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Post by farronwolf on Sept 1, 2023 18:11:42 GMT
From Humanae vitae:For this reason husbands and wives should take up the burden appointed to them, willingly, in the strength of faith and of that hope which "does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 36 Then let them implore the help of God with unremitting prayer and, most of all, let them draw grace and charity from that unfailing fount which is the Eucharist. If, however, sin still exercises its hold over them, they are not to lose heart. Rather must they, humble and persevering, have recourse to the mercy of God, abundantly bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance. If contraception were only a venial sin, it could be forgiven outside of the sacrament of penance. 28. And now, beloved sons, you who are priests, you who in virtue of your sacred office act as counselors and spiritual leaders both of individual men and women and of families—We turn to you filled with great confidence. For it is your principal duty—We are speaking especially to you who teach moral theology—to spell out clearly and completely the Church's teaching on marriage.
Does this happen? Does the almost-total silence on the matter adhere to this directive? 30. And now as We come to the end of this encyclical letter, We turn Our mind to you, reverently and lovingly, beloved and venerable brothers in the episcopate, with whom We share more closely the care of the spiritual good of the People of God. For We invite all of you, We implore you, to give a lead to your priests who assist you in the sacred ministry, and to the faithful of your dioceses, and to devote yourselves with all zeal and without delay to safeguarding the holiness of marriage, in order to guide married life to its full human and Christian perfection. Consider this mission as one of your most urgent responsibilities at the present time. Ditto. Incidentally, this is an issue that transcends the TLM- versus-Novus Ordo debate. Someone could be the most fervent, ardent "cheerleader for the Novus Ordo", study the documents of Vatican II day and night, read the Catechism from cover to cover and quote it endlessly, eagerly await the handshake of peace at Mass, raise their hands in the orans position, and receive communion in the hand, standing, from a lay minister, at Mass every day, and still accept this teaching just as firmly, as some nostalgia-diseased "indietrist" who never attends anything but the TLM and thinks Vigano is a righteous dude. Why oh why must you always bring in the OF vs EF to every discussion. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in the order of the Mass which addresses marriage validity, nor should it. That isn't what Mass is about. First of all, if one is to be married withing the Catholic Church, they must attend classes/counseling prior to the marriage with either the priest or a couple within the parish appointed to do the marriage classes. This certainly is discussed, along with a variety of other topics during the classes. It has been over 30 years since my wife and I attended those types of classes, but every aspect of marriage relating the Church teaching was discussed during this time. Just like during religion classes when I went to a Catholic elementary school, or PRE, CCD, religious ed, whatever it is called today, other aspects of Catholic teaching are taught to the youth of the parish. Whether or not children learn proper catechism, either within their parish or at home probably varies greatly around the world. Every homily during Mass shouldn't be about contraception. They are and should be about how the readings for the Mass relate to the people in the pews daily lives. Being that contraception really isn't mentioned in the bible, on those weekends when readings relate to family and children, then yep, maybe the priest discusses contraception, child rearing, abortion, or whatever topic might be related. Heck, I wish divorce was preached about more often than it is during Mass, but since our Pastor Emeritus is a divorced man who entered the priesthood, well, we didn't get much of that did we. But guess what, I am not in charge of what goes on on the altar, so I just get what is handed out. But I don't worry about it too much either.
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Post by homeschooldad on Sept 2, 2023 16:05:53 GMT
From Humanae vitae:For this reason husbands and wives should take up the burden appointed to them, willingly, in the strength of faith and of that hope which "does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 36 Then let them implore the help of God with unremitting prayer and, most of all, let them draw grace and charity from that unfailing fount which is the Eucharist. If, however, sin still exercises its hold over them, they are not to lose heart. Rather must they, humble and persevering, have recourse to the mercy of God, abundantly bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance. If contraception were only a venial sin, it could be forgiven outside of the sacrament of penance. 28. And now, beloved sons, you who are priests, you who in virtue of your sacred office act as counselors and spiritual leaders both of individual men and women and of families—We turn to you filled with great confidence. For it is your principal duty—We are speaking especially to you who teach moral theology—to spell out clearly and completely the Church's teaching on marriage.
