Pope to US bishops:
The Church needs 'a conscientious effort'
to resist attempts to redefine marriage
March 9, 2012
The best I can do with the photo from tomorrow's issue of the OR (photo in its original size, right).
Vatican City, Mar 9, 2012 (CNA/EWTN News) - In an address that tackled attempts to redefine marriage, Pope Benedict XVI challenged the bishops of the United States to teach young people an authentic Catholic vision of sex and love.
“The richness of this vision is more sound and appealing than the permissive ideologies exalted in some quarters; these in fact constitute a powerful and destructive form of counter-catechesis for the young,” he said today.
The Pope was addressing the bishops of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. They are currently in Rome as part of their ad-limina visit, which involves discussing the health of their dioceses with Pope Benedict and various Vatican departments, as well as making a pilgrimage to the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul.
“Young people need to encounter the Church’s teaching in its integrity, challenging and counter-cultural as that teaching may be,” he told the bishops.
Children must see this vision “embodied by faithful married couples who bear convincing witness to its truth,” but the wider Church also has to give them support “as they struggle to make wise choices at a difficult and confusing time in their lives,” the Pope said.
The Pope focused his audience remarks on outlining the roots of the “contemporary crisis of marriage and the family.”
This crisis is evident, he said, in the “weakened appreciation of the indissolubility of the marriage covenant” and the widespread rejection of a “responsible, mature sexual ethic grounded in the practice of chastity.”
He noted that these decisions have led to “grave societal problems bearing an immense human and economic cost.” The Pope dealt first with the threat posed by attempts to legally redefine marriage.
He recognized that drive to redefine marriage was being pushed by “powerful political and cultural currents,” which require a “conscientious effort to resist this pressure.”
This has to be done, he said, with a “reasoned defense of marriage as a natural institution” consisting of “a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarity of the sexes and oriented to procreation.”
“Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage,” he said. This is why defending the institution of marriage is “ultimately a question of justice,” since it “entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike,” said the Pope.
Later this year, voters in Minnesota will accept or reject a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as “only a union of one man and one woman.”
Pope Benedict then addressed how the Christian vision of sex and love is taught to the young.
He said the bishops must “acknowledge deficiencies in the catechesis of recent decades.” This inadequate teaching has often failed to communicate “the rich heritage of Catholic teaching on marriage as a natural institution elevated by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament,” as well as the “vocation of Christian spouses in society and in the Church, and the practice of marital chastity.”
He called for better instruction of both the young and those preparing for marriage, with programs based upon the Catechism of the Catholic Church. These should also address the “serious pastoral problem” presented by “the widespread practice of cohabitation, often by couples who seem unaware that it is gravely sinful, not to mention damaging to the stability of society.”
All Catholic family agencies should also give support and “reach out to” those who are divorced, separated, single parents, teenage mothers, women considering abortion, as well as children suffering due to family breakdown.
The Pope identified an “urgent need” for Christians to “recover an appreciation of the virtue of chastity” which, he reminded the bishops, is defined in the Catechism as an “apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom.”
Fundamentally, he said, the Christian understanding of sexuality is “a source of genuine freedom, happiness and the fulfillment of our fundamental and innate human vocation to love.”
He concluded by telling the bishops that children have “a fundamental right” to grow up with an “understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships.”
(Mons. John Clayton Nienstedt, Archbisjop of Minneapolis-St. Paul, delivered the greeting in behalf of the bishops representing Regions, 7,8 and 9 of the USCCB.)
Here is the full text of the Holy Father's address, delivered in English:
Dear Brother Bishops,
I greet all of you with fraternal affection on the occasion of your visit ad limina Apostolorum. As you know, this year I wish to reflect with you on certain aspects of the evangelization of American culture in the light of the intellectual and ethical challenges of the present moment.
In our previous meetings I acknowledged our concern about threats to freedom of conscience, religion and worship which need to be addressed urgently, so that all men and women of faith, and the institutions they inspire, can act in accordance with their deepest moral convictions.
In this talk I would like to discuss another serious issue which you raised with me during my Pastoral Visit to America, namely, the contemporary crisis of marriage and the family, and, more generally, of the Christian vision of human sexuality.
It is in fact increasingly evident that a weakened appreciation of the indissolubility of the marriage covenant, and the widespread rejection of a responsible, mature sexual ethic grounded in the practice of chastity, have led to grave societal problems bearing an immense human and economic cost.
Yet, as Blessed John Paul II observed, the future of humanity passes by way of the family (cf. Familiaris Consortio, 85). Indeed, "the good that the Church and society as a whole expect from marriage and from the family founded on marriage is so great as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area. Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself" (Sacramentum Caritatis, 29).
In this regard, particular mention must be made of the powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage.
The Church’s conscientious effort to resist this pressure calls for a reasoned defense of marriage as a natural institution consisting of a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarity of the sexes and oriented to procreation.
Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage. Defending the institution of marriage as a social reality is ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike.
In our conversations, some of you have pointed with concern to the growing difficulties encountered in communicating the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family in its integrity, and to a decrease in the number of young people who approach the sacrament of matrimony.
