Showing posts with label Moral Law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moral Law. Show all posts
Pope’s Anti-TLM Theologian Shows His Pro-Contraception Cards
A theologian analyzes the morality of the cancellation of public Masses and the closure of churches by the State — superb Thomistic treatment
The author of this letter, a priest and an experienced teacher of moral theology, shared the following text with Rorate Caeli. It was originally prepared as a letter to the priest’s local ordinary. I find it the best treatment I have read so far of these questions.
Your Excellency,
For nearly two months now the Catholic faithful have been deprived of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of Holy Communion, and for many, even of Confession, many priests refusing this ministry. This time has been one of great suffering for all. The unexpectedness of the situation found us all wondering what to do, and those in positions of leadership had to make some very tough and very quick decisions.
Letter Reflecting on the Cancellation of Masses and Closure of Churches
+Pax+
8 May 2020
Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces and Queen of All Saints
For nearly two months now the Catholic faithful have been deprived of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of Holy Communion, and for many, even of Confession, many priests refusing this ministry. This time has been one of great suffering for all. The unexpectedness of the situation found us all wondering what to do, and those in positions of leadership had to make some very tough and very quick decisions.
Interview with Polish Franciscan Theologian Maksym Adam Kopiec on Veritatis Splendor
Rorate is pleased to republish this interview, conducted by Aurelio Porfiri, which appeared today at O Clarim.
Interview with Polish Franciscan Theologian Maksym Adam Kopiec on Veritatis Splendor
by Aurelio Porfiri
We live in times of great relativism, times in which there seems to be no objective, firm, immutable truth. But it is not so and it is important that there are voices that try to confirm more and more this important truth: the truth exists, and for us it is called Jesus Christ. This is not simply an option in the landscape of thought, but it should be the alpha and the omega of our way of being in the world. If the truth is not solid and objective, then everything is really allowed, everything is possible, everything is justifiable. It does not matter that we are limited, sinful, fallible. What matters is knowing that there is a firm house on the rock to return to.
The Splendor of Truth Against the Darkness of Error
Is it not sobering, not to say hypocritical, that so many can pay lip service to a pope’s life while conveniently forgetting his unequivocal teaching on the absolutes of the moral law and the demanding requirements of the Gospel? Quite possibly the greatest doctrinal legacy of his pontificate is the sweeping Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor of 1993, the first comprehensive treatment of the foundations of moral theology in the papal magisterium.
Curiously, it seems to have escaped the notice of some members of the hierarchy that the authoritative teaching of this encyclical condemns ahead of time Cardinal Kasper’s outrageous “pastoral” proposals that violate Catholic doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage—proposals shamefully echoed once again in the Instrumentum Laboris of the upcoming Synod on the Family in October 2015.
Anyone who plans to engage these issues in a public way had better set aside a weekend for reading (or re-reading) Veritatis Splendor, because it exposes the deep roots of the entire discussion and shows clearly what is at stake: the mission of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the credibility of the New Covenant, the reality of God’s grace, and the infallibility of the Church.
While one might usefully quote nearly the entire encyclical, what follows are some passages particularly relevant to our times.
Excerpts from Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (1993)
26.
In the moral catechesis of the Apostles, besides exhortations and
directions connected to specific historical and cultural situations, we find an ethical teaching with precise rules of
behaviour. . . . From the Church’s beginnings, the Apostles, by virtue of
their pastoral responsibility to preach the Gospel, were vigilant over the
right conduct of Christians, just as they were vigilant for the purity of
the faith and the handing down of the divine gifts in the sacraments. … No damage must be done to the harmony
between faith and life: the unity of the
Church is damaged not only by
Christians who reject or distort the truths of faith but also by those who
disregard the moral obligations to which they are called by the Gospel (cf.
1 Cor 5:9-13). The Apostles decisively rejected any separation between
the commitment of the heart and the actions which express or prove it (cf. 1 Jn
2:3-6). And ever since Apostolic times the Church’s Pastors have unambiguously
condemned the behaviour of those who fostered division by their teaching or by
their actions.
