Cardinal outlines possible paths to Communion for divorced, remarried

[Larry]

The modern Church is on a collision course with itself. If Pope Francis approves what Cardinal Kasper is saying, there will be no doubt in my mind that the post conciliar Church has become a completely different religion.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1400852.htm


Cardinal outlines possible paths to Communion for divorced, remarried



By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church needs to find a way to offer healing, strength and salvation to Catholics whose marriages have failed, who are committed to making a new union work and who long to do so within the church and with the grace of Communion, Cardinal Walter Kasper told the world's cardinals.

Jesus' teaching on the indissolubility of sacramental marriage is clear, the retired German cardinal said, and it would harm individuals and the church to pretend otherwise. However, "after the shipwreck of sin, the shipwrecked person should not have a second boat at his or her disposal, but rather a life raft" in the form of the sacrament of Communion, he said.

Pope Francis had asked Cardinal Walter Kasper, a well-known theologian and author of a book on mercy as a fundamental trait of God, to introduce a Feb. 20-21 discussion by the College of Cardinals on family life. The Vatican did not publish the cardinal's text, but Catholic News Service obtained a copy.

The Catholic Church needs to find a way to help divorced and remarried Catholics who long to participate fully in the life of the church, Cardinal Kasper told the cardinals. While insisting -- for the good of individuals and of the church -- on the need to affirm Jesus' teaching that sacramental marriage is indissoluble, he allowed for the possibility that in very specific cases the church could tolerate, though not accept, a second union.

From the first moments of creation, the cardinal said, God intended man and woman to be together, to form one flesh, to have children and to serve him together. But sin entered the world almost immediately, which is why even the Bible is filled with stories of husbands and wives hurting and betraying one another, he explained.

Christ, who came to set people free from the bonds of sin, established marriage as a sacrament, "an instrument of healing for the consequences of sin and an instrument of sanctifying grace," he said.

Because they are human and prone to sin, husbands and wives continually must follow a path of conversion, renewal and maturation, asking forgiveness and renewing their commitment to one another, Cardinal Kasper said. But the church also must be realistic and acknowledge "the complex and thorny problem" posed by Catholics whose marriages have failed, but who find support, family stability and happiness in a new relationship, he continued.

"One cannot propose a solution different from or contrary to the words of Jesus," the cardinal said. "The indissolubility of a sacramental marriage and the impossibility of a new marriage while the other partner is still alive is part of the binding tradition of the faith of the church and cannot be abandoned or dissolved by appealing to a superficial understanding of mercy at a discount price."

At the same time, "there is no human situation absolutely without hope or solution," he said Catholics profess their belief in the forgiveness of sins in the Creed, he explained. "That means that for one who converts, forgiveness is possible. If that's true for a murderer, it is also true for an adulterer."

Cardinal Kasper said it would be up to members of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family in October and the world Synod of Bishops in 2015 to discuss concrete proposals for helping divorced and civilly remarried Catholics participate more fully in the life of the church.

A possible avenue for finding those proposals, he said, would be to develop "pastoral and spiritual procedures" for helping couples convinced in conscience that their first union was never a valid marriage. The decision cannot be left only to the couple, he said, because marriage has a public character, but that does not mean that a juridical solution -- an annulment granted by a marriage tribunal -- is the only way to handle the case.

As a diocesan bishop in Germany in 1993, Cardinal Kasper and two other bishops issued pastoral instructions to help priests minister to such couples. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, made the bishops drop the plan. A similar proposal made last year by the Archdiocese of Freiburg, Germany, was criticized by Cardinal Gerhard Muller, current prefect of the doctrinal congregation.

Citing a 1972 article by then-Father Joseph Ratzinger, Cardinal Kasper said the church also might consider some form of "canonical penitential practice" -- a "path beyond strictness and leniency" -- that would adapt the gradual process for the reintegration of sinners into full communion with the church used in the first centuries of Christianity.

To avoid the greater evil of offering no help to the divorced and remarried, cutting them and most likely their children off from the sacraments, he said, the church could "tolerate that which is impossible to accept" -- a second union.

"A pastoral approach of tolerance, clemency and indulgence," he said, would affirm that "the sacraments are not a prize for those who behave well or for an elite, excluding those who are most in need."

