Rick Warren on Marriage

Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, was a participant in the interfaith Colloquium on the Complementarity of Man and Woman   (also known as the Humanum Colloquium) at the Vatican. 

Pastor Warren eschewed giving his prepared remarks as he found that he was reiterating points made by 27 prior speakers.  Instead, Pastor Warren gave a practicum observation on marriage.

The presentations made at the Humanum Colloquium mirror the traditional positions espoused by the majority of participants at the recent Extraordinary Synod on the Family, despite the misleading midterm relatio report.

Vatican to Hold Interfaith Follow-up to the 2014 Synod on the Family

Evangelical theologian Russell D. Moore, the President of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Liberty Commission, had a cautious reaction to the inclusive language to the much maligned midterm relatio of the 2014 Synod of the Family. 

Reverend Moore will have a chance to more extensively share his views on Church and Family issues at the Vatican during the "Complimentarity of Men and Women" gathering from November 17-19th in Rome. The conference seeks to "examine and propose anew the beauty of the relationship between the man and the woman, in order to support and reinvigorate marriage and family life for the flourishing of human society."     For his part, Reverend Moore proclaimed: “I am willing to go anywhere, when asked, to bear witness to what we as evangelical Protestants believe about marriage and the gospel, especially in times in which marriage is culturally imperiled."

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, proposed the conference to Pope Francis in November, 2013.  The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith is sponsoring it in conjunction with the Pontifical Councils for the Family, Promoting Christian Unity and Inter-Religious Dialogue. 

There will be 30 speakers, which will include luminaries like Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles Chaput (who incidentally had sharp words over the Synod of the Family relatio), Evangelical Christian Saddleback megachurch pastor  Rick Warren and Latter Day Saints President Henry B. Eyring et ali.  There will be representatives from a broad spectrum of faith traditions, including Judaisim, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sihkism. 

There have been some inflammatory analyses from the secular press that the 2014 Synod on the Family was stoking the fires for a schism, as progressives pushing an inclusive agenda were alienating traditionally oriented Catholics.  But the topics being discussed during the "Complimentarity of Men and Women" does not support the sub rosa stealth modernist agenda. 

The conference will include presentations such as "The Sacramentality of Human Love According to [Pope] St. John Paul II"  and "The Cradle of Life and Love" A Mother and Father for the World's Children".  These are topics that are near and dear to those to adhere to traditional Catholic faith tenants.  Furthermore, when Pope Francis addressed the international Marian movement Schönstatt, he decried new forms of unions.  The Holy Father considers unions like co-habitation to be “totally destructive and limiting the greatness of the love of marriage.".  This does not sound like a foundation for ditching doctrine but to find better ways to walk with the wounded faithful.

 

h/t: Catholic New Service 

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 

Pope Francis on the Journey for the Synod on the Family

As the Extraordinary Synod on the Family concluded at the Vatican, Pope Francis made an remarkable closing speech.

Among the tensions and temptations, Pope Francis includes:

• Rigidity to the letter of the law which does not allow oneself to be surprised by the spirit within the law;
• Being drawn to deceptive mercy which bind wounds without healing them;
• To make transformation from sin unbearable burdens;
• To bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God; and
• Neglecting either the deposit of faith or neglecting realities.

Pope Francis' closing speech earned a four minute standing ovation from those assembled at the Synod.

The Synod Fathers voted on each of the paragraphs of the controversial midterm relatio. and all but three earned the three fourths majority.

The rejected paragraphs seem to be the ones inserted by Synod Secretary Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto Bruno Forte (particularly on celebrating homosexual Catholics gifts) and communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics (a favorite of Cardinal Walter Kasper).

These deliberations have been a preface for a month long ordinary Synod next year which will also focus on issues for the modern family.  Several months after the October 2015 synod, Pope Francis may publish an Apostolic Exhortation. 

h/t:  Whispers in the Loggia 

       Church Militant.tv

Fr. Robert Barron on the Relatio