Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Mob: 0417 279 437; mike.delaney@aohtas.org.au
Assistant Priest: Fr Alexander Obiorah
Mob: 0447 478 297; alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk
Postal Address:
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street , Devonport 7310
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au
Email: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au
Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Mary Davies
Pastoral Council Chair: Mary Davies
Parish Mass Times: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com
Parish Magazine: mlcathparishnewsletter.blogspot.com.au
Year of Mercy Blogspot: mlcpyom.blogspot.com.au
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: Parents are asked to contact the Parish Office to make arrangements for attending a Baptismal Preparation Session and booking a Baptism date.
Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.
Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a Pre-marriage Program
Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests
Reconciliation: Ulverstone - Fridays (10am - 10:30am)
Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm)
Penguin - Saturday (5:15pm - 5:45pm)
Care and Concern: If you are aware of anyone who is in need of assistance and has given permission to be contacted by Care and Concern, please phone the Parish Office.
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Weekday Masses 12th - 15th April, 2016
Tuesday: 9:30am
- Penguin
Wednesday: 9.30am - Latrobe
Thursday: 10:30am - Eliza Purton
12noon - Devonport
Friday: 11:00am - Mt St Vincent
Mass Times Next Weekend 16th & 17th April,
2016
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin & Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am
Devonport
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Eucharistic
Adoration:
Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon,
concluding with
Stations of
the Cross and Angelus
Devonport: Benediction with Adoration - first Friday of
each month.
Legion of Mary:
Sacred
Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone, Wednesdays, 11am
Prayer Groups:
Charismatic Renewal
Devonport - This Thursdays commencing 7.30pm in Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Christian Meditation:
Devonport, Emmaus House - Wednesdays 7pm.
Ministry Rosters 16th & 17th April, 2016
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: V Riley, A Stegmann, M Knight 10:30am E Petts, K Douglas
Ministers of Communion: Vigil T Muir, M
Davies, M Gerrand, S Innes, D Peters, J Heatley
Cleaners 15th April: B Paul, D Atkins, V Riley 22nd April: G & R O’Rourke, M & R Youd
Piety Shop 16th April: R Baker 17th April: K Hull Flowers: M Breen
Ulverstone:
Reader: R Locket Ministers of Communion: M Mott,
M Fennell, L Hay, T Leary
M Fennell, L Hay, T Leary
Cleaners: K.S.C. Flowers: M Swain Hospitality: M Byrne,
G Doyle
G Doyle
Penguin:
Greeters: G Hills-Eade, B Eade Commentator: J Barker Reader: Y Downes
Procession: M & D Hiscutt Ministers of Communion: A Guest, T Clayton
Liturgy: Pine Road Setting Up: A Landers Care of Church: M Murray, E Nickols
Latrobe:
Reader: M Eden Ministers of Communion: Z Smith, I Campbell Procession: M Clarke Music:
Jenny
Port Sorell:
Readers: L Post, E Holloway Ministers of Communion: P Anderson, B Lee Clean/Flowers/Prepare/ B
Lee, A Holloway
Readings this Week: Third Sunday of Easter
First Reading: Acts: 5:27-32, 40-41
Second Reading: Apocalypse 5:11-14
Gospel: John 21:1-19
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL
After coming to some stillness in the presence of God, I
read the Gospel slowly, perhaps several times, allowing its story to touch me
in new ways. I may like to picture the scene in my mind and heart, or to
imagine retelling the story as if to a small child. What do I notice? I stay
with whatever part of the scene, or whatever words strike me. I speak with the
Lord in whatever way seems right for me ...and I listen. I may be drawn to
watching the disciples’ slow realisation that the Lord Jesus is present with
them. And I reflect: how do I recognise the presence of the Risen Jesus in my everyday
life? Are there people who help reveal his presence to me, as the beloved
disciple did for Peter? I listen as Jesus questions Peter. Perhaps he asks the
same question of me. What response do I want to make to the Lord? Jesus does
not promise Peter that the task will be easy, but the invitation remains: ‘Follow
me.’ What do I want to ask of the Lord to help me?
Readings Next Week: Fourth Sunday of Easter
First Reading: Acts: 13:14, 43-52
Second Reading: Apocalypse 7:9,
14-17
Gospel: John 10:27-30
Your prayers are asked for the sick: Archbishop Adrian Doyle, Connie
Fulton, Thomas McGeown, Lorna Jones, Geraldine
Roden, Joy Carter, Kath Smith &...
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Jack Becker, Elizabeth Muffet, Graham Nicholson, June Bennett, Bernard Gillon, Kevin
Sheedy and Fr Elio Proietto
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 6th
– 12th April
Ray Breen, Lloyd Goss, Fr Joe Howe,
Vera Speers, Betty Weeks, Jenny Deegan,
Eileen & Aimon Murdoch, James
Hannavy, James Mahony, Patricia Winzinberg, Ferruccio Candotti,
May they Rest in Peace
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
At
the Parish Pastoral Council Meeting last Wednesday evening it was suggested
that we might make some changes to when we read the notices at Mass each
weekend and the number and type of Notices that are read. I admit that it was
my suggestion that they be read at the beginning of Mass and I’m happy to
accept the suggestion that making the change might help with how we prepare for
the celebration of the Mass.
Also
discussed was our upcoming Parish Celebration for the Feast of Pentecost - May
15th. This will be one of our Whole of Parish Mass at 10.30am at Our
Lady of Lourdes with the emphasis on WHOLE
OF PARISH. In my homily this weekend I will speaking about how we are
called to be Accepting and part of my reflection is asking the question whether
we have honestly ACCEPTED that we are ONE Parish and asking if when we have a
Parish Celebration are we willing to make an effort, a real effort, to be part
of what is happening.