END

[Lynne]

The Vatican did not publish the cardinal's text, but Catholic News Service obtained a copy.

So they could float the idea out there to see if anyone storms the Vatican with pitchfolks (virtual or otherwise).

[ADMG]

More trial balloons:

Pope Francis: accompany, don't condemn, those who have experience failure in marriage

"When, however, this leaving one's father and mother, and joining oneself to a woman, and going forward... when this love fails – because many times it fails – we have to feel the pain of the failure, [we must] accompany those people who have had this failure in their love. Do not condemn. Walk with them – and don't practice casuistry on their situation."

What a reassuring message 

[Larry]

So many people suffered throughout Church history because they tried to stay faithful to the Church's teaching on marriage(even those who failed to stay faithful suffered). Modern churchmen are so arrogant in their dismissal of the past.

[lauermar]

So if remarried outside the church can receive communion it follows that the church must permit cohabiting couples to receive also, no matter if LGBT or straight. After that, maybe Protestants too.

[Lynne]

So if remarried outside the church can receive communion it follows that the church must permit cohabiting couples to receive also, no matter if LGBT or straight. After that, maybe Protestants too.

Yes, they want to unravel the whole thing.

[bben15]

"he allowed for the possibility that in very specific cases the church could tolerate, though not accept, a second union." 

To tolerate is to accept.

[The Harlequin King]

"he allowed for the possibility that in very specific cases the church could tolerate, though not accept, a second union." 

To tolerate is to accept!!! 

Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!

Yeah... but what does this say about the 9th century Church accepting Charlemagne's polygamous unions?

[Petrie]

For some reason I'm trying to remain calm about this.

[Larry]

"he allowed for the possibility that in very specific cases the church could tolerate, though not accept, a second union." 

To tolerate is to accept!!! 

Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!

Yeah... but what does this say about the 9th century Church accepting Charlemagne's polygamous unions?

Stuff like that just makes me scratch my head. Also the fact that the Eastern Church, even when it was in communion with Rome(and even "uniates" after the schism), sometimes permitted a second marriage. All of this stuff needs to be clarified by a future Council(when churchmen are Catholic again, of course. The last thing we need right now is a Council!).

[The Curt Jester]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church needs to find a way to offer healing, strength and salvation to Catholics whose marriages have failed...

Uh.  Confession?  Oh, right.  It has to be on THEIR terms -- being able to find healing while still living how THEY want.

Let's just go edit the act of contrition:

"I firmly resolve,
    to go on about my life how I want and just expect healing 'cause I ain't gonna amend my life.  Amen."

[The Harlequin King]

The question of Charlemagne's concubines isn't faith-shattering dor me, but it's a lot more serious than what's going on in Germany right now. In Chuck's case, he was crowned emperor of the Romans and given Communion by the Pope himself, was bowed to by said pope, is considered a blessed, and currently is the subject of an equestrian statue guarding the doors of Saint Peter's Basilica.

[VeraeFidei]

The question of Charlemagne's concubines isn't faith-shattering dor me, but it's a lot more serious than what's going on in Germany right now. In Chuck's case, he was crowned emperor of the Romans and given Communion by the Pope himself, was bowed to by said pope, is considered a blessed, and currently is the subject of an equestrian statue guarding the doors of Saint Peter's Basilica.

Have you read the section by Dom Gueranger on Charlemagne's feast? What do you make of his defense of Charlemagne? He suggests that there is no concrete evidence that he ever had multiple "wives" simultaneously.

[The Harlequin King]

The question of Charlemagne's concubines isn't faith-shattering dor me, but it's a lot more serious than what's going on in Germany right now. In Chuck's case, he was crowned emperor of the Romans and given Communion by the Pope himself, was bowed to by said pope, is considered a blessed, and currently is the subject of an equestrian statue guarding the doors of Saint Peter's Basilica.

Have you read the section by Dom Gueranger on Charlemagne's feast? What do you make of his defense of Charlemagne? He suggests that there is no concrete evidence that he ever had multiple "wives" simultaneously.

I would say that sounds like wishful thinking, but as a fan of Gueranger, I'd like to read what he had to say about it first. Do you have a link handy?

[Geremia]

More trial balloons

As though we faithful are an experiment...