AM I ALONE IN MY BEWILDERMENT?

Chaos and confusion are reigning supreme within the ranks of the hierarchy.  

For 41 years, I served the Church as a Priest, though now I am retired from active ministry for reasons of health.  I received an STB from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1973.  A year later, I received a Master Degree in Pastoral Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum).  

In 1986, after having served in the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, I completed my studies and was awarded the Licentiate in Canon Law from the University of St. Paul in Ottawa.  In the years that followed, I continued to serve as Adjutant Judicial Vicar of the Tribunal until I completed my term of office and returned to full-time ministry serving as Pastor of two parishes for some 23 years until my retirement.

Certainly, much has changed within the Church in the intervening years, and particularly since the Papacy of Pope Francis.  

The doctrinal and moral teachings of the Church have undergone so great a revision that, at times, it is difficult for me to reconcile them with those taught to me under the auspices of universities that have and continue to be considered as bastions of Catholic orthodoxy.

And so, it is with a certain wonderment that I read stories like the following.

The Catholic Church in the Mediterranean island country of Malta has allowed a homosexual group to use sacred church space for meetings.  The group labels itself “Catholic” but does not adhere to traditional Catholic or biblical teaching that mandates marriage between a man and a woman. 

The group in question, the "Drachma LGBTI,"  preaches homosexual acceptance and currently has permission to use Catholic parishes and retreat centers in Malta.

"Drachma is open to all persons of good will who seek sexual and spiritual integration," the group states on its website. "It includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and intersex persons, as well as friends of LGBTI persons who wish to meet to pray together and explore the intersections between sexuality, gender, gender identity, faith, spirituality, and religion."

It should be noted that Malta recently elected its first transgender politician, a sign of just how far on LGBT rights a country where Roman Catholicism remains the state religion has come.

Roman Archbishop Charles Scicluna heads the Archdiocese of Malta.  While Drachma has no official status within the Archdiocese, this has not stopped Archbishop Scicluna from going out of his way to lend support to the group and its activities.

In May, Drachma hosted a celebration at the University Chaplaincy; it donned the altar with a LGBT rainbow flag.

How far does one have to imagine a Roman Catholic Archbishop must go before his tolerance of such a group is seen to be an official endorsement of its teachings?

And so, I confess that I am confused.  

There is little in my academic and pastoral history which allows me to accept such behavior as indicative of the Gospel mandate to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ.

And as I pray for the salvation of my own soul, for the forgiveness of my personal sins and the sins of my sisters and brothers, I wonder how confused many of God’s People, so many of our Catholic faithful, must be by the actions of such Bishops.

May the Lord grant me continued confidence in the Church to which I have dedicated my life in service to His flock.  There are days when being faithful to the Church can be an ordeal!