A Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
Time flies. We're coming up to the end of the Liturgical Year. Advent lies ahead. During the past couple of weeks we've posted some ideas to help you plan your business and personal life as we enter the new Liturgical Year. We've been doing this each year recently to encourage you to align your life with the Church's calendar. Doing so helps keep us in touch with the "real" world. By "real" we mean the fullness of existence, natural and supernatural. Without this fullness, we're just another spec in the secular landscape that surrounds us. So doesn't it make sense to get with the program and get yourself in sync with the Church's Liturgical Year?
Continuing with the idea that time flies, we note that it's been almost five year since the Papal conclave that elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J. on March 13, 2013. He was appointed to succeed Pope Benedict, who resigned the previous February 28th. Pope Benedict's resignation was the first resignation by a Pope since Gregory XII in 1415, over 598 years earlier.
Because time does fly by so quickly, it's easy to forget those stunning events in early 2013, and how quickly they transpired. Given the unusual nature (to put it mildly) of the events of February-March 2013, many of us were caught off guard. Personally, I recall a sense of confusion, even a tinge of disturbance, in my initial reaction to Bergoglio's election. While I didn't know who he was as an individual, the "S.J." after his name didn't escape me. Having attended Jesuit educational institutions for 8 years (high school-college), my first-hand experience with the modern Society of Jesus caused a red flag to pop up upon the election of Bergoglio. In the spirit of full disclosure, that flag still flies; and my initial confusion and disturbance remains.
With all that in mind, you'll understand my motivation for posting a letter recently written by the former chief of staff for the US Bishops' committee on doctrine. A Franciscan member of the clergy, a theologian, and a writer of some repute, apparently he too has been confused and, it seems, a bit disturbed. And so he wrote a letter to Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis. The letter got a bit of a splash in the Catholic media, but, as we first noted, time flies. So in the interests of those of you who might have missed reading this thoughtful letter, here is the full text of Fr. Thomas Weinandy's letter to the Holy Father, as reported in the National Catholic Register. If Sunday finds you with a few moments of respite from the usual demands of daily life, you may find it worthwhile to read and think about what Father has to say.
Continuing with the idea that time flies, we note that it's been almost five year since the Papal conclave that elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J. on March 13, 2013. He was appointed to succeed Pope Benedict, who resigned the previous February 28th. Pope Benedict's resignation was the first resignation by a Pope since Gregory XII in 1415, over 598 years earlier.
Because time does fly by so quickly, it's easy to forget those stunning events in early 2013, and how quickly they transpired. Given the unusual nature (to put it mildly) of the events of February-March 2013, many of us were caught off guard. Personally, I recall a sense of confusion, even a tinge of disturbance, in my initial reaction to Bergoglio's election. While I didn't know who he was as an individual, the "S.J." after his name didn't escape me. Having attended Jesuit educational institutions for 8 years (high school-college), my first-hand experience with the modern Society of Jesus caused a red flag to pop up upon the election of Bergoglio. In the spirit of full disclosure, that flag still flies; and my initial confusion and disturbance remains.
With all that in mind, you'll understand my motivation for posting a letter recently written by the former chief of staff for the US Bishops' committee on doctrine. A Franciscan member of the clergy, a theologian, and a writer of some repute, apparently he too has been confused and, it seems, a bit disturbed. And so he wrote a letter to Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis. The letter got a bit of a splash in the Catholic media, but, as we first noted, time flies. So in the interests of those of you who might have missed reading this thoughtful letter, here is the full text of Fr. Thomas Weinandy's letter to the Holy Father, as reported in the National Catholic Register. If Sunday finds you with a few moments of respite from the usual demands of daily life, you may find it worthwhile to read and think about what Father has to say.
Your Holiness,
I write this letter with love for the Church and sincere respect for your office. You are the Vicar of Christ on earth, the shepherd of his flock, the successor to St. Peter and so the rock upon which Christ will build his Church. All Catholics, clergy and laity alike, are to look to you with filial loyalty and obedience grounded in truth. The Church turns to you in a spirit of faith, with the hope that you will guide her in love.
Yet, Your Holiness, a chronic confusion seems to mark your pontificate. The light of faith, hope, and love is not absent, but too often it is obscured by the ambiguity of your words and actions. This fosters within the faithful a growing unease. It compromises their capacity for love, joy and peace. Allow me to offer a few brief examples.
