(NBC) – The head of the Philadelphia Archdiocese says gay, divorced and remarried Catholics can receive the sacrament of Communion — as long as they don’t have sex.
“Live as brother and sister,” Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote in a seven-page guideline that was released July 1.
Titled “Pastoral Guidelines for Implementing Amoris Laetitia,” it also states that gay Catholics should not be allowed to hold “positions of responsibility” in the parish. MORE
“Live as brother and sister”, huh? Well, that’s easy advice for a celibate Archbishop to hand out, isn’t it?
In the words of the infamous Earl Butz, commenting on Pope Paul VI’s opposition to birth control, “He no playa da game, he no maka da rules.”
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Perhaps that guy could read the Bible. Then he would know that is not a requirement anywhere in the book.
Stunning to see a statement like that coming from such a distinguished Bishop. Has he been corrupted?
Damn, first a Marxist Pope and now this idiot (yes, I’m a Catholic). Is the talent barrel that low in the church now? I suggest it may be time for a Third Vatican Council except with Pope Che in charge Catholicism as a force for good in the world will be well and truly gone.
“What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
The Church doesn’t recognize secular divorce. Thus, even though divorced, whoever re-marries is living in sin, as an adulterer.
Don’t get mad with me or the Archbishop, he’s just the messenger – and I may be wrong.
izlamo delenda est …
He is correct. Unless an annulment is granted, Catholiics are still married in the eyes of the Church , to have relations is therefore adultery . Not that anyone listens, but don’t shoot the messenger.
@DrRiff – Matt 19:8 He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
Balance of comment as a general comment:
Archbishop Chaput is stating what the Catholic Church teaches. He is as conservative as they get.
If you are divorced and have remarried civilly you are objectively living in a state of mortal sin, fornication, which separates you from the body of Christ and thus you cannot partake in the Eucharist.
See: 1 Corinthians 11:29,30
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.
I personally know people who live as brother and sister, who are married civilly without an annulment. They do this because they value unity with Jesus and Heaven more than they do earthly sexual pleasure.
If you are Catholic and are in a marriage that has not been blessed by the Church you are not, in the eyes of the Church, married. This would be the case if a person was previously married, then divorced, and married in a civil ceremony. Or if a Catholic was married in a civil ceremony and is still in that marriage. Annulment is a requirement for a second marriage to be blessed by the Church.
I wonder if this archbishop has had a few alter boys.
I went to school with a number of people who were considered good Catholics (church every Sunday, Mass whenever required, sooty foreheads at Lent, all that stuff). Extremely nice people, at least to me. Since then, several have been divorced (multiple times, in many cases), and at least one (probably more, if truth be known) has had an abortion. But they’re still good Catholics, and they still go to church. What I have learned from this is that in real life, expediency trumps religious belief about 90% of the time, and it’s not just limited to Catholics, either. When it comes right down to it, people will tend to do what they feel they have to do.
Bottom line: I don’t judge people (at least, I try not to), because everyone has his own journey. I’ll leave that up to the saints and the clergy. I don’t try to tell people how to live their lives, either, because that would give them the right to tell me how to live mine. Besides, my own sins disqualify me from casting the first stone.
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“Bottom line: I don’t judge people (at least, I try not to), because everyone has his own journey. I’ll leave that up to the saints and the clergy.”
Vietvet,
According to the apostle Paul, everyone who believes the Gospel of the grace of God IS a saint. No human ecclesiarchy can pronounce, confer nor negate true Biblical sainthood. It is the work of God Himself; men have nothing to do with it.
As for “clergy,” Paul also gives God’s job description. Swearing to be celibate and wearing robes is not listed. 🙂
Troop’s got it right. Amen.
Damn phone corrected Grool! for me.
“According to the apostle Paul, everyone who believes the Gospel of the grace of God IS a saint.”
Grool,
If that’s the case, the Church better get busy recognizing saints. Sounds like they’ve got their work cut out for them.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-become-a-saint-in-the-catholic-church.html
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