By
the way. I’m not suggesting that my homilies are that great but I am trying to
follow a theme during this Eastertide. Because I’m not at the same Mass Centres
each week just a reminder that my homily is posted online in spoken form at www.mikedelaney.podomatic.com or written form at www.mikeadelaney.blogspot.com.au so you can follow the
whole series.
Also,
you may have noticed if you have seen the Parish Monthly Calendar that Fr Alex
and I will be away at the Priests Plenary later in the month. Arrangements are
being made to have a priest available for any emergency needs during that week
and details will be made known in the next Newsletter.
Until next
week take care in your homes and on the roads
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome
and congratulate ….
Mia Loone and Hugo Douglas on their
baptism this weekend.
SACRAMENTAL
PROGRAM 2016
We welcome the children who are taking the next step on
their faith journey this weekend. These children, with the support their
families and our parish community, will be prepared to receive the Sacraments
of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist in these coming months. Please
pray with and for them as they take these steps in faith and life in our
community.
CWL
DEVONPORT: will meet Wednesday 13th April at
2.00 pm at Emmaus House.
ST MARY'S PENGUIN:
All parishioners are invited to a
Soup and sandwich tea after the Vigil Mass Saturday 16th April. Please bring a
plate of sandwiches or a dessert to share - thank you!
LEGION OF
MARY:
All Parishioners
are invited to the Legion of Mary annual Acias (Consecration to Our Lady) at
Sacred Heart Church, Alexandra Road Ulverstone Sunday 17th April at 2pm with benediction, followed by
afternoon tea in the Community Room.
MACKILLOP HILL
SPIRITUALITY IN THE COFFEE SHOPPE:
Monday
18th April (Please
note change of date to the 3rd Monday of this month) 10.30am – 12 noon. Come along … share your
issues and enjoy a lively discussion over a cuppa!
WORLD YOUTH
DAY FUNDRAISING:
There are 4 young
people from the Parish who will attending World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland in
July this year. All girls, they are Maddison Williams, Gabriella Gretton
(students at St Brendan Shaw College), Joanna Benjamin (a student at TAFE) and
Josie Emery (a teacher at SBSC).
As well as Fr Mike’s
Weight Loss Fun(d)raising efforts there is a Mother’s Day Raffle and tickets
will be available from this weekend in all Mass Centres at $1.00 per ticket
with two prizes – A Home Décor Prize and a Pamper Prize – details of the makeup
of both prizes will be available next week. There is also some wood that will also
be raffled and details of that raffle will be made known shortly with tickets
to be sold mid-May (post Mother’s Day).
It has also been
suggested that Fr Mike’s next Open House be part of the Fundraising Effort. The
gathering to be held in the Ulverstone Community Room on Friday, 6th May,
will be donation entry with some (pay as you go) games and raffle tickets sold
on the night with some good prizes. As usual food and drink are all supplied
but we need people to come along and join in the fun and support our World
Youth Day Pilgrims.
FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:
Round
2 – Collingwood by 1 point - Winners; L Post, Sr Colleen Power & ...
Callers for Thursday 14th
April – Tony Ryan & Merv Tippett
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
THE JOURNEY
CATHOLIC RADIO PROGRAM
This week on The Journey Fr Richard Healey reflects on the
Gospel of John during the third Week of Easter; Sr Hilda Scott OSB invites us
to “Ask God into our Hearts,” Bruce Downes The Catholic Guy reminds us that we
are “Called to Forgive” and Trish McCarthy in Milk and Honey challenges us to
“Enjoy and Savour our Mealtimes.” This week’s show is also full of great
songs, so go to www.jcr.org.au or www.itunes.jcr.org.au where you can listen anytime and
subscribe to weekly shows by email.
GOOD
SHEPHERD SUNDAY – 17TH April 2016
On this World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Archbishop Julian
will lead a Holy Hour praying for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated
life for our Archdiocese at the Carmelite Monastery, 7 Cambridge St.,
Launceston, from 2:15pm – 3:15pm. All are welcome to join our Archbishop and
the Carmelite Community in prayer for this important intention.
THE POWER OF PRAYER AND RITUAL INSIDE OUR
HELPLESSNESS
An article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found here
In the movie based upon Jane Austen’s classic novel, Sense and Sensibility, there’s a very poignant scene where one of her young heroines, suffering from acute pneumonia, is lying in bed hovering between life and death. A young man, very much in love with her, is pacing back and forth, highly agitated, frustrated by his helplessness to do anything of use, and literally jumping out of his skin. Unable to contain his agitation any longer, he goes to the girl’s mother and asks what he might do to be helpful. She replies that there’s nothing he can do, the situation is beyond them. Unable to live with that response her says to her: “Give me some task to do, or I shall go mad!”
We’ve all had the feeling at times when in the face of a dire situation we need to do something, but there’s nothing we can do, no magic wand we can wave to make things better.
But there is something we can do.
I recall an event in my own life several years ago: I was teaching summer school in Belgium when, late one evening, just as I was getting ready for bed, I received an email that a two friends of mine, a man and a woman recently engaged, had been involved that day in a fatal car accident. He was killed instantly and she was in serious condition in hospital. I was living by myself in a university dorm, thousands of miles from where this all happened, and thousands of miles from anyone with whom I could share this sorrow. Alone, agitated, panicked, and desperately needing to do something but being absolutely helpless to do anything, I was literally driven to my knees. Not being able to do anything else, I picked up the prayer-book that contains the Office of the Church and prayed, by myself, the Vespers prayer for the dead. When I’d finished, my sorrow hadn’t gone away, my friend was still dead, but my panic had subsided, as had my desperate need to do something (when there was nothing I could do).
My prayer that night gave me some sense that the young man who’d died that day was alright, safe somewhere in a place beyond us, and it also relieved me of the agitation and panicked pressure of needing to do something in the face of agitated helplessness. I’d done the only thing I could do, the thing that’s been done in the face of helplessness and death since the beginning of time; I’d given myself over to prayer and to the rituals of the community and the faith of the community.
