AsiaNews: Amoris laetitia, not only feelings and morality, but also social engagement

By Bernardo Cervellera
For Asia News
Posted on April 8, 2016

Photo Source: Crisis Magazine

Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on family love cannot be reduced to problem of communion for divorced and remarried people. The document suggests ways to remake societal life. As a Catholic vision, it links the actual to the infinite, and calls for public policies that protect the rights of families.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis’ post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which was released today, is a vital contribution to the life of families and contemporary society.

Although it might take Catholics and non-Catholics some time to assimilate the long (265 pages) and demanding document, its emphases, passages, biblical references and look at human love are an objective and solid milestone in the quicksand of situations that are often treated only with fleeting feelings, love spells, fears and private frustrations, which hide an individualist notion of self, in which solitude marks not only the end of a relationship, but acts as it definition, origin and nature.

The document offers a sweet and powerful vision of Catholic humanity that makes its way, corrects, brightens and goes beyond a rationalist and trite conception of ego, love and society.

Some might have liked the exhortation to be only a "yes" or "no" to communion for divorced and remarried people. Instead, Francis gave us a sign and path of how, not only the family, but also the Church, and the whole of society can change. It is interesting to note for example that in the description of actual love between a husband and a wife, the document also speaks of the help that they can give to make more substantial the gifts brought by virgins, who are sometimes tempted to live a single lifestyle more than the consecrated who give their whole life (Amoris Laetitia, n.158, ff).

In the exhortation, the Catholic vision emerges in three main aspects:

1. The love between a man and a woman is continuously defined as the "image of God" and the return to what God and Christ do as a model for relationships (giving oneself, lack of anger, forgiveness, generation, raising children, etc.).

‘Same-sex synod’ what? By Sr. Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS

Pope Francis greets a cardinal as he leaves at the end of a mass to mark the opening of the synod on the family in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, Rome, Italy, October 5, 2014. [Picture source: Christian Post]

…and that’s the truth [from CBCP News]

THEY are at it again—those who have an axe to grind against the Catholic Church are finding media morsels to feast upon at the ongoing Synod of Bishops in the Vatican. Further exploiting Pope Francis’ most misconstrued quote “Who am I to judge?”, these people with special interests label what is actually a synod on the family as “same-sex synod”, a “novelty”, an occasion for “hundreds of celibate men” to display once more their “obsession with sex” colliding head on with their “puritanical idealism”. It is high season for optimistic militant LGBT entities to repackage and resell their pet theories while judging the bishops and the Church as being “outdated” and woefully out of touch with reality.

I follow with mixed amusement and compassion the ways anti-Church advocates—claiming “human rights”—manipulate mainstream and social media to advance their agenda. They start with looking oppressed—as though gays were the most tyrannized people on planet Earth. But are they, seriously? At least in the Philippines, they are far from oppressed—they are not only accepted, they are loved, adored, and some are even envied for their wealth and popularity. And their gifts and talents are not just acknowledged by the Church but are welcomed and utilized in its ministry. I have heard of gay boys being rejected by their fathers, but only in the movies. All the gay persons I know have no problem with acceptance.

The earliest memories I have of gays are those about the two men in charge of our town’s Flores de Mayo. “Dalawang bakla lang ang gumagawa ng lahat diyan,” my mother would admiringly inform us, referring to the two middle-aged unmarried men—with soft wrists and hard core devotion to the Virgin Mary—who would virtually bloom whenever Santacruzan time came around. They recruited sagalas, assigned Reinas their consortes, supervised the makeup, the flower arrangements, the carroza decoration—everything! It never occurred to me that they were different—maybe I was too naïve to notice, just as I was too innocent to appreciate the biggest role in the Santacruzan given to me—Ang Babaeng Samaritana.

No, I think the LGBT champions want more than mere acceptance—they want “gay rights” to be recognized as human rights. They want marriage (just like the straights), they want their own “family” of adopted kids, and in the process they try to “revolutionize” Church teaching in the name of human rights. What’s sad is they don’t seem to understand that by fighting for “gay rights” they are seeking affirmation based on mere sexuality. In a sense they are actually asking people to measure their worth by the yardstick of sexual preference, thereby wasting their own potential as human beings.

Claiming that the only natural love they know (and the act that accompanies it) is one for and with another person of the same gender, they argue that they have a right to find happiness in love. “Kasalanan ko bang ipinanganak akong isang sirena?” (Is it my fault that I was born a mermaid?), a lot of gay men I know have jokingly asked. Like any other person they look for someone to love, be loved by, and when they do, they have sex without babies (to put it bluntly). It’s sex to please oneself and the beloved. Pleasure blinds the indulgent, and this is where their problem worsens. They drop out of Church, or in any case stop listening to “God talk”—instead they choose listen to “the other side”, and from there it’s a slippery slope to perdition.