First there is the disputed Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia. I need not share my own concerns about its content. Others, not only theologians, but also cardinals and bishops, have already done that. The main source of concern is the manner of your teaching. In Amoris Laetitia, your guidance at times seems intentionally ambiguous, thus inviting both a traditional interpretation of Catholic teaching on marriage and divorce as well as one that might imply a change in that teaching. As you wisely note, pastors should accompany and encourage persons in irregular marriages; but ambiguity persists about what that “accompaniment” actually means. To teach with such a seemingly intentional lack of clarity inevitably risks sinning against the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit is given to the Church, and particularly to yourself, to dispel error, not to foster it. Moreover, only where there is truth can there be authentic love, for truth is the light that sets women and men free from the blindness of sin, a darkness that kills the life of the soul. Yet you seem to censor and even mock those who interpret Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia in accord with Church tradition as Pharisaic stone-throwers who embody a merciless rigorism. This kind of calumny is alien to the nature of the Petrine ministry. Some of your advisors regrettably seem to engage in similar actions. Such behavior gives the impression that your views cannot survive theological scrutiny, and so must be sustained by ad hominemarguments.
Second, too often your manner seems to demean the importance of Church doctrine. Again and again you portray doctrine as dead and bookish, and far from the pastoral concerns of everyday life. Your critics have been accused, in your own words, of making doctrine an ideology. But it is precisely Christian doctrine – including the fine distinctions made with regard to central beliefs like the Trinitarian nature of God; the nature and purpose of the Church; the Incarnation; the Redemption; and the sacraments – that frees people from worldly ideologies and assures that they are actually preaching and teaching the authentic, life-giving Gospel. Those who devalue the doctrines of the Church separate themselves from Jesus, the author of truth. What they then possess, and can only possess, is an ideology – one that conforms to the world of sin and death.
Third, faithful Catholics can only be disconcerted by your choice of some bishops, men who seem not merely open to those who hold views counter to Christian belief but who support and even defend them. What scandalizes believers, and even some fellow bishops, is not only your having appointed such men to be shepherds of the Church, but that you also seem silent in the face of their teaching and pastoral practice. This weakens the zeal of the many women and men who have championed authentic Catholic teaching over long periods of time, often at the risk of their own reputations and well-being. As a result, many of the faithful, who embody the sensus fidelium, are losing confidence in their supreme shepherd.
Fourth, the Church is one body, the Mystical Body of Christ, and you are commissioned by the Lord himself to promote and strengthen her unity. But your actions and words too often seem intent on doing the opposite. Encouraging a form of “synodality” that allows and promotes various doctrinal and moral options within the Church can only lead to more theological and pastoral confusion. Such synodality is unwise and, in practice, works against collegial unity among bishops.
Holy Father, this brings me to my final concern. You have often spoken about the need for transparency within the Church. You have frequently encouraged, particularly during the two past synods, all persons, especially bishops, to speak their mind and not be fearful of what the pope may think. But have you noticed that the majority of bishops throughout the world are remarkably silent? Why is this? Bishops are quick learners, and what many have learned from your pontificate is not that you are open to criticism, but that you resent it. Many bishops are silent because they desire to be loyal to you, and so they do not express – at least publicly; privately is another matter – the concerns that your pontificate raises. Many fear that if they speak their mind, they will be marginalized or worse.
I have often asked myself: “Why has Jesus let all of this happen?” The only answer that comes to mind is that Jesus wants to manifest just how weak is the faith of many within the Church, even among too many of her bishops. Ironically, your pontificate has given those who hold harmful theological and pastoral views the license and confidence to come into the light and expose their previously hidden darkness. In recognizing this darkness, the Church will humbly need to renew herself, and so continue to grow in holiness.
Holy Father, I pray for you constantly and will continue to do so. May the Holy Spirit lead you to the light of truth and the life of love so that you can dispel the darkness that now hides the beauty of Jesus’ Church.
Sincerely in Christ,
Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap
To be clear here, we Catholics love our Holy Father. Remember that the essence of love can be found in sacrifice, not in mere emotion, specifically not in whether or not we happen to like the object of our love. And so we pray for our Holy Father, even as we look forward to the new Liturgical Year in a spirit of hope and confidence in God's mercy and love.
Happy Sunday!
To be clear here, we Catholics love our Holy Father. Remember that the essence of love can be found in sacrifice, not in mere emotion, specifically not in whether or not we happen to like the object of our love. And so we pray for our Holy Father, even as we look forward to the new Liturgical Year in a spirit of hope and confidence in God's mercy and love.
Happy Sunday!
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