By CHRISTOPHER MANION
As the secular crusade against faith and family continues to roil the West, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has stepped in to affirm and clarify the Church’s fundamental moral teaching.
On February 22, the congregation issued an authoritative Responsum (response) to “a question that has been advanced with increasing frequency”: “Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?”
The congregation does not judge the motives of those posing the question. In fact, the question is “not infrequently motivated by a sincere desire to welcome and accompany homosexual persons,” who should, of course, “receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God’s will in their lives.”
But that assistance must be provided in harmony with the truth.
The congregation helpfully uses the Responsum to articulate and to emphasize the “singular importance” that blessings have in their role as “sacramentals,” as well as their relationship to the sacraments themselves.
In a welcome catechetical reminder, the Responsum explains that sacramentals, are “sacred signs that resemble the sacraments. . . . Blessings are signs above all of spiritual effects that are achieved through the Church’s intercession.”
Due to that essential nature, “when a blessing is invoked on particular human relationships…it is necessary that what is blessed be objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to the designs of God inscribed in creation, and fully revealed by Christ the Lord.”
Here the Responsum echoes the Church’s timeless teaching that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2357), and that the homosexual “inclination” is “objectively disordered” (CCC, n. 2358).
In that light, the Responsum concludes: “It is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex” because such unions are “not ordered to the Creator’s plan.”
Here the Responsum faithfully resonates the words of St. Paul VI, when he writes that Marriage is “in reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man His loving design. As a consequence, husband and wife, through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with God in the generation and rearing of new lives” (Humanae Vitae, n. 8).
We Must Defend These Vital Moral Truths
The language of the Responsum is careful but clear. It offers solace and hope to the faithful who celebrate marriage in its fullness and beauty in this troubled age. It also challenges us to go forth and defend marriage against all those who would defile this precious gift of the Creator.
Of course, as Knute Rockne observed a century ago, “the best defense is a good offense.” But first that offensive must target a clearly identified enemy. In the case of faith, marriage, and family, that enemy is none other than Satan.
Satanic forces in our time do not foment chaos only in the political sphere; they also attack Christ and His Truth in the intellectual and spiritual realm. Following its publication, the Responsum quickly fanned the burning coals of passion among advocates of “homosexual unions” who peddle their perverted palaver in the guise of “Catholic” teaching. Their “rainbow banners” hang over our altars. Their pompous parades are led by prominent pastors and prelates. Their powerful secular allies force-feed the culture with a Satanic brew of filth. They are the enemy.
These slavish followers of the Prince of This World are grimly determined to force the Church to accept “homosexual marriage” and bestow upon that vile canard the same status as the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Like Satan, they are committed to the destruction of marriage, and of Holy Mother Church who teaches, defends, and confers the sacraments.
But why did the calmly stated Responsum foment such anger and hatred among Satan’s hordes?
Well, all along, they thought that they were winning. For years, opponents of Humanae Vitae have declared victory regarding contraception. After all, rare are the Catholics, lay or cleric, who will speak out with clarity and defend the Church’s timeless teaching on the dangers posed to married love by the contraceptive mentality. Indeed, the more damage to marriage that has been wrought by the defiance of God’s law in the past fifty years, the louder and more triumphant have been the calls for perpetuating that defiance.
Consider for a moment their view: doesn’t the campaign for “homosexual unions” rely on the same rebellious spirit of denial that celebrates contraception? Why accept one but deny the other? And for years, many among them saw Pope Francis as an ally. Yet, he betrayed them and personally approved the Responsum! That so angered one disillusioned group that they vented their outrage at Pope Francis himself.
“This is the same man who said, ‘Who am I to judge’ in 2013,” the distraught dissenters wrote. The Responsum “risks making Francis into a hypocrite,” they snarled.
Prominent leaders in the hierarchy quickly rose in defense of the Responsum. Raymond Cardinal Burke told EWTN that he saw the outrage as a sign that the “the aggressive homosexual agenda is now dominating even in certain ecclesial circles and even among certain bishops.” But his defense of truth was not unanimous, even among the College of Cardinals.
Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich begged to differ, expressing his “disappointment” with the document. Austria’s Cardinal Christoph Schonborn went even further: “God will not deny same-sex couples a blessing,” he said.
In a daunting and perilous move, Reinhard Cardinal Marx of Germany and hundreds of other bishops and priests in Germany and Austria openly vowed to defy the Responsum.
Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki of Cologne joined several other bishops to welcome the Responsum, shedding unwelcome light again on the growing split in the German hierarchy, already treading on the thin ice of schism.
In the United States, the usual suspects, also known as Jesuits, rose to the occasion. Fr. James Martin, SJ, tweeted to his 300,000 followers “a message from Holy Trinity Church, in Washington, DC, to its LGBTQIA+ members.” Its title: “In Christ, we make up one body, where all matter and all belong.”
This meandering gibberish, written “in support of our LGBTQIA+ community,” laments the “pain and frustration…caused by last week’s statement regarding the blessing of same-sex unions by the Vatican. This statement opened yet another wound that leaves our LGBTQIA+ parishioners and their families and friends wondering: what is my place in the church?”
Given such insipid treacle, it’s no wonder that Holy Trinity is Joe Biden’s favorite parish. Holy Trinity ignores the Responsum’s affirmation that “homosexual persons should receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God’s will in their lives.” Instead, it evades the truth while affirming the objectively evil acts that the “LGBTQIA+” stalwarts at Holy Trinity gamely defend. But not even these miscreants will openly claim that Christ blesses their depravity. So why should the Church bless it?
Because their feelings are hurt, that’s why. The less said about Divine Truth, the better.
Like all moral truths, those expressed in the Responsum are simple, clear, and profound. We must all prayerfully prepare to defend them in coming days. Satan never sleeps, and the relentless attacks by the Culture of Death will continue.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress