The Filipino Cardinal said, “Every situation for those who are divorced and remarried is quite unique. To have a general rule might be counterproductive in the end. My position at the moment is to ask, ‘Can we take every case seriously and is there, in the tradition of the Church, paths towards addressing each case individually?’ This is one issue that I hope people will appreciate is not easy to say ‘no’ or to say ‘yes’ to. We cannot give one formula for all.”
The Cardinal, with all respect, needs to explain himself. At the bottom of this post is the full reprint of the article from the Catholic Herald on his talk; but for the time-being, let me explain.
It is really simple.
- Catholics who marry civilly or in a protestant service without the permission of the local Ordinary and witness by the Church's minister - a priest or deacon; are not married and they are living in a continual state of fornication and thus, mortal sin.
- Catholics who divorce and remarry civilly or in a protestant service (or Catholic if you live in Aurora, Ontario) without the benefit of a Decree of Nullity are living in a perpetual state of adultery and therefore, mortal sin.
- A Catholic who approaches Holy Communion in such a state will commit the sin of sacrilege which is also a mortal sin.
- A Catholic who, objectively speaking, dies in a state of mortal sin will go to Hell for all eternity and be cut off from God.
Those four points above make-up my understanding of Catholic teaching in this regard. Because I believe in the Truth as transmitted by Christ through two-thousand years of magisterial teaching, I feel it important to tell you what that teaching actually is; because it seems to me that someone is spinning here and it isn't me.
Am I wrong?
Or is the Cardinal?
As if the statements of Cardinal Tagle at the bottom of this post are not bad enough; another speaker at the conference was Timothy Radcliffe, O.P.
Oh my; this post is going to be a lot longer than I had intended.
Well, Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., was once interviewed by Father Thomas J. Rosica, CSB at Canada's Salt + Light Television, Our Catholic Channel of Hope. You will begin to get the picture on his theology by losing the twenty-two minutes and twenty-two seconds which you'll never get back from watching it.
You can also find out about this wayward Dominican at Protect the Pope wherein you will find that this Dominican is a dissenter on the Church's teaching on a number of areas involving homosexual behaviour. Here we have a report on his appearance at the 2014 Divine Mercy Conference as reported by Protect the Pope and copied below in the event that something mysterious happens with that blog and we maintain the original bolding:
Let's take a little look, shall we?:
* * *
A selection of Fr Radcliffe’s writings
expressing dissent from the Church’s teaching:
Fr Radcliffe gave the following
contribution to the Church of England ‘s review of homosexuality and gay
marriage:
Fr Radcliffe OP expands the meaning of
fertility to include gay sex
But not every marriage is fertile in this
way. We must avoid having a mechanistic or simplistic understanding of
fertility. Jesus speaks a fertile word: This is my body, given for you. He is
God’s fertile word. And surely it is in the kind and healing words that we
offer each other that we all share in fertility of that most
intimate moment. When Jesus met Peter on the shore after Easter, he offers him
a word that renews their relationship. Three times he asks him; ‘Do you love me
more than these others?’ He allows him to undo his threefold denial. Sexual
fertility cannot be separated from the exchange of words that heal, that
recreate and set free.
How does all of this bear on the question
of gay sexuality? We cannot begin with the question of whether it is permitted
or forbidden! We must ask what it means, and how far it is Eucharistic.
Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual and non-violent. So in
many ways, I would think that it can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift.
We can also see how it can be expressive of
mutual fidelity, a covenantal relationship in which two people bind themselves
to each other for ever. But the proposed legislation for ‘gay marriage’ imply
that it is not understood to be inherently unitive, a becoming one flesh. [...]
And what about fertility? I have suggested
that one should not stick to a crude, mechanistic understanding of fertility.
Biological fertility is inseparable from the fertility of our mutual tenderness
and compassion. And so that might seem to remove one objection to gay marriage.
I am not entirely convinced, since it seems to me that our tradition is
incarnational, the word becoming bodily flesh. And some heterosexual
relationships may be accidentally infertile in this sense, but homosexual ones
are intrinsically so.
Sexual ethics is about what our acts say.
And I have the impression that we are not very sure of what gay sexual acts
signify. Maybe we need to ask gay Christians who have been living in committed
relationships for years. I suspect that sex will turn out to be rather
unimportant.’
Fr Radcliffe on Holy Communion for
Catholics who are divorced and re-married:
I would conclude with two profound hopes.
That a way will be found to welcome divorced and remarried people back to
communion. And, most important, that women will be given real authority and
voice in the church. The pope expresses his desire that this may happen, but
what concrete form can it take? He believes that the ordination of women to the
ministerial priesthood is not possible, but decision-making in the church has
become ever more closely linked to ordination in recent years. Can that bond be
loosened? Let us hope that women may be ordained to the diaconate and so have a
place in preaching at the Eucharist. What other ways can authority be shared?’
* * *
The Catholic Herald has a collection of articles about Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. You will have not difficulty finding out more by doing some searching.
The next explanation that His Eminence needs to give is this:
Why Eminence did you appear on the same program with a Preacher who holds and teaches such heterodoxy and;
Did you correct him?
* * *
Cardinal Tagle: There is no "formula for all" on Communion for the divorced or the re-married.
Cardinal Tagle was speaking at the Flame 2 Youth Congress earlier this month
The Archbishop of Manila has said that there is no all encompassing answer to the question of Communion for the divorced and remarried. Speaking to the Catholic Herald at the Flame 2 Youth Congress earlier this month, Cardinal Luis Tagle, said it was not a question of simply saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but that every case should be judged individually.
He said: “Every situation for those who are divorced and remarried is quite unique. To have a general rule might be counterproductive in the end. My position at the moment is to ask, ‘Can we take every case seriously and is there, in the tradition of the Church, paths towards addressing each case individually?’ This is one issue that I hope people will appreciate is not easy to say ‘no’ or to say ‘yes’ to. We cannot give one formula for all.”
Speaking about the upcoming extraordinary synod, Cardinal Tagle said: “The questions asked were an invitation for people to really examine their conscience. For example, in your parish if you are aware that something is happening are you just aware? Or have you already started doing something? There’s the question of the youth, the elderly, and in the case of the Philippines, families that are separated by migration because of jobs. We know what is happening and we know about the negative effects. But what are we doing? Are we just talking about it?
“We must remember that this is an international gathering so people are coming from different contexts. It is the same gospel and the same truth, but you cannot avoid people thinking: ‘How do I present this teaching to my people?’. No single country, diocese or parish can exhaust all possible responses, so it will be a learning moment where the diversity could help all of us.”
Cardinal Tagle spoke of the need to experience Christ for evangelisation: “An evangeliser must first be evangelized. For how can I share the person of Jesus Christ with others if I have not experienced Him myself?”
The Flame 2 Youth Congress attended by approximately 8,000 young Catholics. Surrounded by young people who had gathered for the country’s largest national Catholic youth event at the SSE Wembley Arena, Cardinal Tagle said: “Where there is mercy there is joy. I am only a cardinal and a bishop because of the mercy of God and the kindness of other people.”
The event included prayers incorporating dance and reflection, and ended with exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament led by Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster.