49. A doctrine which dissociates the moral act from the bodily dimensions of its exercise is contrary to the teaching of Scripture and Tradition. Such a doctrine revives, in new forms, certain ancient errors which have always been opposed by the Church, inasmuch as they reduce the human person to a “spiritual” and purely formal freedom. This reduction misunderstands the moral meaning of the body and of kinds of behaviour involving it (cf. 1 Cor 6:19). Saint Paul declares that “the immoral, idolaters, adulterers, sexual perverts, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers” are excluded from the Kingdom of God (cf. 1 Cor 6:9). This condemnation — repeated by the Council of Trent — lists as “mortal sins” or “immoral practices” certain specific kinds of behaviour the wilful acceptance of which prevents believers from sharing in the inheritance promised to them. In fact, body and soul are inseparable: in the person, in the willing agent and in the deliberate act, they stand or fall together.
49. A doctrine which dissociates the moral act from the bodily dimensions of its exercise is contrary to the teaching of Scripture and Tradition. Such a doctrine revives, in new forms, certain ancient errors which have always been opposed by the Church, inasmuch as they reduce the human person to a “spiritual” and purely formal freedom. This reduction misunderstands the moral meaning of the body and of kinds of behaviour involving it (cf. 1 Cor 6:19). Saint Paul declares that “the immoral, idolaters, adulterers, sexual perverts, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers” are excluded from the Kingdom of God (cf. 1 Cor 6:9). This condemnation — repeated by the Council of Trent — lists as “mortal sins” or “immoral practices” certain specific kinds of behaviour the wilful acceptance of which prevents believers from sharing in the inheritance promised to them. In fact, body and soul are inseparable: in the person, in the willing agent and in the deliberate act, they stand or fall together.
Radicati EDITORIAL: "The New Mass: a Skeletal Mass for a Skeletal Church"
Editorial: Radicati nella fede, August 2015
Newsletter of the Catholic community of
Vocogno, Diocese of Novara, Italy
| [Fr. Steve Kelly, SJ, celebrates "mass" - Los Angeles] |
They were anticipating a new Church, and so they set about changing the Mass. They wanted a Church with new dogmas and new morality, so they had to tinker with the Catholic Mass and make it into a skeleton of itself. And a skeleton Mass corresponds to a skeletal Church, made up of skeletal dogma and morality.
"An Act of Parliament, directly oppugnant
to the laws of God and his holy Church..."
All which notwithstanding the jury found him guilty, and incontinent upon the verdict the Lord Chancellor [for that matter chief commissioner] beginning in judgment against him, Sir Thomas More said to him,
"My Lord, when I was towards the law, the manner in such case was to ask the prisoner before judgment, why judgment should not be given against him."
Whereupon the Lord Chancellor staying his judgment, wherein he had partly proceeded, demanded of him what he was able to say to the contrary. Who then in this sort mildly made answer:
"Forasmuch as, my Lord, this indictment is grounded upon an Act of Parliament, directly oppugnant to the laws of God and his holy Church, the supreme government of which, or of any part thereof, may no temporal prince presume by any law to take upon him as rightfully belonging to the See of Rome, a spiritual preeminence by the mouth of our Saviour himself, personally present upon the earth, to St. Peter and his successors, bishops of the same see, by special prerogative, granted, it is therefore in law amongst Christian men insufficient to charge any Christian."...
The Manifesto that was Missing:
Who is speaking up for them, while the Bishops abandon Christ?
| Fritz von Uhde Christ with a Farmer's Family (1887-8) Musée d'Orsay |
Friends throughout the world: translate this, send it to all your priests and Bishops, to Archbishops and to Cardinals. This is the Manifesto that was missing. They have no wealthy German Bishops to speak up for them -- and you could well be one of these victims, let them know who the lost sheep really are, the sheep they have willfully overlooked as they dance around with the princes of the world in empty assemblies.
Who Will Rescue the Lost Sheep of the Lonely Revolution?
