I wrote last week about the horrid "guidance" that Cardinal Wuerl gave to his priests and seminarians regarding Amoralis Lamentia - see here and here. As you can see from the links, Church Militant picked up on it, too. Usually the chancery ignores what we write, although I know for a fact that my postings are monitored.
In his own blog, Cardinal Wuerl doubled down on the errors of Amoralis Lamentia. I cannot say the errors belong to Wuerl alone, for those errors are promulgated by many - including Pope Francis himself. He speaks of "a small number of clergy and media supporters"..."challenging the integrity of..Amoris Laetitia". I've no doubt that with this "small number of clergy" crack, that he's taking a swipe at Cardinal Burke and the other three cardinals for issuing their dubia. Reminder - in issuing their dubia, the four cardinals seek not to undermine any papal teaching but to clarify it. There are a number of bishops who now claim that those in adulterous situations can receive Holy Communion without bringing their lives into conformity with the clear, timeless teachings of Jesus Christ.
Notice how he speaks of "the determining role of individual conscience when assessing personal culpability before God and therefore before his Church." Wrong. An individual's conscience never trumps God's Holy Will as revealed through His Teachings in the Catholic Church. If an individual commits sin while being aware that Jesus Christs forbids such actions, he/she is culpable, personal proclivities and inclinations notwithstanding. He/she is bound by Canon 916 not to approach the Communion rail. If the sin is manifest and grave, the minister of Holy Communion is bound by Canon 915 to deny that person Holy Communion, lest he be party to sacrilege.
Regrettably, the Vicar of Christ has advocated for such sacrilege to occur. Recall the instruction that he gave to priests from his native Argentina. A few days ago the pope joined the bandwagon, accusing us of (wait for it!) "obeying all the commandments, all of them..this paralyzes you too". Hmm.. I seem to recall in the Gospel of John where Jesus says, "he who loves me will obey my commandments". But according to the pope, obedience will make us "forget so many graces received..it doesn't allow you to go forward". Go forward? Forward - to where? Reminder - disobedience to God's commands - any of them - will cause the sinner to lose grace.
Cardinal Muller has rebuked such confusion. He railed against those who use AL to "justify situations against the will of God". He added, "adultery is always a mortal sin and the bishops who create confusion about this must study the doctrine of the Church". He didn't mention the pope by name, but his meaning is clear. I suspect there may soon be some personnel shake-ups at the CDF very soon.
We faithful Catholics need to pray and to educate ourselves regarding our Faith. We certainly will get no solid education from too many of our chanceries.
Burn of the Day
4 hours ago
...oddly enough, or not, the comment section of +Wuerl's lovely directives precludes printing them. I wonder why ;^)
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