Leading the way: A perspective on Amoris Laetitia

[BarbTherese]

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Archbishop Chaput (Philadelphia)

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Published 18th July 2016 (CathNews.com)

Excerpts only (the full text is not lengthy at all): "As Archbishop Chaput makes clear, Amoris Laetitia is not a charter to relax the Church's moral precepts, but rather a call to present them more persuasively in a culture that is becoming more secular every day. Doing this means following Francis' teachings on mercy, discernment, and accompaniment — and, equally, his teachings on Christian courage and our duty to uphold the full truth of Catholic teaching.".............

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......"This last line reflects what Francis expressed in his first major interview as pope:

"The confessor . . . is always in danger of being either too much a rigourist or too lax. Neither is merciful, because neither of them really takes responsibility for the person. The rigourist washes his hands so that he leaves it to the commandment. The loose minister washes his hands by saying, 'This is not a sin,' or something like that. In pastoral ministry, we must accompany people, and we must heal their wounds."

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"Healing people's wounds means counselling them with the love of Christ, but never misleading them with erroneous teachings (for instance, on the nature of conscience) or allowing them to abuse Holy Communion. Consequently, while welcoming all Catholics to parish life, the Archbishop's guidelines uphold moral absolutes and prohibit Catholics in illicit sexual unions – whether heterosexual or homosexual – from receiving the Eucharist. "Every Catholic," writes Archbishop Chaput, "not only the divorced and civilly-remarried, must sacramentally confess all serious sins of which he or she is aware, with a firm purpose to change, before receiving the Eucharist."

Archbishop Chaput realises that these are challenging words, but to say less would cast doubt upon the power of the Holy Spirit to transform people's lives :..

"The grace of Jesus Christ is more than a pious cliché; it is a real and powerful seed of change in the believing heart. The lives of many saints bear witness that grace can take great sinners and, by its power of interior renewal, remake them in holiness of life."

His guidelines have met with praise and are being described as a................"...............

...."Full text:   HERE

 

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Illinois bishop defends Archbishop Chaput’s teaching on Communion for divorced/remarried

 

July 19, 2016

An Illinois bishop has come to the defense of Archbishop Charles Chaput, who recently confirmed the traditional Church teaching that Catholics who are divorced and remarried outside the Church may receive the Eucharist only if they refrain from sexual activity.

 

Writing in the local newspaper, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield said that Archbishop Chaput’s teaching “applies not only in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, but also here in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, as it does elsewhere in the Church.”

Bishop Paprocki added:

Catholics in these circumstances thus have a free choice: if they persist in sexual activity outside of valid marriage, they must refrain from taking Holy Communion; if they wish to receive Holy Communion, they must refrain from sexual activity outside of valid marriage. The latter may seem impossible to those steeped in our sex-saturated culture, but "with God, all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).

 

 

 

Over to You, Lord, because without You nothing can be done, or ever will be done, with real impact and real results.