Anthony EsolenNovember 6, 2104[Excerpts]
Forgive me, Lord, if I use your words for an admonitory parable. ... That is why you came among us, to call sinners back to the fold. Not to pet and stroke them for being sinners... . ... We do not have Pharisees who preen themselves for having followed the letter of the law and missed its soul. We have Pharisees who preen themselves for disobeying the law, even the most serious admonitions of the law, even your own clear words on marriage and divorce, while presuming to have discovered a soul-of-the-law whose existence has eluded two thousand years of martyrs, saints, popes, bishops, and theologians.
Liberals just love Paul VI - just not what he actually said on fundamental matters of doctrine...
Other than the separation of morals from religion, and in particular from the teaching of the Church on certain great moral problems (such as contraception, abortion, sterilization, euthanasia...), another crucial point regarding the Moral Doctrine of the Church is that it is often thought that her teaching is out of fashion.
Benson at 100:
Paganism and Puritanism, Enemies of the Church's Immutable Standards of Moral Perfection
| "The Church alone has the secret of the sinner's cure." |
Editorial: The Synod of Bishops and Divine Law
by Roberto de Mattei
Radici Cristiane
Editorial, September 2014
by Roberto de Mattei
| Rosso Fiorentino The Marriage of the Virgin Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence |
The Synod of Bishops in October will discuss on the basis of Instrumentum laboris – “the worksheet” which summarizes the responses to the “preliminary questionnaire” received from the Bishop Conferences, ministries, and more in general - dioceses, parishes, movements, ecclesial associations,[all] consulted on the topic of marriage and the family. Besides the sociological slant which characterizes it, the document contains some disturbing passages. One of these is the implicit and often explicit devaluation of the idea of the natural law. In the Instrumentum laboris, in fact, we find this: “In a vast majority of responses and observations, the concept of natural law today turns out to be, in different cultural contexts, highly problematic, if not completely incomprehensible.” (n.21) The solution suggested would be to abandon the concept and term of the natural law, or “to re-read” it in accessible language, with particular attention to the young being part as a direct interlocutor on these themes.
We seem to understand then, that since the Catholic world no longer comprehends the idea of the natural law, it might as well be shelved and substituted by something more suited to the current mentality.
"An Act of Parliament, directly oppugnant
to the laws of God and his holy Church..."
All which notwithstanding the jury found him guilty, and incontinent upon the verdict the Lord Chancellor [for that matter chief commissioner] beginning in judgment against him, Sir Thomas More said to him,
"My Lord, when I was towards the law, the manner in such case was to ask the prisoner before judgment, why judgment should not be given against him."
Whereupon the Lord Chancellor staying his judgment, wherein he had partly proceeded, demanded of him what he was able to say to the contrary. Who then in this sort mildly made answer:
"Forasmuch as, my Lord, this indictment is grounded upon an Act of Parliament, directly oppugnant to the laws of God and his holy Church, the supreme government of which, or of any part thereof, may no temporal prince presume by any law to take upon him as rightfully belonging to the See of Rome, a spiritual preeminence by the mouth of our Saviour himself, personally present upon the earth, to St. Peter and his successors, bishops of the same see, by special prerogative, granted, it is therefore in law amongst Christian men insufficient to charge any Christian."...
Originality in explaining the Truth: Newman's relevant words to the Synod on the Family
by Father Richard G. Cipolla
A cursory reading of the Instrumentum
Laboris for the upcoming Synod on the Family does not inspire confidence in
the working proceedings of the Synod itself.
It is heavily dosed with orthopraxis jargon in a catena of the results
of the questionnaires that were solicited from both clergy and laity. But the Instrumentum
quite rightly asks the question of how the Church should teach about and to the
Catholic family in a secular age that no longer responds to the vocabulary and
imagery of a Christian world-view. A
writer for this blog recently expressed here his unease about paragraph 30, in
which is discussed the need for the teaching on Natural Law to be updated and
made meaningful to Catholic families and to the non-Catholic world as
well.
