True pastoral work never contradicts doctrine, cardinal stresses

Last updated on: October 5, 2014 at 11:17 am by CNA Daily News

True pastoral work never contradicts doctrine, cardinal stresses 2014-10-05T11:17:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Rome, Italy, Oct 5, 2014 / 05:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As bishops from around the world prepare to discuss pastoral solutions to various challenges surrounding the family, German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller explained that these solutions cannot oppose Church teaching.

“Under no circumstances can pastoral work be in contradiction with doctrine. Actions of the Church need to – if they want to be Catholic – correspond to faith and dogma,” he emphasized in an interview with CNA.

Cardinal Brandmüller is one of five cardinals who contributed to the book, “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church.”

The launch of the book, which explains Church teaching on marriage and family, comes just before the Synod of Bishops that will take place Oct. 5-19 in Rome.

Cardinal Brandmüller, who is the president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, explained that the synod will seek to address the broad global situation of marriage and family, and must do so in conformity with Church teaching.

“The questionnaire conducted as preparation to the Synod to show how marriage and family is perceived today, shows well that the Church in the last 50 years did not succeed in transmitting her teaching to the faithful,” he commented. “The lack of knowledge on what a sacramental marriage and a Christian family consists of, is alarming.”

“The synod’s main task will be to start a new wave of evangelization especially regarding this topic.”

Media coverage preceding the synod has focused heavily on the question of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, after Cardinal Walter Kasper suggested in a February speech that changes be made so that such individuals may receive Communion.

However, Cardinal Brandmüller emphasized that the question of Communion for remarried and divorced Catholics actually concerns very few, when one takes into account that only about 10 percent of baptized Catholics attend Mass.

“However it is a crucial topic to the Church and cannot be easily ignored.”

Regarding the proposals brought forth by Cardinal Kasper in recent weeks concerning Communion for civilly divorced and remarried Catholics, Cardinal Brandmüller said, “Every solution needs to be checked for compatibility with the teaching of the Catholic Church.”

“That means very simply put: if there is a marriage between a man and a woman, baptized Christian, which was valid and consummated, it is indissoluble. Only death can part them.”

Any pastoral ministry toward such individuals must be in alignment with this unchanging teaching of the Church, drawn from Christ’s own words.

The cardinal expressed his wish for the synod, that “faithful Catholics may deepen their faith and the life of sacraments after the synod’s conclusions have been put into practice.”

“We have to remember that this upcoming synod is extraordinary, which cannot formulate any conclusions yet. Only the ordinary synod next year can do that. It will be important to look for the discussions and dialogue that happens between these two synods, and what content will actually make it in the closing post-synodal document.”

Europe

Previous Post

October 4, 2014

Vatican advocates sweeping protocol for Middle East peace

Next Post

October 5, 2014 Synod must serve God's dream, not try to 'take over,' Pope says

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Persian king chose Esther as queen?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Xerxes (Ahasuerus) Darius Artaxerxes Cyrus