Cardinal Raymond Burke has again addressed the Pope, in what he calls a “final plea”, emphasizing “how urgent it is that, in exercising the ministry he has received from the Lord, the Pope should confirm his brothers in the faith with a clear expression of the teaching regarding both Christian morality and the meaning of the Church’s sacramental practice.”
The Holy Father has not yet responded to the original five-question dubia, signed by Cardinal Burke, along with Cardinal Walter Brandmüller and recently deceased Cardinals Joachim Meisner and Carlo Caffarra.
The Cardinals have sought to ascertain, among other matters, whether previous Church teaching forbidding civilly “remarried” divorcees engaging in sexual relations to receive the Sacraments remained in force.
Cardinal Burke has insisted that Amoris Laetitia has subverted essential teachings and practices pertaining to the Church’s Deposit of Faith (Scripture and Tradition). His Eminence alleges that the Holy Father and proponents of his Apostolic Exhortation have relativized absolute moral norms given “subjective, self-referential conscience” primacy in moral matters. Cardinal Burke further claims that the Exhortation represents a “paradigm shift” regarding the Church’s entire moral practice.
What is bothersome about Cardinal Burke’s assertion that Amoris Laetitia’s subversion of Church teaching is that he must know that his claim is untrue. Nowhere in the document does the Holy Father assert that Sacramental Marriage is dissoluble by any human agency, including the parties to the marriage itself, civil authority, or even the Church itself.
Cardinal Burke is fully aware that nowhere does the Exhortation suggest that couples in invalidly attempted second marriages, who fully engage in conjugal relations, are not engaged in actions clearly in violation of the teachings of the Gospel and Church Magisterium.
And His Eminence must admit that the Exhortation calls upon those precisely in such situations to seek the counsel of their Sacred Pastors in the process of seeking Sacramental absolution and a return to a full practice of their Catholic Faith.
What is troubling is the fact that Cardinal Burke must know and admit these truths, but denies them nonetheless.
But His Eminence is indeed correct that Amoris Laetitia does represent a “paradigm shift”. The shift itself, however, is not in Church teaching, but in the Church’s dispensation of mercy and forgiveness.
Pope Francis has been exceedingly clear. Couples in invalid marriages find themselves in situations which objectively contravene the moral prescriptions of the Scriptures and the consistent moral teachings of Church Magisterium. There is no “paradigm shift” in this position.
The “paradigm shift” to which His Eminence refers is found in the Holy Father’s offer of mercy in affording these couples access to the Grace of the Sacraments. Pope Francis chooses to embrace rather than punish and abandon these souls to a state of hopelessness and isolation.
The “paradigm shift” to which the Cardinal alludes is not one of moral doctrine, but one of charity and reconciliation.
To Peter and the Apostles, Christ gave the absolute power to release or bind from sin. No one can deny that, throughout its history, the Church has been all too eager to bind and overly hesitant to release.
Now comes Francis who is eager to emulate the generosity of Christ in the dispensation of mercy, the same Christ Who -- while we were still sinners -- offered His Life for the forgiveness of sins, all sins, for all time.
In His Death on the Cross, Jesus did not deny that mankind had sinned, was in the state of sin or would continue to sin in the future. Jesus chose to forgive and offer that forgiveness to anyone who would hunger for Divine Mercy and pardon.
Pope Francis does not deny the objective sinfulness of invalid second marriages, he chooses instead to offer a pathway to pardon and redemption.
Why are Cardinal Burke and the neo-conservative reactionaries which he eagerly enables and from whom he seeks constant affirmation so offended?
I am reminded of the haunting words of Jesus in the Parable of the generous householder who pays the laborers who came late to the field the same as those who toiled in the sun all day. “Are you jealous because I am generous....”
His Eminence is correct. The Pontificate of Pope Francis shifts the mission of the Church from judgment to mercy, from the Tribunal of Divine Justice to the Altar of Sublime Charity.
The Holy Father chooses to be as generous in forgiveness as was Jesus Himself. For this, the Pope should be commended. Instead, Cardinal Burke and his associates castigate him.
Why?
I have always been confused by those who would deny sinners access to the very Graces which could assist in their conversion.
If Sacramental Absolution requires the conversion of spirit evidenced in a full purpose of amendment which the Church has consistently taught is necessary, then what need is there for the Sacrament itself. If the penitent has already achieved the full conversion which the Sacrament requires, what does the Sacrament itself effect? Or is Absolution just the official seal of approval of a conversion of spirit which has and must already precede it?
Conversion is a process not an event. It requires patience, understanding, the acceptance of human frailty and repeated missteps. Along the way, there are many victories and many defeats.
The Church must be present ALL ALONG THE WAY, not employing the tactics of spiritual blackmail or ultimatum, but offering words of comfort and hope.
Any true Pastor of souls understands this.
Cardinal Burke insists upon the dotting of every “i” and the crossing of every “t” in respecting the laws and disciplines of the Church.
Sadly, he forgets the most fundamental of all those laws: the salvation of souls.
There is a hardness of heart lurking beneath the clamor and laments of His Eminence.
That saddens me greatly. For, the Cardinal himself suffers most by denying that Christ and His Bride, the Church, want to offer a sinful and wounded humanity the inspiration and hope which Our Savior wishes us to know and experience in this life as well as the life to come.
Asking first and foremost, as I must, that the Lord to forgive my own sinfulness, I ask the Lord to melt that hardness of heart in His Eminence and all those so prone to judge others and deny them the assistance, encouragement and refreshment of spirit that come from the Sacraments.
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