UGCC issues clear response to Fiducia Supplicans

This week the Vatican issued a declaration stating the establishment of "blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex, the form of which should not be fixed ritually by ecclesial authorities to avoid producing confusion with the blessing proper to the Sacrament of Marriage." The worldwide response of Catholic episcopal conferences has been swift and lopsided. Almost the entire continent of Africa, the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ukraine, England, and many other dioceses around the globe have responded in the negative to this innovation. Others, like the USCCB, have chosen to pretend as if nothing has changed...

"The blessings that it allows for those in irregular relationships are not liturgical in nature and hence do not imply any approbation of such relationships. Rather, these benedictions are informal and spontaneous, designed to call upon God’s mercy to heal, guide, and strengthen. Despite some misleading coverage in the press, the declaration does not constitute a ‘step’ toward ratification of same-sex marriage nor a compromising of the Church’s teaching regarding those in irregular relationships."

Still others have taken this up as an adolescent might having been given the keys to their father's Porsche with a case of Bud Light under arm (pictured right).

A blessing of people in "irregular relationships" is seen - with good reason if the response of so many Catholic bishops is to be acknowledged - as a blessing of the "irregular relationships" themselves. If men were invited to wear their naval uniforms to a church function and someone took a picture and did a story about it, everyone would infer that the Church endorses not only these men in particular but naval service generally. If a gaggle of furries (I am unclear in the collective noun) came up for a blessing, there would necessarily be outcry at the perceived endorsement of such behavior. So we find ourselves, not even a day later seeing stories of men ("married" as the captions state) receiving blessings with advertisements in papers like the New York Times announcing that the Church itself is "changing." All of this was to be expected.

Clearly, there are three groups involved here as there have been for the duration of the current pontificate. There are those that see every action of Pope Francis as careening off a cliff. There are those that read the tea leaves to say that everything he is doing is to their purposes or not actually as problematic as the rabble-rousers are saying. And then there are those who are confused about the whole thing; much of the laity who pay little attention to all the ins-and-outs of Vatican intrigue but have the niggling feeling that something is happening and it's unsettling. It's the sort of predicament you might imagine Winnie the Pooh has when he is engaged with a hand full of honey and thinks he hears bees, but continues on his way until something actually stings him.

This morning I was surprised to see this very strong and clear response from the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine from the pen of Patriarch / Major Archbishop Sviatoslav. Do give it a read and tell me what you think. I think it might well form the basis for future responses of others both inside and outside the Eastern Catholic Churches.

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(OnePeterFive) - Editor’s note: below is an unofficial English translation of the Communiqué of Patriarch Sviatoslav on the reception of the Declaration Fiducia supplicans, originally published on December 22, 2023 here.

Kyiv

Ref. MA 23/326

22 December 2023 of the year of our Lord

Communiqué regarding the reception in the UGCC of the Declaration of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith “Fiducia supplicans” on the pastoral meaning of blessings.

In response to numerous appeals from bishops, clergy, monastics, church movements and individual laity of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church regarding the Declaration of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith “Fiducia Supplicans” (18 December 2023) on the pastoral meaning of blessings, after consulting with relevant experts and competent institutions, I wish to inform you of the following:

1. The above-mentioned Declaration interprets the pastoral meaning of blessings in the Latin Church, not in the Eastern Catholic Churches. It does not address questions of Catholic faith or morals, nor does it refer to any prescriptions of the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches, nor does it mention Eastern Christians. Thus, on the basis of Canon 1492 of the CCEO, this Declaration applies exclusively to the Latin Church and has no legal force for the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

2. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, therefore it has its own liturgical, theological, canonical, and spiritual heritage, which all the faithful are obliged to observe and cherish (CCEO, canons 39-41). The meaning of “blessing” in the UGCC and the Latin Church is different.

3. According to the liturgical practice of our Church, the blessing of a priest or bishop is a liturgical gesture that cannot be separated from the rest of the content of the liturgical rites and reduced to the circumstances and needs of private piety (Catechism of the UGCC “Christ – our Pascha”, paras. 505-509).

4. According to the traditions of the Byzantine rite, the concept of “blessing” means approval, permission, or even a spiritual directive for a certain type of action, prayer or ascetic practice, including certain types of fasting and prayer. Obviously, the blessing of a priest always has an Evangelical and Catechetical dimension, and therefore can in no way contradict the teaching of the Catholic Church about the family as a faithful, indissoluble, and fruitful union of love between a man and a woman, which Our Lord Jesus Christ raised to the dignity of the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony. Pastoral prudence urges us to avoid ambiguous gestures, expressions and concepts that would distort or misrepresent God’s word and the teaching of the Church.

The blessing of the Lord be upon you!

† SVIATOSLAV