News Item: : Amoris Laetitia - A Rorschach Test for Catholics?
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Saturday 09 April 2016 - 17:22:59

Can you tell what it is yet?

The New York Times has suggested that Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis' new apostolic exhortation, is turning out to be something of a Rorschach Test for Catholics. That is to say, the document's use of language leaves room for, ahem, a variety of interpretations. 

Here in England, that commentary is sadly confirmed by the fact that, whilst the Catholic Herald claims that the document has closed the door to the Kasper proposal, the leftist Tablet suggests the opposite. 

More sinister is the fact that the spiritually bankrupt German Bishops' Conference has publicly claimed that Amoris Laetitia now permits the divorced and re-''married'' to receive Holy Communion. With this, it is perhaps time to caution that, whilst the Rhine still clearly flows into the Tiber, it seems that the Styx first flows into the Rhine... 

An Important Observation

Before we move on to a few initital observations, we wish to acknowledge our intention to remain within the teaching found in Lumen Gentium 25. This highlights the fact that those areas of apostolic exhortations which are de fide, necessarily require the assent of the faithful. Also, other authentic teaching in such a papal document has a presumption of correctness and deserves the reverence and submission of Catholics. 

Even the very stones will cry out!

That being acknowledged, our consciences will not permit us to remain silent today regarding some aspects of Amoris Laetitia, which appear to be hugely problematic from a Catholic perspective. Let us remember that, although holding a level of authority, a papal exhortation is not a full expression of Papal Infallibility. 

As one of the main focuses, indeed a large part of the rasion d'etre of this entire Torch of The Faith apostolate has been to impart orthodox teaching on the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, it is perhaps fitting that we express ourselves from a catechetical perspective. 

The teaching found in Catechesi Tradendae has been particularly foundational to our endeavours in this regard. That document teaches that, ''the definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch, but in communion, intimacy, with Jesus Christ: only He can make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity'' (CT 5). Perhaps we have not always achieved that, and if we have that is more about God's grace than our action, but this has always been our central intention.

So, what follows needs to be understood in light of this too. We are basically asking: To what extent will the areas highlighted facilitate, or hinder, this intimacy with Christ?

Attempting to Empty Hell?

To be totally honest with you, I've felt like the blood has run out of me ever since I heard Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri claiming, in the earliest stages of yesterday's press release meeting, that an interpretive key to Amoris Laetitia is the ''fact'' that, ''no-one can be condemned forever, for that is against the logic of the Gospel.'' And indeed, this loss of soul-blood was fully hammered home last night when I discovered these very words are found in the document itself (AL 297).

Clearly, that needs some serious clarification!

After all, one of the central thrusts of the Gospel is Christ's hard-won salvation for souls from the eternal damnation of Hell!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church - that ''sure norm for teaching the Catholic Faith'' - explicitly warns: ''Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with Him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where ''men will weep and gnash their teeth'' (CCC 1036).

AL 298

We next turn to AL 298 and its associated footnote no. 329. Having carefully checked the cross-reference to GS 51 in our own copy of Gaudium et Spes, and the original teaching found in Familiaris Consortio, we must express very grave concerns about Pope Francis' use and application of these texts. He seems to suggest that the, let's face it illicit, sexual relations in an objectively adulterous situation are OK, as long as they are used to prevent one of the parties from seeking, yet another, mate.

Whereas St. Augustine viewed the marriage act as a legitimate remedy for lust, Pope Francis thus appears to view adultery as a legitimate prevention for further adultery with someone else!

To be most accurate: Pope Francis reports this faulty viewpoint, but neither confirms or condems it; thus furthering the ambiguity. 

AL 301

Related to this, is one of the most disturbing elements of Amoris Laetitia. We speak of the content of AL 301. This suggests, ''Hence it can no longer simply be said that all those in any ''irregular'' situations are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace.'' This was another key phrase from the press release conference which caused us grave interior suffering.

Indeed, in relation to this in AL 302, Pope Francis appears to transfer a section of the Catechism - which dealt specificially with the pastoral response to habitual masturbation (CCC 2352) - and apply it to those living in sexual relationships outside of marriage.