It’s these, prayer and ritual, which we have at our disposal at those times when, like the man in Sense and Sensibility, we need to do something or we will go mad. That’s not only true for heavy, sorrowful times when loved ones are sick or dying or killed in accidents and we need to do something but there’s nothing we can do. We also need ritual to help us celebrate happy times properly. What should we do when our own children are getting married? Among other things, we need to celebrate the ritual of marriage because no wedding planner in the world can do for us what the ritual, especially the church-ritual, of marriage can do. Weddings, just like funerals, are a prime example of where we need ritual to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Sadly, today, we are a culture that for the most part is ritually tone-deaf. We don’t understand ritual and therefore mostly don’t know what to do when we need to be doing something but we don’t know what to do. That’s a fault, a painful poverty, in our understanding.
The Trappist monks who were martyred in Algeria in 1996 were first visited by the Islamic extremists who would later kidnap and kill them, on Christmas Eve, just as they were preparing to celebrate Christmas mass. After some initial threats, their eventual murderers left. The monks were badly shaken. They huddled together as a group for a time to digest what had just happened. Then, not knowing what else to do in the face of this threat and their fear, they sang the Christmas mass. In the words of their Abbott: “It’s what we had to do. It’s all we could do! It was the right thing.” He shared too, as did a number of the other monks (in their diaries) that they found this, celebrating the ritual of mass in the face of their fear and panic, something that calmed their fear and brought some steadiness and regularity back into their lives.
There’s a lesson to be learned here, one that can bring steadiness and calm into our lives at those times when we desperately need to do something, but there’s nothing to do.
Ritual: It’s what we have to do. It’s all we can do! It’s the right thing.
Letting Go
into God
It is said
that Francis' great prayer, which he would spend whole nights praying, is
"Who are you, God? And who am I?" Contemplative prayer helps us to
live into these questions.
Who am I? As
we observe our minds in contemplation, first we recognize how many of our
thoughts are defensive, oppositional, paranoid, self-referential, or in some
way violent. Until we recognize how constant that dualistic mind is, we have no
motivation to let go of it. We learn to say, "That feeling is not me. I
don't need that opinion to define me. I don't need to justify myself or blame
someone else."
Gradually,
we learn to trust the wounds and the failures of life, which are much better
teachers than our supposed successes. It's all a matter of letting go and
getting out of the way. Thérèse of Lisieux would call it surrender and
gratitude. She said, "It is enough to recognize one's nothingness and to
abandon oneself, like a child, into God's arms." Until we discover this
"little way," we almost all try to gain moral high ground by obeying
laws and thinking we are spiritually advanced.
The non-dual
mind can accept and surrender to the mystery that I am to myself; it doesn't
need to quickly categorize this mystery as sinful, wrong, and evil or as good, meritorious,
and wonderful. It just is. When I can no longer hold myself up, I fall into the
Mystery of God and let God hold me. When I no longer name myself right or
wrong, I let Someone Else name me. This is the beginning of true spirituality,
of the true mutuality of the God/human love affair.
Who is God?
When I allow God to keep revealing the deeper Mystery of Mercy and Grace and
Love to me, I don't categorize or hold God too easily, too quickly, as if I
understand God, as if I've got God in my pocket. Those who allow God to reveal
God's Self are the very ones who know that God is Love. They know that God is
not a harsh judge or conditional lover.
Those who
experience the depths within contemplation know that God's love is an endless
sea of mercy and unconditional acceptance. The deeper you go, the more you fall
into the Mystery. As you fall into the Mystery of an ever-loving God, you are
able to accept the mystery of yourself. And as you accept the mystery of
yourself, you fall into the Mystery of God. You don't know--and it doesn't
matter--which comes first. People who love God love themselves and everybody
else. People who love themselves and everyone else also love God.
You see,
love is one. Love is the whole. Love is an endless sea that you fall into. And
once you fall into it, you can't fall out. It's not something you do. It's
something that is done to you, and all you can do is let go.
Reference:
Adapted from
Richard Rohr, The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of Saint Francis (Sounds
True: 2010), disc 4 (CD).
Top Ten Takeaways from “Amoris Laetitia”
SYNOD ON THE FAMILY - a commentary by Fr James Martin, S.J. The original article can be found by clicking here
Pope Francis’s groundbreaking new document “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”) asks the church to meet people where they are, to consider the complexities of people’s lives and to respect people’s consciences when it comes to moral decisions. The apostolic exhortation is mainly a document that reflects on family life and encourages families. But it is also the pope’s reminder that the church should avoid simply judging people and imposing rules on them without considering their struggles.
Using insights from the Synod of Bishops on the Family and from bishops’ conferences from around the world, Pope Francis affirms church teaching on family life and marriage, but strongly emphasizes the role of personal conscience and pastoral discernment. He urges the church to appreciate the context of people’s lives when helping them make good decisions. The goal is to help families—in fact, everyone—experience God’s love and know that they are welcome members of the church. All this may require what the pope calls “new pastoral methods” (199).
Here are ten things to know about the pope’s groundbreaking new document.
1. The church needs to understand families and individuals in all their complexity. The church needs to meet people where they are. So pastors are to “avoid judgements which do not take into account the complexity of various situations” (296). People should not be “pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for personal and pastoral discernment” (298). In other words, one size does not fit all. People are encouraged to live by the Gospel, but should also be welcomed into a church that appreciates their particular struggles and treats them with mercy. “Thinking that everything is black and white” is to be avoided (305). And the church cannot apply moral laws as if they were “stones to throw at people’s lives” (305). Overall, he calls for an approach of understanding, compassion and accompaniment.
