People who have divorced and remarried and “still long for Christ” are still welcome in the Church, Gozo Bishop Mario Grech said today.
In a pastoral letter issued on the occasion of the feast of the Assumption, Mgr. Grech said the Church was giving counselling to the “growing number” of married couples who nurse grievous wounds due to the collapse of their marriage.
“Among the wounded persons there are those who, after the irreversible collapse of their marriage, are newly engaged in an affective relationship, some of which are civilly recognized – I am referring to the divorced and remarried who still long for Christ. Although such a situation runs counter to the Christian Sacrament, as Pope Francis has reiterated, “such persons are not excommunicated and should not be treated as such: they are always part of the Church. In the last decades, in the Church there is a growing awareness of the need to accept as brethren with an attentive heart, in love and in truth, the baptized who are in a new union after their sacramental marriage has collapsed”.
“The Barque of Peter is the refuge for sinners. I believe that in this Barque there should be a place for any type of sinner, because as long as there is life, there is also the hope of conversion. In the Church we should never lose heart regarding anybody. God forbid that we sinners decide who can climb onto the Barque and who should remain ashore. In the Church and in society there is no one who is “needless” or “beyond repair” to the extent that one is cast off. Whatever a particular human condition, or a particular choice in life, there is always a place for one in the ecclesial communion. In this net there is place for all who believe in God, none excluded, because there is no one who is irretrievably lost. No one is discarded material. All of us can review our lives and grow in communion with Christ. Therefore we should never put aside anyone in the ecclesial community.
Those who propose that certain barriers between those who are in an “irregular relationship” but who believe in Christ as Savior, and the rest of the community, should be removed, are in no way putting at risk the teaching about the indissolubility of marriage, but they are eager to make possible the experience of the balm of God’s mercy, particularly that kind of mercy which according to the Tradition of the Church, the penitent accedes to it when he is on the road of conversion, known as the via poenitentialis. God’s mercy is not only a doctrine alongside the doctrine of marriage and the family, but is at the heart of Christian doctrine.
The promoters of “God’s justice” may feel uneasy when confronted with this pastoral view. “It is as if we cannot admit that justice is only a small part of mercy. Mercy is much more than that which we attribute to justice. Mercy presupposes justice, but at the same time goes much beyond. When we say that God is rich in mercy we are not implying that for God anything goes and that the Gospel and the Commandments belong to the past. Merciful God means that God gives man much more than he deserves by right. To God everything is grace. A misconception which we have inherited from the past is that God helps us as long as we are deserving of his help: as long as we merit his help – if we behave. But God gives freely, even in the experience of marriage and the family.” As Pope Francis says, “If God had to stop at justice, he would not be God, but be like the rest of us who seek justice. Justice by itself does not suffice… That’s why God goes beyond justice by mercy and pardon”.
Mgr Grech said “it is inevitable that our families are influenced by the rapid cultural changes which are seriously questioning established convictions. Our age is witness to the enormous changes affecting marriage and the family. Many are posing challenging questions. The contemporary family has been reduced, and its resources weakened considerably. The family has become impoverished regarding values and ideals. The family is in a precarious situation: divorce legislation, civil unions, so-called gender issues and assisted procreation, etc. These challenges are leaving their mark on the understanding of marriage and the family. These are seriously threatening the Catholic truths regarding marriage and the family and I sympathize with those who start questioning where the real truth lies. These factors are a sign of pain, and at the same time cause further pain.”
“I can assure you that there is no thought of the Church changing her doctrine regarding marriage and the family. The foundation of the family is marriage between man and woman who are bound together by love which is everlasting, faithful and open to life.”