Latest / The Catholic Current / LTACL: Discerning All Cardinals? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.)

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LTACL: Discerning All Cardinals? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) · The Catholic Current

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  Hey, do you remember recently I had a broadcast where I talked about how to
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  help certain cardinals? I suggested that they needed better ghostwriters,
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  ghostwriters who would not put embarrassing words in their mouth.
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  And I also suggested the cardinals might need some gentle
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  fraternal correction by their peers, by their brother cardinals. Well,
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  believe it or not, I think I've underestimated the situation. It's actually
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  worse than I thought. What do I mean by that?
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  Stay with me, I got a story to tell. Hi, I'm Jesuit Father Robert
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  McTaggart, your host every day at the Catholic Coming to you from the Station of
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  the Cross Catholic Media Network. Let's take a closer look. Glad you're here.
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  As we speak, there's a meeting taking place in Rome marking the
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  10th anniversary of the document Amoris Laetitia,
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  and there's a lot of talking and a lot of listening and a lot of
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  dialogue, and it all seems to be focusing around statements regarding
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  marriage and family and sexuality.
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  And of course, accompaniment. Well,
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  recently, some members of the senior Catholic cadre of the People
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  Who Should Really Know Better Club made some statements that I found to
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  be, shall we say, a cause for wonder.
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  For example, we were told that new patterns of partnering
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  and cohabitation are emerging, and these new patterns
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  should be occasions of pastoral discernment
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  and not ready-made answers, so the Church
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  may learn how to change. Well, that got me thinking.
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  All right, let's discern.
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  Let's, let's do that right now. Uh, let's discern
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  about patterns of partnering. For example, there are patterns of
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  partnering that result in the begetting of children.
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  There are other very different patterns of partnering that
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  result in sexually transmitted diarrhea not easily treatable by modern
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  medicine. Now let's discern. Which pattern
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  of partnering do you think was willed by God?
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  See, discernment doesn't have to be all that hard.
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  And when we talk about avoiding ready-made answers,
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  okay, let us grant that for now. But what about,
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  say, revealed answers? Answers revealed
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  by God in sacred scriptures from the Book of Genesis
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  to the Book of Revelation, God has a lot
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  to say, a lot of very specific things to say
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  about marriage and patterns of partnering.
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  Will these new pastoral discernments in response to emerging
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  patterns include any references to sacred
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  scripture? If not, why not?
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  And these new pastoral discernments that will lead to accompaniment,
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  of course, followed by the church changing.
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  Would these changes be recommended or recognized by
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  any saint? I'm going to say let's get saints who
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  have strong opinions about these things. Let's start with, I don't
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  know, just spitballing here. How about St. Thomas More and St.
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  Maria Goretti? Would any of the pastoral discernment that is being recommended
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  for the changes in the church regarding patterns of partnering would
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  they be recognized and endorsed peacefully by Saint
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  Thomas More and Saint Maria Goretti? And if not,
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  why not? Now you can see there is a
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  whole lot of work to be done. We really need everybody
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  involved, all the, all the baptized.
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  Get ready for a great big dose of synodal co-responsibility.
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  So here's my suggestion. I want to start a program called
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  Clergy and Laity Leery of Ungrounded
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  Theology. And so whenever you hear a pastoral
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  discernment that seems to be ungrounded in Scripture and tradition
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  and natural law, just call out and say, hey,
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  what's that discernment grounded upon?
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  I think that could be a useful exercise. Let me know what you
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  think in the comment section below. Or write me please at thestationofthecross.com/askfather.
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  Meanwhile, think on these things today, take them to prayer, and talk about
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  it with those you love. Go in peace, and please do pray for me,
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  for I am a sinner.