Thoughts for the Synod of Bishops:
The Unchangeable Moral Law and the Value of Suffering
| Eugène Delacroix Orphan Girl at the Cemetery (1824) Musée du Louvre |
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski
In light of the publication of the somewhat vague and suggestive Instrumentum Laboris for the October Extraordinary Synod on the Family, I found the following crystal-clear passages from Frank Sheed's marvelous book A Map of Life to be extremely pertinent. Here, in a book first published in 1933, is how the Catholic Faith used to explain itself -- with clarity, charity, and a deep realism that trusted the Law of God and humbly submitted to it, rather than looking for loopholes, accommodations, and relaxations. Sheed's more famous book Theology and Sanity in a way captures the confident profile of preconciliar Catholicism: true theology is both the cause and the sign of human sanity. If we look elsewhere, or even worse, if we contradict divine revelation and the Church's tradition, we will end up with sheer insanity.
As citizens of the United States continue to worry about federal incursions on the freedom of Catholics to practice their faith and even to follow the dictates of the natural law unmolested, American Catholics should be concerned about an even more frightening shift in the ecclesiastical polity, namely, the growing acceptance within the Church, among the faithful and in the hierarchy, of sexual aberrations, libertinism, and antinomianism in all of their forms, open or subtle, whether institutionalized or still private and arbitrary. The Church is the last and only bulwark of sanity against the rising flood of irrationality and perversion. Wherever the Church militant fails on earth (and remember, we have no guarantee of the perpetuity of any local or regional church), all is lost, and no political activism will be able to stand in the breach.
Let us pray, then, for wisdom and fortitude -- the wisdom to adhere to the truth given to us by our Lord, and the courage to follow it to the very end, for love of God and neighbor. And let us pray especially for the bishops and the Holy Father, that the Spirit of truth will be with them in October to ground their deliberations and decisions in natural and supernatural sanity.
_______________________
Frank Sheed, A Map of Life (1933)
This fact that the essence of sin is offence against the law of God sometimes—in fact most often—misleads the sinner as to the true nature of sin. He imagines himself in a small field, bounded by a fence put there to prevent him from breaking out of the field to sample the rich possibilities of life outside. Here, he says, am I: a being full of the possibilities of development, yet my development is checked at every turn by some absurd law. This view arises from a failure to understand the nature of God’s laws. His laws are no mere whims, like the laws of some stupid despot. They are, on the contrary, the expression by God of His own knowledge of man’s nature and destiny. He knows the kind of being man is, for He made him. And for the same reason He knows what man is made for. God’s laws, then, are a precise statement of how this particular kind of being may avoid destruction and reach his particular goal. The man who makes an engine is not limiting your freedom when he tells you not to run it beyond a certain speed. He knows that if you do you will smash the engine. And if you should plead that your nature demands more speed, that you feel stifled by such slow running—he may very well grow impatient. He knows what speed is right for the engine, for he made it.
[…]
THE resistance to sin nearly always involves some degree of suffering: in some cases it involves terrible suffering. And there are those who would relax the moral law when the suffering caused by obedience to it appears to be extreme.
Now, no one can alter God’s law. Even the Church cannot do that: within the framework of His law she may make what we call by-laws, binding upon her members, but these must be in accord with God’s law, which she cannot change.
This point is not always grasped. The Church has received from God the power to make laws binding upon her members. But this power, as I have said, is subordinate to the laws stated by God Himself as binding upon men. The distinction may be illustrated in the case of marriage. The Church cannot grant any of her children a divorce because when they make the contract of marriage (that is to say, agree to take each other as husband and wife for life) God brings into being a new relationship. Now, by God’s act consequent upon their contract, they are man and wife. This new relationship, though it follows upon their contract, is not created by their contract, but by God. The Church can no more make them cease to be husband and wife than it could make a father and son cease to be father and son. But within the law laid down by God, the Church can legislate. It can, for instance, decree that for the marriage of a Catholic, the presence of a priest as witness is necessary. These laws being its own the Church can alter. But she cannot alter the laws given to her by God to be taught to men. Nor does she want to.
The Humpty Dumpty Synod
The difficulties that arise in relation to natural law can be overcome through more attentive reference to the biblical world, to its language and narrative forms, and to "propose bringing the issue to public discussion and developing the idea of biblical inspiration and the 'order in creation,' which could permit a re-reading of the concept of the natural law in a more meaningful manner in today’s world." [Instrumentum laboris, 30]
Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri
June 26, 2014
___________________________
[*Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass (1871), Illustration by Sir John Tenniel]
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