Certainly we must acknowledge deficiencies in the catechesis of recent decades, which failed at times to communicate the rich heritage of Catholic teaching on marriage as a natural institution elevated by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament, the vocation of Christian spouses in society and in the Church, and the practice of marital chastity.
This teaching, stated with increasing clarity by the post-conciliar magisterium and comprehensively presented in both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, needs to be restored to its proper place in preaching and catechetical instruction.
On the practical level, marriage preparation programs must be carefully reviewed to ensure that there is greater concentration on their catechetical component and their presentation of the social and ecclesial responsibilities entailed by Christian marriage.
In this context we cannot overlook the serious pastoral problem presented by the widespread practice of cohabitation, often by couples who seem unaware that it is gravely sinful, not to mention damaging to the stability of society.
I encourage your efforts to develop clear pastoral and liturgical norms for the worthy celebration of matrimony which embody an unambiguous witness to the objective demands of Christian morality, while showing sensitivity and concern for young couples.
Here too I would express my appreciation of the pastoral programs which you are promoting in your Dioceses and, in particular, the clear and authoritative presentation of the Church’s teaching found in your 2009 Letter Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan.
I also appreciate all that your parishes, schools and charitable agencies do daily to support families and to reach out to those in difficult marital situations, especially the divorced and separated, single parents, teenage mothers and women considering abortion, as well as children suffering the tragic effects of family breakdown.
In this great pastoral effort there is an urgent need for the entire Christian community to recover an appreciation of the virtue of chastity.
The integrating and liberating function of this virtue (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2338-2343) should be emphasized by a formation of the heart, which presents the Christian understanding of sexuality as a source of genuine freedom, happiness and the fulfilment of our fundamental and innate human vocation to love.
It is not merely a question of presenting arguments, but of appealing to an integrated, consistent and uplifting vision of human sexuality. The richness of this vision is more sound and appealing than the permissive ideologies exalted in some quarters; these in fact constitute a powerful and destructive form of counter-catechesis for the young.
Young people need to encounter the Church’s teaching in its integrity, challenging and counter-cultural as that teaching may be. More importantly, they need to see it embodied by faithful married couples who bear convincing witness to its truth. They also need to be supported as they struggle to make wise choices at a difficult and confusing time in their lives.
Chastity, as the Catechism reminds us, involves an ongoing "apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom" (2339). In a society which increasingly tends to misunderstand and even ridicule this essential dimension of Christian teaching, young people need to be reassured that "if we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, absolutely nothing, of what makes life free, beautiful and great" (Homily, Inaugural Mass of the Pontificate, 24 April 2005).
Let me conclude by recalling that all our efforts in this area are ultimately concerned with the good of children, who have a fundamental right to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships.
Children are the greatest treasure and the future of every society: truly caring for them means recognizing our responsibility to teach, defend and live the moral virtues which are the key to human fulfillment.
It is my hope that the Church in the United States, however chastened by the events of the past decade, will persevere in its historic mission of educating the young and thus contribute to the consolidation of that sound family life which is the surest guarantee of inter-generational solidarity and the health of society as a whole.
I now commend you and your brother Bishops, with the flock entrusted to your pastoral care, to the loving intercession of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. To all of you I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of wisdom, strength and peace in the Lord.
The Holy Father has obviously made the decision to use his addresses to the US bishops complying with their ad-limina visits this year for a series of specifically aimed pastoral talks concerning the outstanding issues encountered by the Church in the West today, especially in the USA. To the group of bishops from Washington DC and the area around it, whom he met in early February, he spoke on the issue of religious freedom and the freedom of conscience in what turned out to be a prophetic message applicable to the Obama administration's healthcare mandate that runs roughshod all over the idea of freedom of conscience for people of faith.
Today's address comes on the heels of a few more states legislating same-sex 'marriage', including New Jersey, whose Catholic governor says he will veto the new law, and Maryland (cradle of American Catholicism), whose Catholic governor was the leading advocate for the law! (In the same way as the Catholic governor of New York, who also happens to live in cohabitation with a woman not his wife, spearheaded his state's drive to legalize same-sex marriage last year.)
BTW, the Pope's address today has a great companion piece int he pastoral letter of the bishops of England and Wales against same-sex marriage (posted on this thread yesterday) which also lays out the Catholic teaching on marriage between a man and a woman, which will be read from all Catholic pulpits in their jurisdictions this Sunday.
Perhaps no other country has so many prominent Catholics openly advocating practices that violate Catholic teaching, including in this case, the Vice President of the United States, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Obama's chief enforcer of healthcare, cabinet secretary Kathleen Sebelius (who as governor of Kansas had been a strong supporter of the late Dr. Tiller, who was America's leading practitioner of the so-called 'partial birth abortion', one of the most gruesome and diabolical medical procedures ever devised by modern man).
That's a dismal and unworthy picture, and I am somewhat comforted only by the thought that at the last March for Life, about three dozen Catholic congressmen, led by the present Speaker of the House John Boehner, spoke up in defense of life at all stages.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/03/2012 03:14]