By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
“Welcome” is a predominant theme of the Instrumentum Laboris presented in Rome on June 20 for the next phase of the “Synod on Synodality.”
The document makes clear a demand for the priority of “creating spaces” for those who feel excluded because of their status or sexuality. You likely know the list: divorced and remarried, LGBTQ+ individuals, and now we hear of “polygamists” as well. The document reportedly also calls for “more female governance, possibility of female deacons and married priests.”
The drumbeat refrain that has been sounded all along through the Synod process since 2021 which has led to this moment is that these groups who live in ways contrary to Church teaching or who champion certain changes in Church practice are not welcome. Thus, the perceived need to create “spaces” for them in which their needs and aspirations are somehow satisfied.
A reporter at the presentation of the Synod Instrumentum Laboris in Rome asked if all this means that Church teaching on sexuality is “up for discussion.” Cardinal Hollerich, the relator, punted by saying that, no, we are not doing that. He responded that there are some “who do not want to walk with us” but that for those who do, we want to welcome them.
But we are left to ask again: What does this mean?
Does “welcome” mean that the host must satisfy all of the demands of the guest without question otherwise we fail to be a good host?
“How can we create spaces where those who feel hurt by the Church and unwelcomed by the community feel recognized, received, free to ask questions and not judged? In the light of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, what concrete steps are needed to welcome those who feel excluded from the Church because of their status or sexuality (for example, remarried divorcees, people in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ+ people, etc.)?” (Instrumentum Laboris, Synod on Synodality, B 1.2, question 6).
If I enter someone’s house and insist that I want to wear my shoes, when the custom of the house is to take them off upon entering, does it necessarily follow that I must interpret such to mean that I am not being welcomed? It is only my shoes that are not being welcomed, and then only if they remain on my feet. Surely I am capable of changing my attitude to accommodate the concept of welcome to exclude choice of footwear?
The Church is the Body of Christ. Jesus is the space that welcomes all. He has been with the Church from her very beginning because the Church has always been in every way His Body in the world. How we are to now create “spaces” for alien and contradictory elements within the Body of Christ, now judged to be unwelcoming of sin?
The Church is a place where holiness happens, where conferral of grace leads to the fruits of virtue and the change of life necessary for sinners to become sanctified through conversion. Demanding that welcome and synodality require the accommodation of sin is like demanding that one introduce cancer cells into a healthy body, otherwise the host is failing the requirements of hospitality.
No person in their right mind would welcome the introduction of cancer into their otherwise healthy body.
Perhaps the Synod on Synodality might give some “space” to discussing the difference between the sinner and the sin. Let’s take gossip for example. If I like to gossip, but decide I want to spend time with people who reject gossip as an unsavory and distasteful pastime, must I demand that such a group accept me and my propensity to gossip when I spend time with them? They would reasonably exclude my name from a list of invitees given that they’ve decided that gossip is a disgusting inclination. Their house, their rules.
The Church is the “house” of the Lord. He’s decided that the members of His Body must hear and heed His call to “go and sin no more.” Given the fact that a seemingly settled proclivity to same-sex attraction can be a very difficult matter to ignore or to change presents a great difficulty. Compassion requires recognition that this can be indeed a great cross for individuals so burdened to carry it. Does this mean that they are less deserving of the truth?
Divorced and remarried Catholics have built new families and new relationships without the sacramental grace of marriage. Does this mean they are unwelcome? It is slander to insist that the Church is unwelcoming. Many do attend Holy Mass and otherwise practice the Faith while abstaining from the Eucharist. The truth sets them free as it does for all. And the truth is that they cannot fruitfully receive the Eucharist while they are living with a “spouse” with whom they are not sacramentally bound.
One can only conclude that the Synod concept of “welcome” is either like a cancer that will eventually eat away at the health of the Body of Christ or untenable “safe spaces” where the truth is artificially excluded for the sake of creating false hopes among those who deserve the truth as do all. “Nature abhors a vacuum” and grace builds on nature.
The Synod document presumes that certain people “feel” unwelcome. Does this mean that, knowing they are sinners, they might react with some amount of intimidation in contemplating joining together with a group of believers dedicated to lives of holiness? If that is the case, I can pretty well guarantee that everybody at some point has felt unwelcome in relation to the Church with regard to attending Holy Mass or receiving the Holy Eucharist. We are all sinners.
Metanoia, or change, always involves some amount of pain or discomfort. The sad reality of sin and deception is harbored by the human propensity for pleasure and comfort. Like a frog in increasingly hot water that ends with death, human beings are easily capable of being lulled into complacency with deadly moral choices. Evidence abounds that Church teaching on the existence of concupiscence after Baptism is true. The first victim of denial is the denier.
Yes, all are welcome. Including those who don’t want to take their shoes off or who insist that cancer is just as good as being cancer-free. But welcome does not necessarily demand that the rest must agree with their delusions or their submission to lies. Dialog is a two-way street and the traffic on bridges moves in two directions. These also can be good images for the Synod.
Being Christian and Catholic means submitting to the Lordship and friendship of Christ. Creating “spaces” in the Church where Church teaching is not welcome does not bring the Church to the unchurched. It merely prolongs the painful process of accommodating the changing of one’s mind necessary for the demands of conversion to follow Christ in love.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
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