The arguments which Pope Francis makes in this area, surely need to be measured against the clear teaching expressed in CCC 1755 -1756: ''There are some concrete acts - such as fornication - that it is always wrong to choose, because choosing them entails a disorder of the will, that is, a moral evil... It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply their context. There are acts which, in and of themselves, independently of circumstances and intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of their object; such as blasphemy and perjury, murder and adultery. One may not do evil so that good may result from it.''

Prior even to that, is the fact that Pope Francis also appears to contradict the de fide content of Trent. We speak of his suggestion, which he shares with the Synod Fathers (!), that ''factors may exist which limit the ability to make a decision''. Overall, the approach taken seems to contradict Trent's Canon XVIII, which clearly states: ''If any one saith, that the Commandments of God are, even for one that is justified and constituted in grace, impossible to keep; let him be anathema.''

Of course grace is always available to help each of us to keep the natural and divine law. It does not necessarily mean it will always be easy for us to do so, but it is always possible to do so.

Grace is Always Available in this Life

Allow us a subjective story for a moment to illustrate this. Some years ago, we met a lady who had left the Church to marry a divorced man and start a family with him.

She was not concerned about leaving the Church and she was happy with him, at least on the natural level, for a couple of decades.

One day, she was passing a Catholic church and casually walked in. There was a Holy Mass being celebrated and she knelt down quietly in a pew. When the priest elevated the Sacred Host after the Consecration, she was suddenly filled with the grace of faith. She exclaimed to herself: ''That is Jesus!''

This initial moment of grace led her to begin praying at home. She began to realise that she loved, needed and wanted her Lord. After a good deal of prayer, she eventually recognized that the man she was with, though she loved him, was not really her husband. She informed the man that she wanted to return to her faith and practice it again to be able to receive Jesus worthily in Holy Communion. She moved into another room to enable them to live as brother and sister to acheive this. Although it was not easy, especially with the raising of children, grace aided this lady to return to the full practice of the Faith.

Grace is always available to us to give up sin and grow in holiness. We know this, because it is an objective and Magisterial teaching of the Church.  

AL 351 and the Smoking Footnote!

Raymond Arroyo has described the footnote to AL 351 as the ''smoking footnote''. He refers to a certainly ambiguous footnote which speaks of pastoral help for divorced and re-''married'' persons: ''In certain cases, this 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... I would also point out that the Eucharist ''is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.''

This not only sounds like the kind of phrases used by liberals for decades in their attempt to subvert the Church's teaching about the state of grace and Holy Communion; it also echoes almost word for word the arguments used by Cardinal Walter Kasper in his sacrilegious proposal. Small wonder, then, that the German episcopate is claiming a ''Kasper victory''...

The job of the catechist just got a whole lot harder...

A few years ago, we were giving catechesis on marriage to some potential converts. A young woman suddenly sneered and asked whether many Catholics still believed the things we were saying.

We were able to answer that, sadly, recent decades have been marked by a great deal of confusion, dissent and false teaching in this area. However, thanks to the clarity of papal teaching, many people had still been able to find a new life in Christ through following the true teachings of the Magisterium.

Whenever we gave catechesis to engaged couples in those days, we always told them - calmly and in love - that sex-outside-of-marriage, as well as contraception - was a serious sin that would need to be repented of, confessed and avoided, prior to them getting married.

One time, we had to say this to a group which included a young woman who was heavily pregnant. At the end of the presentation, she came over and thanked us for being so honest about the Church's true teaching.

From a catechetical perspective, and in light of the concerns that we have raised above, it can only be said that giving catechesis in this area will now be harder than ever for orthodox catechists.

Stay upright on the Barque with your knees bent and your eyes wide open!

Considering that the German Episcopate is about to use Amoris Laetitia to promote sacrilegious Holy Communions en masse, and that the document contains worrying elements about local bishops' conferences and about conscience, perhaps this is the least of our problems...

We think that Catholics need to get on their knees, make a firm act of the will to follow Christ and His true teachings and ask for the grace to keep faithful in these times of grave confusion.

Don't forget, this document has limited authority. It cannot change Sacred Scripture or Tradition. Also Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church still stand as objective norms.

Evil is abroad - Stay on the ship with Jesus and Our Lady! 

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This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1284 )