2. The role of conscience is paramount in moral decision making. “Individual conscience needs to be better incorporated into the church’s practice in certain situations which do not objectively embody our understanding of marriage” (303). That is, the traditional belief that individual conscience is the final arbiter of the moral life has been forgotten here. The church has been “called to form consciences, not to replace them” (37). Yes, it is true, the Pope says, that a conscience needs to be formed by church teaching. But conscience does more than to judge what does or does not agree with church teaching. Conscience can also recognize with “a certain moral security” what God is asking (303). Pastors, therefore, need to help people not simply follow rules, but to practice “discernment,” a word that implies prayerful decision making (304).
3. Divorced and remarried Catholics need to be more fully integrated into the church. How? By looking at the specifics of their situation, by remembering “mitigating factors,” by counseling them in the “internal forum,” (that is, in private conversations between the priest and person or couple), and by respecting that the final decision about the degree of participation in the church is left to a person’s conscience (305, 300). (The reception of Communion is not spelled out here, but that is a traditional aspect of “participation” in church life.) Divorced and remarried couples should be made to feel part of the church. “They are not excommunicated and should not be treated as such, since they remain part” of the church (243).
4. All members of the family need to be encouraged to live good Christian lives. Much of “Amoris Laetitia” consists of reflections on the Gospels and church teaching on love, the family and children. But it also includes a great deal of practical advice from the pope, sometimes gleaned from exhortations and homilies regarding the family. Pope Francis reminds married couples that a good marriage is a “dynamic process” and that each side has to put up with imperfections. “Love does not have to be perfect for us to value it” (122, 113). The pope, speaking as a pastor, encourages not only married couples, but also engaged couples, expectant mothers, adoptive parents, widows, as well as aunts, uncles and grandparents. He is especially attentive that no one feels unimportant or excluded from God’s love.
5. We should no longer talk about people “living in sin.” In a sentence that reflects a new approach, the pope says clearly, “It can no longer simply be said that all those living in any ‘irregular situation’ are living in a state of mortal sin” (301). Other people in “irregular situations,” or non-traditional families, like single mothers, need to be offered “understanding, comfort and acceptance” (49). When it comes to these people, indeed everyone, the church need to stop applying moral laws, as if they were, in the pope’s vivid phrase, “stones to throw at a person’s life” (305).
6. What might work in one place may not work in another. The pope is not only speaking in terms of individuals, but geographically as well. “Each country or region…can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs” (3). What makes sense pastorally in one country may even seem out of place in another. For this reason and others, as the pope says at the beginning of the document that for this reason, not every question can be settled by the magisterium, that is, the church’s teaching office (3).
7. Traditional teachings on marriage are affirmed, but the church should not burden people with unrealistic expectations. Marriage is between one man and one woman and is indissoluble; and same-sex marriage is not considered marriage. The church continues to hold out an invitation to healthy marriages. At the same time, the church has often foisted upon people an “artificial theological ideal of marriage” removed from people’s everyday lives (36). At times these ideals have been a “tremendous burden” (122). To that end, seminarians and priests need to be better trained to understand the complexities of people’s married lives. “Ordained ministers often lack the training needed to deal with the complex problems currently facing families” (202).
8. Children must be educated in sex and sexuality. In a culture that often commodifies and cheapens sexual expression, children need to understand sex within the “broader framework of an education for love and mutual self-giving” (280). Sadly, the body is often seen as simply “an object to be used” (153). Sex always has to be understood as being open to the gift of new life.
9. Gay men and women should be respected. While same-sex marriage is not permitted, the pope says that he wants to reaffirm “before all else” that the homosexual person needs to be “respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, and ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression or violence.” Families with LGBT members need “respectful pastoral guidance” from the church and its pastors so that gays and lesbians can fully carry out God’s will in their lives (250).
10. All are welcome. The church must help families of every sort, and people in every state of life, know that, even in their imperfections, they are loved by God and can help others experience that love. Likewise, pastors must work to make people feel welcome in the church. “Amoris Laetitia” offers the vision of a pastoral and merciful church that encourages people to experience the “joy of love.” The family is an absolutely essential part of the church, because after all, the church is a “family of families” (80).
'Discernment charged with merciful love':
Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia, on Love in the Family
The original article can be found on the ThinkingFaith.org website by clicking here
Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, published on 8 April 2016, transposes church teaching on marriage and the family from the key of law to that of virtue and should be celebrated, says Nicholas Austin SJ. This powerful new document offers ‘a Gospel-inspired vision of what family life can be, a word of encouragement for those who are not yet there, and above all another example of the discerning way of proceeding that the pope has modelled’.
The topic of family and marriage in the Church today is often associated with words like ‘crisis’, ‘problems’ and ‘impasse’. In this context, Pope Francis’ latest, much-anticipated document,Amoris Laetitia,[1] ‘The Joy of Love’, is, in contrast, infectious in its enthusiasm and, indeed, its joy.
This apostolic exhortation is the culmination of a process that began on 8 October 2013, when Francis convoked an Extraordinary Synod of Bishops to discuss the pastoral challenges of the family. ‘Extraordinary’ is a word that characterises the whole process since that day, both in the new level of openness to discussion and debate within the synodal process itself, and in the unprecedented consultation of all the faithful. Francis’ intention has not merely been to address the pastoral issues posed by what is widely seen as a crisis in family life, but to lead the Church into a more discerning way of proceeding, one that respects the role of the Bishops and also listens for the voice of the Holy Spirit expressed in the hearts and minds of the lay faithful. These reforms alone are an extraordinary contribution to the life of the Church.
