Tuesday, October 09, 2012



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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