The recent proclamation by the archbishop of the Philadelphia Roman Catholic Diocese that divorced and remarried Catholics and some others must not have sexual intimacy has set off another shock wave through the community.

No similar edicts have been issued in the Allentown Diocese by its bishop, the Most Rev. John O. Barres, or by the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, bishop of the Scranton diocese, which includes Monroe County parishes, and it is not certain whether any will.The pastoral guideline is most certainly going to be ignored by many Catholics who have continued to practice their faith even after getting divorced. The ruling also applies to cohabitating unmarried and same-sex couples.The astonishing declaration is believed to be the first issued by a bishop in response to Amoris Laetitia (the Joy of Love), the document issued in April by Pope Francis.Archbishop Charles J. Chaput acknowledged in the six-page guidelines, posted on the Philadelphia archdiocese's website, that this will be a "hard teaching." Unless divorced individuals go through the costly process of a church-approved annulment, not only should they not have sex, but they must not be a part of parish councils, instruct parishioners or serve as lectors or Eucharistic ministers.Chaput said allowing people in these "irregular" relationships to hold positions of authority would go against the grain of the church's teachings and would cause "moral confusion" in the community.Understand that this is not a lone wolf among the Catholic hierarchy. Chaput was a key member of the synod of bishops that advised Francis on the 2015 creation of Amoris. In fact, the bishops elected him to advise the pope after the synod had concluded its session. On top of that, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops named him chair of a five-bishop committee to help promote the teachings of the Amoris document. If other dioceses replicate what has just happened in Philadelphia, it could have a profound impact on the church in the United States and lead to wholesale departures from parishes.This pronouncement has confused many Catholics, who were encouraged by the recent remarks of Pope Francis that pledged inclusion, rather than exclusion."I do not want a church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures," Francis wrote.Under current church teaching, divorced couples are forbidden from receiving communion unless they abstain from sex with their new partner. This is because, according to the church, their first marriage is still valid, and by remarrying outside of the church, they are seen to be living in an adulterous and sinful relationship. The only way these Catholics can remarry is if they are granted an annulment, a protracted and expensive process whose goal is to determine whether their first marriage ever existed because of the lack of certain requirements such as free will and the necessary maturity to understand what a marital commitment means."No one can be condemned forever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel!" Pope Francis said. "Here I am not speaking only of the divorced and remarried, but of everyone, in whatever situation they find themselves," he said.The message Francis intended to send pastors in Amoris has been a topic of hot debate among theologians and lay people alike. Despite Francis' exhortations of inclusion and sympathy for those whose sexual relationships come up short in the church's eyes, the Philadelphia archbishop insists the pope "states clearly that neither church teaching nor the canonical discipline concerning marriage has changed."There are an estimated 4.5 million divorced and remarried Catholics without an annulment in the U.S. Some church experts believe that the pope leaves open the possibility that divorced and remarried Catholics can receive communion, but some also believe that the pope's intent was to leave this decision up to local bishops.This appears to be the stance that Archbishop Chaput has taken by making this pre-emptive strike. If local autonomy is the order of the day, it could mean, practically, that a couple could move a few miles into a different diocese where the bishop has not come down so forcefully on the interpretation. This will lead to widespread confusion, to say nothing about ill will and animosity.Social media went into overdrive after word of the pronouncement leaked out; almost all of it was negative."Expect a mass exodus of divorced Catholics to flee the Philadelphia area anytime now," said one Facebook subscriber."But priests who molest young boys are still allowed to say Mass and be leaders of their flock; what a joke!" said another.This is yet another controversial move where the church seems to be going out of its way to alienate parishioners. A recent example was the bungled communication process involving the closing of Catholic churches in Lansford and Nesquehoning and the closing of Our Lady of the Angels Academy, the elementary school in Lansford.It also brings to mind a directive in 1957 from then-Archbishop John Francis Cardinal O'Hara of the Philadelphia Archdiocese (back in the days before the creation of the Allentown Diocese), when I was a senior at Summit Hill High School. The 26 Roman Catholics in our graduating class were told that we could not attend baccalaureate services with our classmates that year because the celebrant was not a priest but a Protestant minister. The school traditionally rotated priests and ministers to be in charge of the baccalaureate service during graduation week.Only two of us - a good friend and I - defied the archbishop and went to the service, which was attended by just 18 of us out of a class of 42. This arbitrary and hurtful edict spoiled what should have been one of the most special weeks of our lives.Head-scratching decisions such as these over the years have punctured the faith of many Catholics, who, in many cases, left the church to find more hospitable surroundings. Others have remained steadfastly loyal to their faith while trying to make sense of it all.By Bruce Frassinelli |

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