What does Francis say about how best to respond to the challenges facing marriage and the family in the 21st century? Does he have solutions for those whose situations do not fit the Church’s teaching on marriage? Whatever commentators may say, or wish Francis had said, he is not changing Church teaching, as he goes out of his way to explain. Nor does he offer a set of rules, let alone a raft of new permissions. Rather, what he gives the Church is a Gospel-inspired vision of what family life can be, a word of encouragement for those who are not yet there, and above all another example of the discerning way of proceeding that he has modelled from his first days in office as leader of the Catholic Church throughout the world.
Those on either side of what the media have liked to portray as a polarised debate will be disappointed. Anyone looking for a ‘progressive’ or ‘liberal’ pope will feel as let-down as those hoping for a straightforward reaffirmation of the status quo. The pope’s attempt to address the complex issues of the family in the 21st century Church is all the more valuable because he transcends the lazy polarities that are used too often to characterise discussions within the Church. In the kind of striking image that we have come to expect from this pope, he refers to the bishops’ discussions as ‘a precious polyhedron shaped by many legitimate concerns and honest questions’. Francis insists on the many-sided, complex nature of the problem, and therefore resists viewpoints that cling too tightly only to one side of the truth. Because he is a holistic thinker, he consistently works to integrate opposites. When it comes to moral and pastoral issues, Francis is therefore neither ‘revisionist’ nor ‘traditionalist’, but simultaneously faithful, honest and creative. The result is one, the pope is happy to remark, that ‘everyone should feel challenged by’.
What, then, more concretely, are the contributions of Amoris Laetitia to pastors and above all to family life? The media will no doubt focus on what is said (or not said) about the ‘neuralgic issues’ such as second marriages, gay unions, reproductive technology, feminism. However, Francis believes that the pastoral effort to strengthen marriages is an even more urgent need than the response to cases that fall short of the ideal. The way in which the text addresses this theme, and humbly acknowledges how the Church has fallen short in its own attempts to do this, is something to be celebrated. While the contested questions cannot be ignored, to skip straight to those passages where the pope tackles many of them head on would be to marginalise what is really the central piece of the whole document, the chapter on love, based on the famous ‘hymn to love’ in 1 Corinthians 13. It is there that we must begin.
The primacy of love
The Pauline hymn to love, which paints a portrait of love by expanding upon the virtues it exemplifies and the vices it avoids, is a natural choice for Francis, given his reiterated emphasis upon the virtues. He sees the Year of Mercy as an invitation to all families ‘to persevere in a love strengthened by the virtues of generosity, commitment, fidelity and patience.’[2] He commends the virtue of tenderness to both spouses and pastors, as something that can ‘stir in the other the joy of being loved.’[3] He notes the importance of cultivating virtues in the upbringing of children. He warns against vices such as those of envy, vainglory and resentment. And he appeals to many other virtues, such as those of forgiveness, kindness, humility and joy. So Francis’ selection of scriptural text expresses his desire to speak about marriage above all in the key not of law, but of virtue, of character, of the kind of persons we are called to become through grace.
To take just one example, we can look at his interpretation of Paul’s claim that ‘love is not rude’. Francis takes this as an occasion to expand upon the virtues of courtesy and gentleness. Courtesy, he notes, is an ‘essential requirement of love’, and is a kind of school of respect, sensitivity and disinterestedness. [4] In referring to the ‘gentleness of love’ he talks of the need to speak words of ‘comfort, strength, consolation, and encouragement.’[5] In this, Christ is, as ever, our exemplar:
These were the words that Jesus himself spoke: ‘Take heart, my son!’ (Mt 9:2); ‘Great is your faith!’ (Mt 15:28); ‘Arise!’ (Mk 5:41); ‘Go in peace’ (Lk 7:50); ‘Be not afraid’ (Mt 14:27). These are not words that demean, sadden, anger or show scorn. In our families, we must learn to imitate Jesus’ own gentleness in our way of speaking to one another.[6]
We are so familiar with St Paul’s hymn to love that it can appear merely sentimental. In passages such as these, Francis, breaks open the word for us afresh, and shows in a down-to-earth way how it is relevant to us all.
There is no doubt that Francis attends carefully to the Synod Fathers, and throughout the document he quotes from them liberally. At the same time, the scriptural reflection on love is new material, not present in the bishops’ final report. It is as though Pope Francis is saying that, once we get into the depths of what family life and marriage are about, we cannot talk about them merely under the rubric of canon law or a law-based moral theology. As he puts it, ‘All that has been said so far would be insufficient to express the Gospel of marriage and family, were we not also to speak of love.’[7]
Chapter Four, on ‘Love in Marriage’, is the beating heart of the whole document, and it is only when we attend to it and take its ideas on board that we can then hope to address the difficulties that affect so many families and marriages today. As Francis himself says, ‘Our teaching on marriage and the family cannot fail to be inspired and transformed by this message of love and tenderness; otherwise, it becomes nothing more than the defence of a dry and lifeless doctrine.’[8]
Francis’ Triptych: Discernment, Gradualness and Mercy
Francis paints an inspiring picture of what the gospel of family proclaims, and of what family, at its best, can be. Yet he recognises that it is also necessary to address the manifold ways in which the reality does not always measure up to the ideal. It is clear that Francis wants to avoid being drawn into legalistic thinking, whether of a ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’ hue. Given the ‘immense variety of concrete situations’[9] a new set of laws will not do justice to the complexity of the issues facing the family today. What, then, does Francis offer in its place?
In the beautiful medieval churches of Europe, one often finds an altarpiece in the form of a ‘triptych’: a central painting complemented by two ‘wings’. What Francis offers is a kind of triptych of discernment, gradualness and mercy. That is, he offers a practice, a principle and a virtue. Together these three panels, as it were, form the basis for a pastoral response to the crisis in marriage and the family. Each has appeared in the pope’s previous teaching, but here we begin to see more clearly how they cash-out, and how, when used in concert and applied to particular questions, they have the potential to make a real difference in the life of the Church.
