Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. One of the jobs of a shepherd is to make sure the flock stays in good pastures and is protected from the wolves. Good pastures are those that feed the soul well, not with junk food that tastes good going down, but which doesn’t actually nourish the body. The wolves need not be people, though they sometimes can be, but can also be ideas which are dangerous to the flock. And, to be clear, I do not intend any of what I am about to say to be a personal attack. Personal attacks, called ad hominem, are logical fallacies. Plus, if we look at the ideas, rather than the person, our effect can be much longer lasting.
Recently, five cardinals wrote a set of doubts, or dubia, to the Holy Father concerning the synod. The five questions regard whether Divine Revelation can change based upon current cultural or anthropological ideas, whether so-called same-sex marriages can receive blessings, whether synodality is a constitutive dimension of the Church, whether sacramental ordination of women can be conferred, and whether repentance is a necessary aspect of sacramental absolution.
To be clear, I don’t claim to be a Doctor of Theology. I have a Baccalaureate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome and a Master of Divinity degree from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. I am nowhere close to as well-educated as the eminent cardinals who raised the doubts to the Holy Father. But I do feel well-qualified enough to help guide you as your shepherd on what the faith is. I don’t have time to expand on all these dubia, but wanted to respond to a few, namely so-called same-sex marriage, and the ordination of women. I will also end by talking about the synod. Some answers may seem more obvious than others, maybe all of them will seem obvious, but as your pastor I want to make sure that you know, to the best of my ability, what the Church teaches so that you are not confused and led astray by false ideas.
First, blessings of same-sex unions. From the beginning, as Pope Francis affirmed, marriage is between a man and a woman, for a life-long union, open to the procreation of children by natural means. No government can change the definition of marriage, since government is not the creator of marriage. The Church cannot change the definition of marriage because the Church is not the creator of marriage, either. The Church is simply the steward of what God has revealed to us, especially through Christ. And when it comes to blessings or prayers of blessings, those are times where God gives His approval or sets apart for sacred purpose persons, places, or objects. To be specific, the Church says that blessings are types of “sacred signs that resemble the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, which are obtained through the Church’s intercession [by which] men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions of life are sanctified.” The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith explained in 2021 that the Church does not have the authority to give blessings to unions of persons of the same sex, affirming that any blessing has to conform to the design of God, which same-sex unions do not. It even went so far as to say that we cannot bless sin, which may seem obvious, but affirmed that homosexual unions are sinful.
That same response did rightly affirm that persons with homosexual attractions can receive blessings individually if they are living in accord with the Gospel. And while that may seem uncaring, love cannot be true love if it is separated from the truth. Love does not allow the other to do that which is destructive to one’s salvation. It also does not meant that there is no room in the Catholic Church for those who have a homosexual attraction. Catholic means welcoming to everyone, and we do welcome every person, and encourage them, even as we encourage ourselves, to follow Christ more closely in every aspect of our lives, including our sexuality. But we cannot bless any situation which is in direct opposition to God’s design.
Of course, someone questioned it, and so the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith responded to that doubt and wrote, “[The teaching on the reservation of priestly ordination to men] requires definitive assent, since…it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium…[and since] the Roman Pontiff, exercising his proper office…has handed on this same teaching by a formal declaration, explicitly stating what is to be hold always, everywhere, and by all, as belonging to the deposit of faith.” So, no room for doubt. It belongs to the deposit of faith and cannot be changed. Not by anybody at any time.
So why these and other questions? What is the point of the synod? I know that there are some theories that there are people who want to try to change Church teaching. I’m not so naïve to say that no one fits into this category. I’m sure there are some who are attending the synod hoping to change things, things which cannot be changed.
But I also want to hope, and I truly believe, that some of this is simply to engage in a conversation about issues which many consider closed issues. There is a benefit to engaging in conversations with people who do not believe the same way we do, even on settled matters, like the Divinity of Christ. Isn’t that the point of evangelization? And yes, sometimes we’re evangelizing our fellow Catholics. We don’t fail to engage the subject, as long as we stay in the truth and do not deny the doctrine that others are questioning. So I’m not one to say that the synod has no point. Perhaps this is a desire at the highest level to evangelize those who are baptized Catholics, but who do not know the fullness of the faith that has been taught. Perhaps not. But there is at least a way to see these questions being discussed at the synod in a positive light.
When we hear about these dubia, I encourage us not to immediately demonize those who question. Rather, educate yourself about what the Church teaches: not from the media, not from hearsay, but from official teachings of the Church like the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If we hold fast to the teachings of the Catholic Church, those things that cannot change, then while the waves break around us, while the storms batter us from without or within, we will be safe in the Ark of the Church which will bring us safely to the harbor of the saints in heaven, where we will worship our Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
