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Sunday, October 11, 2015

Sunday Meditation: Is this a warning from St. John Paul II to the Dissenters at the Synod?

Dissenters, pay close attention to Pope St. John Paul II's message from Veritatis Splendor. I know you don't care about the splendor of truth when it conflicts with your perverse desires, but, guess what --- it applies to you anyway. Get ready for the big challenge about it on Judgment Day! (My comments are in red.)
Today, however, it seems necessary to reflect on the whole of the Church's moral teaching, with the precise goal of recalling certain fundamental truths of Catholic doctrine which, in the present circumstances, risk being distorted or denied. Cardinal Kasper, you have a call from heaven.
The indissolubility of marriage and the perverseness and disordered nature of same sex relationships are "fundamental truths of Catholic doctrine." You can spin and twist all you want, but that will not change. In fact, a new situation has come about within the Christian community itself, which has experienced the spread of numerous doubts and objections of a human and psychological, social and cultural, religious and even properly theological nature, with regard to the Church's moral teachings. It is no longer a matter of limited and occasional dissent, but of an overall and systematic calling into question of traditional moral doctrines on the basis of certain antropological and ethical presupposition. At the root of these presuppositions is the more or less obvious influence of currents of thought which end by detaching human freedom from its essential and constitutive relationship to truth. This is for you, you dissenting Synod Fathers. You are creating and spreading doubt "within the Christian community itself." Your attempt to detach human freedom from the truth will lead many to hell. Which is why you must be opposed and resisted by every true shepherd and every person of good will. Thus the traditional doctrine regarding the natural law, and the universality and the permanent validity of its precepts, is rejected; certain of the Church's moral teachings are found simply unacceptable; This is especially true with regard to the sinfulness of same-sex activity, fornication, and adultery. Church teachings do not square with the sexual revolution and must be suppressed. That ordained ministers participate in this charade is a scandal of the highest order! and the Magisterium itself is considered capable of intervening in matters of morality only in order to "exhort consciences" and to "propose values," in the light of which each individual will independently make his or her decisions and life choices.
In particular, note should be taken of the lack of harmony between the traditional response of the Church and certain theological positions, encountered even in seminaries and in faculties of theology, with regard to questions of the greatest importance for the Church and of life of faith of Christians, as well as for the life of society itself. The errors being promoted by some prelates at the Synod have the potential to inflict immeasurable damage on both the Church and the culture at large. In particular, the question is asked: do the commandments of of God, which are written on the human heart and are part of the Covenant, really have the capacity to clarify the daily decisions of individuals and entire societies? Is it possible to obey God and thus love God and neighbor, without respecting these commandments in all circumstances? The simple answer is NO. Jesus said, "If you love me you will love my commandments." It's not a question of human opinion, but of God's rule book. It might be called, "God's rule book for human happiness." Also, an opinion is frequently heard which questions the intrinsic and unbreakable bond between faith and morality, as if membership in the Church and her internal unity were to be decided on the basis of faith alone, while in the sphere of morality a pluralism of opinions and of kinds of behavior could be tolerated, these being left to the judgment of the individual subjective conscience or to the diversity of social and cultural contexts. Observe that dissenters never talk about the necessity of having an "informed" conscience. Rather they seem to equate conscience with whatever feels good.
And "Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate," the saint has words addressed directly to you:
The specific purpose of the present encyclical is this: to set forth, with regard to the problems being discussed, the principles of a moral teaching based upon Sacred Scripture and the living Apostolic Tradition, and at the same time to shed light on the presuppositions and consequences of the dissent which that teaching has met. 
                 Veritatis Splendor, 4-5, p. 13-15 in Daughters of St. Paul edition

1 comment:

  1. My suspicion is that undermining Veritatis Splendor is the true motive of Kasper et al.

    ReplyDelete