The central panel of Francis’ triptych is the practice of discernment. Discernment is a keystone of Jesuit life and Ignatian spirituality, and therefore one that is ‘second nature’, in the best sense, for Francis. This is not the first time Francis has mentioned the practice, and discernment is a hermeneutical key for reading his pontificate to date: his reform of the Synodal process to incorporate free discussion and consultation more fully, for example, is a manifestation of his desire for a discerning Church. Discernment is something that is known more by practice than book knowledge: it is a more personal and spiritual form of insight, one that requires the virtues of attentiveness, empathy and love, and which develops a feel for the action of the Holy Spirit in human experience. Here is Francis’ own attempt to describe it, from his interview for the Jesuit journals: ‘Discernment is always done in the presence of the Lord, looking at the signs, listening to the things that happen, the feeling of the people, especially the poor.’ [10] In Amoris Laetitia, however, there is a further clarification of the importance of discernment for pastoral practice, especially by description of what it is not. Discernment, Francis tells us, is not applying ‘rigid classifications’[11] and so pigeonholing people (e.g. ‘divorced’ or ‘remarried’ or ‘living in sin’). Nor is discernment a straightforward application of general norms without regard for concrete and personal situations. Finally, discernment it is not a rigour that ‘leaves no room for confusion’[12] or ‘thinking that everything is black and white’[13]. Discernment, rather, is not threatened by complexity. Francis, therefore, enunciates the following ‘not enough’ rule: to consider whether an action conforms to a general law ‘is not enough to discern’.[14] Religious solicitude for the law, for all its earnestness, can never on its own ensure fidelity to God in the life of an individual human person. Respect for the rule book can never eliminate the need for an attentive heart that is ‘open to God and to others’.[15]
One implication of the practice of discernment is that the teaching Church, like all good teachers, is asked to step back a little to create a breathing space for an individual to do his or her own discernment. Francis notes that a new set of canonical, universal rules cannot substitute for ‘responsible personal and pastoral discernment of particular cases’.[16] He therefore explicitly warns against expecting too much by way of definitive rulings from the teaching office of the Church. Indeed, he frankly states at the very outset of the document, ‘I would make it clear that not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium.’[17]
Since Francis values discernment, it is not surprising to find him placing a special accent on conscience. He worries that we struggle to ‘make room’ for the consciences of the lay faithful who are quite capable, he insists, of doing their own discernment. Neither the magisterium nor pastors should substitute for the role of the individual’s conscientious discernment: ‘We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them.’[18]
To complement the practice of discernment, Francis proposes the principle of gradualness, the second panel of his pastoral triptych. This principle has a long history in Catholic moral theology, was affirmed by John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio[19] and applied by Pope Benedict XVI in his comments on HIV/AIDs prevention.[20] It is based on the insight that moral development is a step-by-step process that may not happen all at once. Moral education therefore requires a ‘patient realism’[21] in educators and pastors. Pastoral practice informed by this principle does not merely proclaim eternal truths, but accompanies a person, meeting each where she or he is now, and encourages them to take a small step, the next step. It’s a delicate balance: going to where a person actually is, and at the same time hanging on to the moral ideal.
Despite its firm roots in the tradition, some worry that the principle of gradualness slides all too easily from ‘the law of gradualness’ to ‘the gradualness of the law’, for this approach does not ask a person to leap forward in one go to the fullness of what the Church teaches. When used with discretion, however, gradualness maintains both the objectivity of the moral law and the equal objectivity of a person’s actual situation, which may prevent immediate and complete change. Francis, in Evangelii Gaudium, had put it memorably: ‘A small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties.’[22] In Amoris Laetitia Francis points out once again that the principle of gradualness, when employed with discernment, can help us to conform ourselves to what God wants, not in the abstract, but in the concrete and often somewhat chaotic situation in which we may find ourselves. For, through conscientious discernment, we can recognise with confidence what ‘for now’ God is asking.[23]
Gradualness is an attitude that sees both the shades and the lights in morally messy situations, and therefore coheres well with discernment’s comfort with complexity. For example, the pope refers to second marriages that are ‘consolidated over time, with new children, proven fidelity, generous self giving, Christian commitment, a consciousness of its irregularity and of the great difficulty of going back without feeling in conscience that one would fall into new sins.’[24]One might also think here, for example, of the relationship that Dorothy Day, the peace activist and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement to whom Pope Francis paid tribute in his speech to the United States Congress,[25] had prior to entering the Catholic Church. While she eventually made the decision in conscience to leave a partner to whom she was not and could never be married, looking back she recognised that the love that had characterised that relationship had helped her come closer to God and even to take the final step of being received into the Church. Francis states forthrightly, ‘I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness’.[26]
No doubt the trust Francis places in the capacity of individuals and pastors to make their own discernment will cause anxieties that he is communicating a kind of ‘I decide what is right for me’ mentality. Francis is aware of the danger. For true pastoral discernment, both genuine discretion and love for the Church and her teaching must be present. Nor is it about abandoning the general principles of morality that are known by reason and taught by the magisterium. However, as Francis points out, and a close reading of Thomas Aquinas’s moral theology confirms, moral judgment mediates between general principles and the astute perception of particular circumstances. Morality is not mathematics, and while the Church affirms some universal, exceptionless prohibitions, it is always necessary to apply moral principles in a way that fits the particularities of the case, and to do that requires good judgement. As Francis puts it, ‘It is true that general rules set forth a good which can never be disregarded or neglected, but in their formulation they cannot provide absolutely for all particular situations.’[27] Francis advocates neither a rigid legalism nor a lax permissiveness, but rather a principled sensitivity to the particular.
