Archbishop Chaput Speaks the Catholic Truth in Defending Traditional Marriage

Since the Synods of the Family of 2014 and 2015, Munich Archbishop Reinhard Cardinal Marx, the Chairman of the German Bishops Conference, has been associated with the theology of gradualism, proffered by Cardinal Walter Kasper (said to be Pope Francis' favorite theologian).

That is why Cardinal Marx interview with Bavarian State Broadcasting that "there can be no rules" about Catholic priests blessing Same-Sex Marriages is so alarming.  The attitude which embraces the ambiguity coupled with the supposed pastoral discretion implements the progressive theological gradualism which is being implemented in some diocese regarding Amoris Laetitia.

To preclude the faithful from getting the wrong idea that Catholic doctrine on the sanctity of traditional marriage is gradually changing, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote a column in the Archdiocese newspaper to set things straight.



Moreover, Archbishop Chaput affirmatively issued a directive explicitly forbids clergy from blessing any same-sex union, mindful that this does not constitute a rejection of persons but is a defense of the truth of marriage.

Archbishop Charles Chaput on Military Service

Rest In Peace Mother Angelica

Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation  (nee Rita Rizzo), the Poor Clare nun who founded the Eternal Word Television Network, died on Easter Sunday at the age of 92.  Mother Angelica had suffered from a debilitating stroke in 2001.

Mother Angelica founded a monastery in Irondale, Alabama in 196 at a time when Catholics were only 2% of the population in the South.  .  As a charismatic speaker, Mother Angelica began to do radio shows in 1971 and she gravitated to hosting "Our Hermitage" for Christian cable television stations in 1978.

However, when the secular TV station where Mother Angelica recorded her shows planned to program "blasphemous" programs, the feisty nun protested.  The station manager ignored her complaints which resulted in Mother Angelica threatening to do her show elsewhere.  The station manager threatened: "You leave this station and you're off television."  Mother Angelica vowed: "I'll build my own."

The Eternal Word Television Network started in the Our Lady of Angels Monastery's garage in 1981 on a budget of $200.  Today, EWTN is the world's largest satellite television religious network operating in Hanceville, Alabama. The EWTN media empire broadcasts Catholic programming for 11 channels  24 hours a day reaching 264 million homes in 144 countries as well as having a terrestrial radio network and shortwave service and employs 400 people. Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, who has served on the EWTN board since 1995, recognizes how this Poor Clare nun in rural Alabama was able to do what US Bishops had been unable to do, namely effectively evangelize through the mass media in this day and age.


Mother Angelica expressed how she attributed all the success of her mission to emptying herself out to the Lord.




Despite her failing health, Mother Angelica proclaimed that she wanted to live longer. Such a proclamation may seem surprising coming from a contemplative and convicted religious.  But Mother Angelica reasoned that by doing so, she could suffer one more day for God and get to know Him better.

It seems fitting that as Christians celebrate our Savior's victory over death that Mother Angelica passed into to eternal life. Even Pope (emeritus) Benedict XVI recognized the divine "gift"  of Mother Angelica going to her eternal reward on the Church's most Holy Day. May Mother Angelica rest in peace.

H/T: Catholic News Agency
        AL.com
        

Philly Archbishop Charles Chaput Eviscerates Moral Equivalency Excuse for Abortion

Archbishop Charles Chaput on Planned Parenthood

h/t: Gary Varvel

Archbishop Charles Chaput on Evil

Archbishop Charles Chaput on the Meaning of Christianity and the Family

Even though Archbishop Charles Chaput was not a participant in the Extraordinary Synod on the Family at the Vatican, the Archbishop of Philadelphia certainly had some strong opinions about the Synod.  After delivering a lecture titled  "Strangers in a Strange Land" at a First Things symposium in Manhattan, Archbishop Chaput was asked the Extraordinary Synod.

Archbishop Chaput opined:  “I was very disturbed by what happened [at the synod]. I think confusion is of the devil, and I think the public image that came across was one of confusion".   The National Catholic Reporter mocked Chaput's confusion and denied that there was disunity at the Synod.  But the NRC's denials are about as credible as endangered Democrat Senators denying their support of President Obama.  

Archbishop Chaput was not adverse to the vigorous discussion on difficult issues for families on communion for divorced and remarried Catholics and how to treat same sex marriage.  In fact, Cardinal Chaput mused: “We also need to thank God for the gift of this present, difficult moment,because conflict always does two things: It purifies the church, and it clarifies the character of the enemies who hate her."

The Archbishop of Philadelphia has been a strong voice in support traditional marriage.  Archbishop Chaput felt that the original midterm relatio caused confusion within the Church and among the secular media.  Chaput felt that the final synod report was an improvement but still did not clearly restate Church teaching on marriage and homosexuality.This theological viewpoint was supported by Cardinal Burke and the vast majority of Synod Fathers, who insisted on correcting the skewed relatio.

Archbishop is expected to host Pope Francis when he visits Philadelphia in September 2015 for the global World Meeting of Families.  The Catechesis for the World Meeting of Families thesis is "Love is the mission" for families, but that  the power of procreation in a sacramentally committed husband and wife shares in the dignity of being created in the image of God so we need to live accordingly, And that marriage is a sacrament in which love is fruitful and offered without reservation that is the image of Jesus' faithfulness to the Church.

This World Meeting of Families catechesis mirrors why Archbishop Chaput rejected some of the interpolated accommodations in the relatio which created such confusion. 

h/t:  Religious News Service 

Advent: A Season of Hope and Anticipation--Maranatha!

Archbishop Charles Chaput

In 2006, Archbishop Charles Chaput, the former Archbishop of Denver and current Archbishop of Philadelphia, offered some instructive observations about Advent:

Catholics observe these last few weeks every year before Christmas as the season of Advent. It’s a time when the Church asks us to prepare our lives to receive Jesus the child at Christmas, and Jesus the king at the end of time. How can we best do that? The tradition of the Church tells us by vigil and by prayer.

The season of Advent is a vigil. The word “vigil” means to keep watch during normal sleeping hours, to pay attention when others are sleeping. It comes from a very old Indo-European word “weg,” which means “be lively or active.” So to keep vigil or to be vigilant does not mean passive waiting but active, restless waiting, expectant waiting for the Lord. It means paying attention to what is going on in the world around us, and not being asleep. It means acting, living out our mission to be God’s agents in the world.

The Advent tradition of the Church is vigil and prayer.

There are two places in the New Testament — 1 Corinthians and Revelation — where we find a prayer in the Aramaic language, the Semitic dialect spoken by Jesus. Since this prayer is in Aramaic it must come from the very earliest days of the Church. The prayer is “Marana tha” and means “Lord, come!”
St. Augustine tells us that God is indebted to us, not because of anything we have done, but because of His promises. God always keeps His promises. So we call on Him to come again.

Our Advent prayer is “Lord, come!”

Lord, come — into our world!
Lord, come — into our lives!
Lord, come — and purify our longings!
Lord, come — to free us from our compulsions and sins!
Lord, come — into our relationships!
Lord, come — into our work!
Lord, come — into our sufferings!
And into the darkness of our troubled world.

We speak these words — “Marana tha” — with a real and confident urgency, not only for ourselves and our personal lives, but also for our Church and our nation.

The Maranatha! Singers have a more joyful sounding approach to keeping vigil for Advent.