Somebody has to remind them of their “divine rights”, to convince them that they are—like everybody else, inside or outside the Catholic Church—children of a kind and loving God. As such we have a right to ask for strength from our Father in times of temptation. As His children we all are bound by love to listen to God’s voice, to seek His will in everything we do—and certainly, wasting sexual energy is not one of them.

“Who says you have to have sex with your boyfriend to express your love?” I tell this to my gay friends who seem to flit from one fling to another in search of happiness in love. (They keep getting brokenhearted anyway). “Happiness in love is not found in human love alone—perhaps, in ‘making you a sirena’ God wants to be your siyukoy (merman)! But if you keep complaining and marching in the streets for your gay rights, how can you hear the Father telling you He loves you?”

It is said that hope springs eternal in the human breast. And so my gay friends still hope that with such a dynamic pope as Francis at the helm, the ongoing synod of bishops will maybe allow same-sex marriage. “You see,” I tell them, “you’re just listening to the noise! The Church will continue to love you dearly but it will never bless your same-sex union and call it marriage.” And that’s the truth.

TIME News: What the Vatican Really Said About Homosexuality

TIME News - It's not the big shift people think it is

The Catholic world and the media were riled Monday by a Vatican document interpreted by many as signaling a softer church stance toward homosexuality, but the inclusive tone of the document is a long way from actual policy change.

At issue are three words most people have never heard of: Relatio post disceptationem. That’s the name of the document the Catholic Church’s Extraordinary Synod of the Bishops released Monday, one week into the Synod’s gathering to discuss the state of the family in the modern world. It translates, “Report After Debate,” and it was read aloud in the Synod hall to kick off the Synod’s second week. One of the report’s 58 sections—the one causing the biggest stir—is titled, “Welcoming homosexual persons.”

“Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community,” the passage begins. “Are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home. Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?”

For a Church that has historically linked the word “homosexual” with the word “sin,” the idea of welcoming gays in any capacity can appear to be a significant move. Headlines immediately spoke of a “dramatic shift” and a “more tolerant” stance from the church.

But before rushing to conclusions, everyone, on all sides, should calm down.

First, here’s what the document actually is:

The relatio is a mid-Synod snapshot of 200+ Catholic leaders’ conversations that happened in the Synod hall last week. It is a starting point for conversations as the Synod fathers start small group discussions this week. It is a working text that identifies where bishops need to “deepen or clarify our understanding,” as Cardinal Luis Antonia Tagle put it in Monday’s press briefing. That means that the topic of gays and Catholic life came up in the Synod conversations so far and that it is a topic for continued reflection.

Second, here’s what the document is not:

The relatio is not a proscriptive text. It is not a decree. It is not doctrine, and certainly not a doctrinal shift. It is also not final. “These are not decisions that have been made nor simply points of view,” the document concludes. “The reflections put forward, the fruit of the Synodal dialogue that took place in great freedom and a spirit of reciprocal listening, are intended to raise questions and indicate perspectives that will have to be matured and made clearer by the reflection of the local Churches in the year that separates us from the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of bishops planned for October 2015.”

Unemployed family to be a WYD host family

Gabriela y Jorge, with one of their
children and the grandmother

WYD 2011 Update News - “We should always remember God: in the good times and in the bad”

It’s easy to see that the WYD is drawing near and everybody is going all out to make this great event a success, like Gabriela and Jorge. Despite being unemployed for 3 years and having been through difficult moments, Gabriela and Jorge did not want to miss the opportunity to be host family for two volunteers.

It all began one Sunday when after Mass there was an announcement asking for people to be host family to people from other countries. At first they hesitated because of the situation they were in and so they decided to offer just to be volunteers. But as the days went by, they felt more and more the need to accept the proposal and so they eventually said yes.

They are both from Ecuador and have two children – Esteban is 14 and Quique is just 3 years old- and live with Gabriela’s mother. With great excitement they are looking forward to welcoming into their home the two people coming to WYD.

This large family, struggling to make ends meet, does not lose hope that better times will come. Both Jorge and Gabriela have always lived closely to God and want to transmit these values to their children. “We should always remember God, in the good times and in the bad”, they say. They came to Spain 9 years ago and have always wanted their children to feel this closeness and brotherly love that they transmit. “Besides, this experience is an example for our children, especially the oldest who realizes the situation that we are in”.