Does this happen? Does the almost-total silence on the matter adhere to this directive? 30. And now as We come to the end of this encyclical letter, We turn Our mind to you, reverently and lovingly, beloved and venerable brothers in the episcopate, with whom We share more closely the care of the spiritual good of the People of God. For We invite all of you, We implore you, to give a lead to your priests who assist you in the sacred ministry, and to the faithful of your dioceses, and to devote yourselves with all zeal and without delay to safeguarding the holiness of marriage, in order to guide married life to its full human and Christian perfection. Consider this mission as one of your most urgent responsibilities at the present time. Ditto. Incidentally, this is an issue that transcends the TLM- versus-Novus Ordo debate. Someone could be the most fervent, ardent "cheerleader for the Novus Ordo", study the documents of Vatican II day and night, read the Catechism from cover to cover and quote it endlessly, eagerly await the handshake of peace at Mass, raise their hands in the orans position, and receive communion in the hand, standing, from a lay minister, at Mass every day, and still accept this teaching just as firmly, as some nostalgia-diseased "indietrist" who never attends anything but the TLM and thinks Vigano is a righteous dude. Why oh why must you always bring in the OF vs EF to every discussion. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in the order of the Mass which addresses marriage validity, nor should it. That isn't what Mass is about. First of all, if one is to be married withing the Catholic Church, they must attend classes/counseling prior to the marriage with either the priest or a couple within the parish appointed to do the marriage classes. This certainly is discussed, along with a variety of other topics during the classes. It has been over 30 years since my wife and I attended those types of classes, but every aspect of marriage relating the Church teaching was discussed during this time. Just like during religion classes when I went to a Catholic elementary school, or PRE, CCD, religious ed, whatever it is called today, other aspects of Catholic teaching are taught to the youth of the parish. Whether or not children learn proper catechism, either within their parish or at home probably varies greatly around the world. Every homily during Mass shouldn't be about contraception. They are and should be about how the readings for the Mass relate to the people in the pews daily lives. Being that contraception really isn't mentioned in the bible, on those weekends when readings relate to family and children, then yep, maybe the priest discusses contraception, child rearing, abortion, or whatever topic might be related. Heck, I wish divorce was preached about more often than it is during Mass, but since our Pastor Emeritus is a divorced man who entered the priesthood, well, we didn't get much of that did we. But guess what, I am not in charge of what goes on on the altar, so I just get what is handed out. But I don't worry about it too much either. I only bring the TLM- versus-Novus Ordo aspect into it, to illustrate that this is something on which all orthodox Catholics can agree, and could be one nexus of unity, where unity is sorely needed. The Church's teaching on birth control did not originate with Humanae vitae. Indeed, there were some (sorry, don't have a source, I read this somewhere recently) who urged Paul VI simply to reiterate what had always been taught, and not attempt to explain it, just tell people "it's still a mortal sin, end of story". But, no, he took painstaking care to explain exactly why contraception is gravely immoral, by establishing its contravention of natural law, that the intrinsic end of the marital act cannot be deliberately frustrated by artificial means, and how that it is not only gravely immoral, but intrinsically evil. Indeed, when Dr Rock created the birth control pill, he was in hopes that it could be considered "natural", in that it places no obvious barrier within the act, it just alters the functioning of the ovum. So far, so good, but this forced Paul VI to dissect the act itself, and to illustrate why even this is morally inadmissible. I have been through the Pre-Cana marital education course myself, and since it was in the Diocese of Arlington (well-known then, early 1990s, as a hotbed of orthodoxy, a kind of larger and richer version of your Diocese of Tyler), of course the Church's teaching --- minus, IIRC, the explanation of just what mortal sin is, and what its consequences are if one dies in it --- was clearly elucidated, with abundant NFP resources offered. The priest said something to the effect of "I know most of you have already made up your minds about this", but he invited anyone to stay after the class and obtain these resources. I was the only one who stayed. (My wife was in Europe and took her classes separately, it was impossible for us to take them together.) I'm not clear whether, or to what extent, this is discussed in RCIA. I'd be interested to know. Seeing as it is something that affects anyone of child-conceiving age and physical ability (i.e., not having had a hysterectomy or other operation that rendered one of the spouses involuntarily sterile) who has a vocation to marriage, or might have one in the future, as well as anyone who is already married and able to procreate, you'd think it would be brought up, and one would hope, the spiritual consequences of committing this sin would be discussed, but I wouldn't bet the ranch on it. Anyone know? No, every homily does not need to be about contraception, but given that it is a stumbling block for about 90% of Catholics (if we are to believe the polls, and I do), it needs to be brought up more often than it is, as well as, since it is a mortal sin, that one may not receive communion or receive valid absolution unless the sin is confessed with a firm purpose of amendment. Does this happen? Yes, homilies are supposed to be about that day's Scripture readings, but other topics are brought into homilies all the time, at the discretion of the priest. And in the Novus Ordo, there is also that beloved "liturgy of the bulletin" where the priest, minutes after people have received communion (is this really the best time to have to shift people's attention away from the Body of Christ they have just received?), intones "please be seated" and proceeds to talk about this matter or that. I have to think that there are many people sitting there, who have either been told by some corrupt priest that they can do what they see fit under the rubric of "conscience", have never been taught anything about it, who assume that whatever the larger society approves of is somehow okay "because everybody does it", or who do not understand what mortal sin is, because everybody's going to heaven, eh? They could also interpret relative silence as to say "it couldn't be all that big of a deal, because it's never discussed, if it were anything to be concerned about, we'd be hearing about it". And then there is always the objection "that's just old celibate priests making rules" or "don't tell me what to do, when you read the news every day and yet another priest's been caught up in sexual abuse". Your priest squanders a golden opportunity to preach against divorce. He would have far greater credibility than a priest who has always been celibate and hasn't "walked the walk". I know that I make steam roll out of people's ears when I say that even NFP can be used selfishly (something about which Pope Francis seems to agree, and he, too, has been known to make steam roll out of people's ears now and then) --- one school of thought says "because NFP is so hard, it's not possible to use it selfishly, the sacrifice inherent in it proves that" --- yet I have to think that someone who has actually been guilty of this can address the matter in a way that nobody else can. Whatever one may think of Michael Voris, he is far more equipped to speak against homosexual practice than a heterosexual person would be, because he lived as a sodomite for quite some time, by his own admission, and now lives chastely. He may well have the same attractions that he did then, involuntarily, and employs agere contra to fight them. Again, this makes his witness uniquely effective.
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