1925 WHEN TWO BECOME ONE [a short
critique on the pastoral letter from the Bishop of Newark]
Today I want to comment on the Pastoral
letter that the Archbishop of Newark put out last month.
Being I’m here in N.J. for a few
days- one of my goals was to visit all the old places I saw as a kid.
And 2 of those spots were the
Catholic churches I went to as a kid.
I went last Sunday to Our Lady of
Fatima- and this Past Sunday I visited Our Lady of Grace.
It just so happened that the
Bishop of Newark put out this Pastoral letter- a letter to all the Christians
in his area- a few weeks before I arrived.
The letter;
The letter is in some ways a
defense of the historic position of the church.
It’s titled ‘When Two become One:
A Pastoral Teaching on the Definition, Purpose and Sanctity of Marriage’.
In short the Bishop does an
excellent job of defending the traditional definition of marriage between One
man and One woman.
He bases this teaching on both
Natural [Moral] law- and what we call Revelation [or Revealed Truth- which
means teaching that comes to us from God].
Natural Law?
Natural law simply means in
society in general- since the early times of man- there was a basic
understanding of what was right or wrong.
Where did this Moral foundation
come from?
The Church teaches that this
comes from God [Apostle Paul- Romans 1 and 2].
Since this Moral law exists- and
part of this ‘collective conscience’ includes the basic idea of traditional
marriage- therefore we [the Church] make the argument that traditional marriage
is not only a Church teaching- but also a foundational truth that all men have
known since the beginning of mans existence.
The bishop notes that the early
Greek philosophers and other ancient societies have indeed believed that Moral
law does exist- and therefore it is not only a church belief.
The Bishop is also careful to
treat Homosexual people [language that the church does not use- the church
teaches that all people- even those with ‘homosexual tendencies’ are indeed
created in the image of God. The Church says both Heterosexual and Homosexual
are words that describe sexual attractions- but are not fundamental identities]
with respect.
That is even though the Church believes
in One man One woman union- that it recognizes that all people struggle with ‘sin’
and that the Church calls all people to live repentant lives- and to strive to live
an abundant life in Christ.
The Bishop emphasizes that the Christian
community does include people who have homosexual attractions- but it simply
does not legitimize homosexual lifestyles as an acceptable way of life for the
practicing Christian [I do understand that others see this very thing as discriminatory-
and that would take a long time to get into- my purpose in this post is to kind
of break down the 4 page letter of the bishop and hit the high points.]
All in all the letter was written
in a scholarly way- the bishop used what we call the classic Apologetic tools
to defend the Faith [he appealed to natural law- he quoted the Greek philosophers-
etc.]
And he made the case in a way
that was as gracious as possible to those who consider themselves Homosexual-
while still defending the Traditional definition of marriage.
I of course did read- and re-read
the letter.
I guess that around 10 % of
Catholic Christians might have gone home after Mass and read the letter [it was
kind of long- and a little scholarly].
But it was written in a well
thought out way- and it does give you the official Catholic teaching on this
matter.
The Church teaches that those
Catholics who reject the traditional definition of marriage are rejecting a
serious doctrine of the church- a ‘Grave matter’- and the church says these
Catholics need to repent from this position.
In the Catholic Church there are degrees
of Moral teaching- that is some areas are not considered as serious as others-
the Church teaches that this doctrine- traditional Marriage- is one of those
serious doctrines.
At the end of the letter it has
the signature of Archbishop John J. Meyers- the bishop of Newark.
This was the first time I ever
read an official Pastoral letter- one that was actually circulated in the
handouts from the Church meeting.
I found it well written- scholarly-
and of course- in keeping with the teaching of the historic church.
Whether you agree with the
teaching or not [for instance I am a Protestant- and not bound to the teaching
of the Catholic church].
You must admit- that the Catholic
church puts out responsible material- material that is well thought out and in
a way ‘peer reviewed’.
Yea- all in all- it was a good
letter.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
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