The final panel of Francis’s triptych is that of the virtue of mercy, and the closely related idea of integration or inclusion into the community. ‘Mercy’ in contemporary English suggests something to do with mitigating the harshness of a judicial procedure, a kind of clemency or leniency. Yet what Francis has in mind is something much richer and more important. As moral theologian James Keenan SJ explains, mercy is ‘the willingness to enter into the chaos of another, to answer them in their need.’[28] It is what the Good Samaritan, for example, exemplifies in the parable. Francis considers it ‘timely’[29] and even ‘providential’[30] that the discussion about the family takes place in the Holy Year of Mercy. The Church should follow the example of Christ who went in search of everyone without any exception: ‘She knows that Jesus himself is the shepherd of the hundred, not just of the ninety-nine.’[31] To manifest mercy in pastoral practice is not to dilute the Gospel message. For, ‘We put so many conditions on mercy that we empty it of its concrete meaning and real significance. That is the worst way of watering down the Gospel.’[32] He has characteristically strong words for attitudes of judgementalism or superiority, and warns against a ‘closed heart of one used to hiding behind the Church’s teachings’.[33] His hope is for a Church that is ‘a sign of mercy and closeness wherever family life remains imperfect or lacks peace and joy.’[34] Above all, he advocates ‘a pastoral discernment filled with merciful love’.[35]
The divorced who have entered a second union
We have looked at the principles that underlie Francis’ treatment of moral and pastoral issues; now it is time to turn to a particular question to see what they look like in practice. One of the key difficulties that led to the Synods on family life was how to respond to members of the Church who are divorced and have married again civilly. How best can they be offered pastoral care? One hotly contested issue has been the question of whether those in a second marriage should be admitted to Holy Communion; another, whether the advice to such people to live as ‘brother and sister’ (i.e. without sexual relations) is realistic or helpful. Francis, we have seen, insists that a solution in the form of a general norm will not be adequate to the polyhedral nature of the issue. Instead, he employs the triptych of discernment, gradualness and mercy to offer something better than a general rule.
One application of the principle of mercy is the task of integrating and including the civilly remarried in the life of the Church. Francis insists, for example, ‘It is important that the divorced who have entered a new union should be made to feel part of the Church. “They are not excommunicated” and they should not be treated as such, since they remain part of the ecclesial community.’[36] The ‘logic of pastoral mercy’[37] is the ‘logic of integration’[38] or inclusion, and Francis, following the Synod Fathers, speaks of the necessity of going beyond the ‘various forms of exclusion currently practised in the liturgical, pastoral, educational and institutional framework’ of the Church. The civilly remarried in particular ‘need to feel not as excommunicated members of the Church, but instead as living members, able to live and grow in the Church and experience her as a mother who welcomes them always, who takes care of them with affection and encourages them along the path of life and the Gospel.’[39]
Concerning the contested issue of communion, it is necessary here to read the text with some care. I therefore offer a full quotation, with the footnote in square brackets:
Because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end. [In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, “I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord's mercy” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium [24 November 2013], 44: AAS 105 [2013], 1038). I would also point out that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak” (ibid.,. 47: 1039).] Discernment must help to find possible ways of responding to God and growing in the midst of limits.[40]
Here, Francis stops short of positively affirming that reception of communion for the civilly remarried is acceptable; yet it seems to me equally clear that, applying the principles of discernment, integration and gradualness, he leaves it open as a possibility in certain cases. With regard to gradualness, his point is that a person in such a situation can be growing in God’s grace, and therefore clearly not in ‘a state of mortal sin’ as the old moral manualists would have had it; and that it would therefore be wrong to deny such a person the assistance of the sacraments which the Church can offer, including that of the Eucharist. With regard to discernment, the need is to recognise mitigating factors, and the difference between objective sin and subjective culpability, as well as what the realistic ‘next step’ for such a person is. As he puts it a little earlier in the document, referring to ‘“irregular” situations’:
A subject may know full well the rule, yet have great difficulty in understanding “its inherent values”, or be in a concrete situation which does not allow him to act differently and decide otherwise without further sin.[41]
One can imagine that a person in a second marriage could be in such a situation, in which separation might be just such a ‘further sin’, against the second spouse and against the children.
What I am suggesting, then, is not that Francis is advocating communion for the civilly remarried tout court, but rather that he is giving space for a discernment informed by mercy to be open to it in some cases. “Which cases, exactly?”, the legalist will ask, having failed to hear what the Pope is actually saying. This is the point: it is impossible to define all the possible factors and considerations fully in a general way in an exact formula. There will certainly be cases where it is important to challenge a person who is behaving in an unacceptable manner. But what is required is a discernment informed both by a love for the Church and its teaching, and by a capacity informed by mercy and wisdom to sense the way forward for this person here and now.
What about the traditional advice to the remarried, affirmed by John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio, that they should live ‘as brother and sister’, i.e. without sexual relations? The importance of the topic and the subtlety of Francis’ answer make it necessary to quote in full:
The divorced who have entered a new union, for example, can find themselves in a variety of situations, which should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment. One thing is a second union consolidated over time, with new children, proven fidelity, generous self giving, Christian commitment, a consciousness of its irregularity and of the great difficulty of going back without feeling in conscience that one would fall into new sins. The Church acknowledges situations “where, for serious reasons, such as the children’s upbringing, a man and woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate”. [JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (22 November 1981), 84: AAS 74 (1982), 186. In such situations, many people, knowing and accepting the possibility of living “as brothers and sisters” which the Church offers them, point out that if certain expressions of intimacy are lacking, “it often happens that faithfulness is endangered and the good of the children suffers” (SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 51).][42]
Once again, Francis is not giving a blanket permission, but creates the space for personal and pastoral discernment. The Church can offer as a possible way forward staying together for the sake of the children, but living ‘as brother and sister’, and those who do so, often at some personal cost, are to be commended. Yet Francis notes that some will make the obvious reply that a lack of sexual relations can be a grave threat to a partnership, since, as the Church’s teaching emphasises, sexuality has a unitive role in a loving relationship. It could therefore be one of those cases in which mercy, discerning what is possible ‘for now’, might indicate a different route for pastoral advice than the traditional frater-soror solution.
