A Sunday Thought About Clarity to Start the Week Off Right
Clarity can be rare these days. The reason? Lack of Truth - with a capital "T." We shunt aside objective truth in favor of what Benedict XVI called the Dictatorship of Relativism. There can be no absolute truth: it's just a personal choice now. And we push Truth in the person of Jesus Christ out of sight and out of mind. He's persona non grata for many. Even many believers would be loathe to claim that He is Truth for all. It's all a matter of opinion or feeling, rather than objective fact, that He is Savior of the World.
One would think that clarity might find a safe refuge in the Vatican. But one would be wrong. The Pope's recent exhortation Amoris Laetitia, while containing nuggets of clarity, somehow has managed to withdraw that clarity in its references to those who are divorced and remarried or living in "irregular" situations. Why? Can't say. Ask the Pope. But having read a sampling of the reams of commentary, and relying on sources who have proved reliable in the past, it's become clear that this lack of clarity will bear consequences. And one of these may involve an implied - or even explicit - change in long-standing teaching of the Church. Rather disturbing.
Now, though, comes one who calls out to the Vatican, to our Holy Father, to clean up what has become a mess due to lack of clarity: Bishop Athanasius Schneider. And yes, his first name is Athanasius, like the Bishop of Alexandria who, virtually alone, opposes a world gone mad with the confusion sown by the Arian heresy which denied that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Jesus was demoted from God to mere creature, albeit a mighty special creature. The heresy swept the Christian world in the third and fourth centuries, with the result that most bishops and priests adhered to its false claims. Not Athansius. He became "the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known and in his lifetime earned the characteristic title of "Father of Orthodoxy", by which he has been distinguished ever since."
The clarity of his teaching triumphed and we bask in its light centuries later.
Our current Athanasius - fortunately for him and us - does not stand alone as did St Athanasius. Others have begun, after scratching their heads, to express concern over the implied change in teaching in this Pope's exhortation. Bishop Schneider, though, goes beyond expressions of concern and puts forth his own exhortation. He publicly calls for clarity from the Vatican in the matter of granting the sacrament of Holy Communion to those divorced and remarried who do not live in the state of grace (which would be the state of the souls of those who continue to live in sin without confession and firm purpose of amendment).
And we also wish all those Eastern Rite Catholics who celebrate Easter today (their liturgical calendar varies from the Latin Rite):
One would think that clarity might find a safe refuge in the Vatican. But one would be wrong. The Pope's recent exhortation Amoris Laetitia, while containing nuggets of clarity, somehow has managed to withdraw that clarity in its references to those who are divorced and remarried or living in "irregular" situations. Why? Can't say. Ask the Pope. But having read a sampling of the reams of commentary, and relying on sources who have proved reliable in the past, it's become clear that this lack of clarity will bear consequences. And one of these may involve an implied - or even explicit - change in long-standing teaching of the Church. Rather disturbing.
Now, though, comes one who calls out to the Vatican, to our Holy Father, to clean up what has become a mess due to lack of clarity: Bishop Athanasius Schneider. And yes, his first name is Athanasius, like the Bishop of Alexandria who, virtually alone, opposes a world gone mad with the confusion sown by the Arian heresy which denied that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Jesus was demoted from God to mere creature, albeit a mighty special creature. The heresy swept the Christian world in the third and fourth centuries, with the result that most bishops and priests adhered to its false claims. Not Athansius. He became "the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known and in his lifetime earned the characteristic title of "Father of Orthodoxy", by which he has been distinguished ever since."
The clarity of his teaching triumphed and we bask in its light centuries later.
Our current Athanasius - fortunately for him and us - does not stand alone as did St Athanasius. Others have begun, after scratching their heads, to express concern over the implied change in teaching in this Pope's exhortation. Bishop Schneider, though, goes beyond expressions of concern and puts forth his own exhortation. He publicly calls for clarity from the Vatican in the matter of granting the sacrament of Holy Communion to those divorced and remarried who do not live in the state of grace (which would be the state of the souls of those who continue to live in sin without confession and firm purpose of amendment).
The teaching of the Church on the intrinsic immorality of contraception is unchangeable and no pope can change this teaching, because the Church through the Holy Spirit taught this truth always and everywhere (semper et ubique) in the same sense and in the same signification (eodem sensu eademque sententia).He also, though, exhorts us - bishops, priests, and all of us laity.
The faithful should react in the same way as did all the saint confessors of the faith in all times and as did our forefathers according to the words which the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of the holy Apostles: “Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3); “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal 1: 9-10).So on this Sunday in our glorious Easter Season, we thank God for the clarity of Bishop Athanasius Schneider.
And we also wish all those Eastern Rite Catholics who celebrate Easter today (their liturgical calendar varies from the Latin Rite):
Christos Voskrese!
Christ is Risen!
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