ones betraying the flock.
The Catholic Church is probably the biggest organization in the world that unites the world in many aspects such as the rich with the poor in charity, the different races in love, the healthy and the sick in solidarity, and the powerful and the lowly in justice, following the teachings and the example of its head Christ Jesus. The evil one is of course not happy with this and has always sought to destroy this fabric which is a times thorn in its flesh. Though we the believers know that evil will never carry the day, a lot of damage is caused by such confusion as that by the declaration of Fiducia Supplicans. The evil one is also vehemently innovating ways to destroy the Church so that he can send everyone to hell with him. I do not think that any serious believer should be surprised by this move. What we need to be doing is not to try and justify the unjustifiable but to stand up for what is right and true.
The office of the Holy See is the one that unites the entire Church, so if anyone has the intention to destroy the Church, that is the very point he or she would strike. The only miscalculation is that the Holy See is only at the service of Christ who is the head. Christ defeated and crushed the evil on the cross and this is only a mission in futility to think that by confusing some officials will be able to confuse the entire body of the Christ.
I find the present controversy a very good opportunity to sanitize ambiguities that have been causing confusion in the Church in recent years and deepen even more the quest to redeem the world.
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
SVD JAMBO KENTAN 