Cardinal Müller: Communion for the remarried is against God’s law
Cardinal Müller, German bishops clash on interpretation of Amoris Laetitia
Cardinal Müller stands up for the truth! “For us marriage is the expression of participation in the unity between Christ the bridegroom and the Church his bride. This is not, as some said during the Synod, a simple vague analogy. No! This is the substance of the sacrament, and no power in heaven or on earth, neither an angel, nor the pope, nor a council, nor a law of the bishops, has the faculty to change it.”
Vatican’s top legal aide says divorced-and-remarried may receive Communion
Cardinal Müller and Cardinal Coccopalmerio seem diametrically opposed. Do we need further proof of confusion?
I am increasingly disheartened about this. It makes me want to run to a monastery and turn my back on the whole business. I am sorry but I cannot see how such convenient semantics can possibly serve the truth that comes from Christ’s lips. Is it not a slap in the face to heroic Catholics who embraced the moral life despite great sacrifice and loss? I feel Muller is right but will he win the day? The interpretation of this cardinal directly clashes with Muller and is light years away from Cardinal Burke. He points to paragraph 301 of Amoris Laetitia: “it can no longer simply be said that all those in any ‘irregular’ situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace.” How can this be? Human nature has not changed… Christ has not revoked his words about divorce and adultery. Did we needlessly allow King Henry VIII to walk away with a whole nation on this point? We can say the doctrine is unchanged but the shift in praxis threatens to distort the teaching beyond recognition. How is this not a surrender to modernity?
Are other priests troubled in conscience about this? Have I taught people wrong for 30 years? No, I will not believe it. I am too young to retire and not yet sick enough to die. We all better keep praying about this!
Filed under: Catholic, Conscience, Faith, Magisterium, Morality, Pope, Pope Francis |
Blogger Priest 
Dear Father Joe,
I am so glad, as a layperson, that situations like this do not affect me personally, so glad that marriage was explained to me- even in the protestant church where my wedding took place- as “to death do we part.” That is what I vowed to live. I understand divorce in some circumstances, but I didn’t even know what an annulment was, except in the case of underage annulments by unsuspecting parents, until I went to RCIA, where half the class needed annulments before Confirmation. What? ( I understand there are certain circumstances under which a marriage isn’t valid, but what about the personal responsibility in taking a vow?) I was taught from childhood that you married once and that if you did divorce, you were single for the rest of your life. We were also taught chastity, so, yes, I’ve had sexual relations with exactly one man, my husband. I am so glad that when I became Catholic, I didn’t have anything to unlearn in this area of my faith.
I also know, as a priest, these decisions do affect you. Your blog shows the human side of the priesthood, the questioning, “I-don’t- have-it-all-figured-out” side, the side all thinking people have. Your advice is always honest, sometimes even harsh, but never without God’s forgiving and restoring love.
It is my vocation in the Church to pray for priests. Therefore, I am praying that when you “want to run,” Our Mother will catch and hold you in loving arms until you are able to stand strong as Another Jesus. I love you, Father Joe. Thank you for your faithful service to the Church. Thank you for being Jesus to me.