Allow me to share one of many of the inconvenient moments that I have experienced since my retirement from active ministry.
It happened last night.
For whatever reason, I fell asleep on my sofa watching the news. The last time I remember looking at the clock on the cable box it read 8:30 PM. I awoke this morning, still on the couch at 3:15 AM, seven and a half hours of very restful sleep but now awake in the middle of the night!
In the words of Charlie Brown of Peanuts fame: AAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!
So, after making some coffee, I thought I get the day started and decided to browse the Net as is my custom in the mornings.
Well, the oddity of this day just continues as I ran across the following article which Bishop Robert Lynch submitted to the Tampa Bay Times on January 6, 2015!
Since many readers will think I might be exaggerating or embellishing the Bishop’s words, I am reprinting it here fully and without any edits.
Bishop Lynch wrote:
In light of the judicial decision that legalized same-sex marriage in Florida as of Tuesday, I wish to lend an additional voice to the discussion regarding the challenges we in the Catholic Church face as we strive to preserve the traditional sacramental understanding of marriage even as the law now accommodates couples of the same sex.
The Catholic Church upholds marriage, one of our seven sacraments, as an indissoluble relationship between a man and a woman committed to mutual consolation and open to procreation. Such a view is rooted not only in the church's long-standing theological understanding of married life, but in the Church's understanding of Christian anthropology as well, which views the conjugal and complementary relationship between a man and a woman as part of God's providential design whereby human beings are able to be co-creators of life with God.
Therefore, any dialogue which reaffirms such a view of marriage and which seeks to ensure that such a view continues to be respected and enabled to serve and edify both the Church and the wider society is to be commended and supported.
However, together with Pope Francis and in light of the discussions at the recent Extraordinary Synod on the Family held in Rome, I also recognize that the reality of the family today, in all its complexities, presents the church with pastoral challenges as the church strives to accept people in the specific circumstances of their lives and support and encourage them in their search for God and their desire to be members of the church.
Therefore, I do not wish to lend our voice to notions which might suggest that same-sex couples are a threat incapable of sharing relationships marked by love and holiness and, thus, incapable of contributing to the edification of both the church and the wider society.
In the midst of changing societal definitions and understandings of marriage, there may no doubt be some confusion. However, with patience and humility, our church must continuously strive to discover what the Spirit is saying and respond to the Synod Fathers' suggestion to discern what pastoral response faithful to church teaching and marked by respect and sensitivity might be appropriate for same-sex couples, even as God's creative designs for and the church's sacramental understanding of marriage are affirmed.
Dear Bishop Lynch, the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is not by society’s definitions and understandings but by the Divine Revelation entrusted to the Church in the Deposit of Faith, Scripture and Tradition.
The “Spirit” which you are attempting to discover has already spoken throughout the course of the two Millenia of Church teaching and history. You and others like you simply refuse to listen to what the Spirit has been teaching clearly for over twenty centuries.
To even suggest that a homosexual union, civilly recognized or not, could be faithful to Church teaching is absurd. It is a betrayal of that Deposit of Faith for which you, in your Episcopal ministry, have been called to proclaim truthfully and unapologetically.
That Bishops so confused and compromised in their acceptance of clear and consistent doctrinal teachings are allowed to remain in Office is among the scandals which today are the source of so much chaos within the Body of Christ.
Bishop Lynch resigned in 2016 as Bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida. During his tenure, the Diocese paid a $ 100,000 settlement to the former Diocesan spokesman(!) who accused Bishop Lynch of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching. Pope Francis named Bishop Gregory Parkes as his replacement.
Where is Peter? Where is the Rock? Why wasn't it made clear that what Bishop Lynch wrote was unfaithful to Church magisterium?
Why would any Catholic who reads and witnesses the undoing of the fundamental moral teachings of the Church in such a manner ever entrust their faith to the leadership and influence of such misguided shepherds?
I am surprised this story escaped my notice for so long. But, then again, there have been so many stories about strange happenings in our Church these days. It's impossible to keep up.
The Church is in trouble, deep trouble, from the forces of ignorance and licentiousness that are coming, not from without the Gates, but from within.
I wish I hadn’t arisen so early only to have come across such drivel as this.
I wonder what other strangeness this day will bring. AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!
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