Lex Cordis Caritas - The law of the heart is Love

There has been quite a bit of consternation since I sent an internal communication to my clergy and staff last month that was unfortunately leaked to the public concerning my “Decree Regarding Same-sex ‘Marriage’ and Related Pastoral Issues.” While the underlying doctrinal issues are not new, these norms were necessary to address situations in the pastoral context arising from the new reality in the law and in our culture, given that same-sex marriage is now recognized by legislative action and judicial decision as legal throughout the United States. This decree prohibits same-sex weddings to be performed by our diocesan personnel or to take place in Catholic facilities, restricts persons in such unions from receiving the sacraments or serving in a public liturgical role unless they have repented, and says that deceased persons who had lived openly in a same-sex marriage giving public scandal to the faithful are to be deprived of ecclesiastical funeral rites unless they have given some signs of repentance before their death.

The church’s annual celebration of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus will take place this year on Friday, June 23. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has long been an important part of my spiritual life, going back to when I was a child and our home always had a calendar from the Sacred Heart League on our kitchen wall. Barely a day would go by when I would not look at this calendar with a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This past May 2, I gave the keynote address for the Northwest Regional Canon Law Convention in Portland, Oregon, entitled, “Doctrine, Law and Practice in Light of Mitis Iudex and Amoris Laetitia,” two documents issued by Pope Francis. With regard to the question of pastoral care for the divorced and remarried, Pope Francis had suggested in a footnote, “In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments.” The qualifier, “in certain cases,” means that there is no indiscriminate, universal or blanket permission for the divorced and civilly remarried to receive holy Communion. One example of these certain types of cases would be what is known in the church as the brother-sister solution, in which the couple lives together publicly as husband and wife, but abstains from all sexual intercourse. In such cases, the couple who agree to live as brother and sister may receive holy Communion with the approval of the bishop, provided there is no danger of scandal.

Our fourth diocesan synod was officially opened in the context of our chrism Mass at the Cathedral on April 11. The various elements of the diocesan synod will take place over the next several months, culminating in the official closing of the synod on the Solemnity of Christ the King on Sunday, Nov. 26. The diocesan synod will set the direction and tone for the pastoral ministry of the parishes and other components of the diocese itself for the next several years, if not decades, to come.

A couple of weeks ago I was having lunch with my mother at the nursing home where she lives. While we were eating in the dining room, there was a television program on the big screen television broadcasting a cooking program called, Special Sunday Suppers. The host of the show started the program by saying that “Sundays were made for sleeping late and then spending the rest of the day preparing your special Sunday supper.” The host’s statement was somewhat understandable given that the name of the program was Special Sunday Suppers, but I could not help but think that he really missed the point in terms of what “Sundays were made for.”