Some may object that this whole approach of gradualness, mercy and discernment, runs the risk of watering down the teaching of the Church on the indissolubility of a consummated, sacramental marriage. Yet what Francis shows is that an approach that does not integrate these principles itself can imperil true fidelity to the living tradition of the Church. ‘Understanding in the face of exceptional situations never implies dimming the light of the fuller ideal, or proposing less than what Jesus offers to the human being’.[43] Once again we see Francis’ approach to the difficult questions facing the Church in the contemporary world: one that is simultaneously deeply faithful to the tradition, uncompromisingly honest and realistic about the current situation, and refreshingly imaginative and creative in its response.
A transposition into a different key
It would be a shame if the media (including the Catholic media) were to read this powerful new document against the background of the polemical ‘progressive versus conservative’ narrative which plagued coverage of the Synods themselves. This is a rich and complex piece of teaching. It is also a breath of fresh air. It contains an acknowledgement of the positive contribution of the women’s movement which betokens a more positive rapprochement with feminism.[44] Above all, however, a patient and attentive reading, which the pope recommends,[45] will offer hope and insight to many; families, pastors and the Church as a whole will benefit from what Pope Francis is saying.
It is impossible in a short space to deal adequately with every aspect of Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia. I have tried to show how Francis insists that the Christian teaching on marriage must always begin with a positive and attractive vision. I have argued that, with regard to situations that do not correspond to the Church’s ideal, Francis allows a breathing space for a formed conscience and for the pastoral triptych of discernment, gradualness and mercy. We looked briefly at the question of those who are divorced and have entered a second union.
The media will want to know: does Francis change the doctrine of the Church? I would say that Francis does not change the content of church teaching on marriage and family; he transposes it from the key of law to that of virtue, and makes the primacy of love clearer once again. He does not abandon the rules of the Church, but it is clear now, as it was when he first took office and washed the feet of a Muslim girl in a prison on Holy Thursday, that for Pope Francis, as it should be for us, the first and living rule is the person of Jesus Christ, his humility, his gentleness, his joy and his love.
Nicholas Austin SJ teaches Ethics at Heythrop College, University of London.
[1] Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia (2016):http://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf
[2] Amoris Laetitia (henceforth AL), §5.
[3] AL, §323
[4] AL, §99
[5] AL, §100
[6] AL, §100
[7] AL, §89
[8] AL, §59
[9] AL, §300
[10] ‘A Big Heart Open to God’, Thinking Faith (19 September 2013):https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20130919_1.htm
[11] AL, §298
[12] AL, §308
[13] AL, §305
[14] AL, §304
[15] ‘A Big Heart Open to God’
[16] AL, §300
[17] AL, §3
[18] AL, §37
[19] Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (1981): http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio.html
[20] Pope Benedict XVI, Light of the World (Ignatius Press, 2010)
[21] AL, §271-273
[22] Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (2013), §44:http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html
[23] AL, §303
[24] AL, §298
[25] Pope Francis, Address to the United States Congress (24 September 2015):https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/september/documents/papa-francesco_20150924_usa-us-congress.html
[26] AL, §308
[27] AL, §304
[28] James Keenan SJ, ‘The scandal of mercy excludes no one’, Thinking Faith (4 December 2015): https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/scandal-mercy-excludes-no-one
[29] AL, §5
[30] AL, §309
[31] AL, §309
[32] AL, §311
[33] AL, §305
[34] AL, §5
[35] AL, §312
[36] AL, §243
[37] AL, §307-12
[38] AL, §299
[39] AL, §299
[40] AL, §305
[41] AL, §301
[42] AL, §298
[43] AL, §307
[44] AL, §54
[45] AL, §7
MERCY ON US
Since Pope Francis has declared 2016 a Jubilee Year of Mercy, I’ll try at least a couple times to write about this theme over the year. Mercy is operative in every healthy and growing church, and this is a good week to bring it up since Pope John Paul II established the tradition of celebrating the Second Sunday of Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday.”
Pope John Paul II had a great devotion to a Polish saint named Faustina who reported having visions of Jesus in which the mercy of God was especially emphasized. Coming between the twin calamities of the First and Second World Wars, it was a powerful message people greatly needed to hear.
We still do. But exactly how? How do we make parishes places of mercy? Here are three strategic decisions we made that put mercy at the center of what we do.
We Start Local
Every zip code is a little different, bringing its own unique challenges or problems. What areas is your local community are hurting? When we at Nativity talk about “Timonium Tim,” we want to know his hurts and hang-ups, what he’s struggling with and where he’s falling and failing today.
But the truth is, many parish ministries are designed to meet the conditions of mercy set years ago. The same people have run the same program the same way since 1975. They cater to a particular family arrangement, ethnicity, primary industry, etc. that has since changed. That’s not a recipe for mercy in 2016. Church leaders don’t set the agenda or the conditions for mercy- we refocus and adapt our strategy to the situation we find in our community.
We Become a Church of Small Groups
Small groups are a potent resource for the mission of mercy. Small groups are not social hour or even simply Bible study. They have a purpose, and weekly engage the practices of mercy. We sometimes call small groups our “pastoral care delivery system.” For us, small groups are about members caring for members, not a professional class of church workers who alone can save the day.
We Make Missions a Priority
By missions, we mean our service and charity at the local, national, and international level. It’s probably what most people think of when they hear “mercy,” but we take a slightly different approach. We talk about our mission partners. This is important because it signifies our approach is not just “one and done” trips, but instead we build ongoing relationships with the people and places we serve.
This weekend is a great weekend to seek mercy, in the Sacrament of Confession, and to extend it.
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