Routing Out Rigorism: Vatican Clarifies Sacraments for Single Moms
Vatican City—In a strongly worded answer to the question posed by a bishop in the Dominican Republic, Cardinal Victor Manual Fernandez, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, declared that no single mother should be prevented from receiving the Eucharist or baptizing her baby because she gave birth out of wedlock.
Routing out rigorism
Continuing Pope Francis’ call to rout rigorism from the clergy and Catholic communities, the Prefect for the Dicastery warned that women in this situation feel intimidated by strict interpretations of Church teaching. They may refrain or are prevented from receiving the Eucharist or baptizing their babies.
The Holy Father recently recalled that “the Eucharist is God’s response to the deepest hunger of the human heart, the hunger for authentic life, for in the Eucharist Christ himself is truly in our midst, to nourish, console and sustain us on our journey” Women who, in this situation, have chosen life and who lead a very complex existence because of this choice should be encouraged to have access to the healing and consoling power of the sacraments.
The clarification seems to stem from a teaching by Pope Francis when as Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, issued a strongly worded condemnation of Catholic rigorism: “There are priests who do not baptize the children of single mothers because [the children] were not conceived in the sanctity of marriage. They are the hypocrites of today. They have clericalized the Church. They turn God’s people away from salvation. And that poor girl who could have sent her child back to the sender but had the courage to bring him into the world goes on pilgrimage from parish to parish to have him baptized.” quotes the Cardinal Prefect in his teaching.
Teaching catechesis correctly
The letter calls on all Catholic parishes worldwide to pastorally address this situation and teach all that single motherhood does not preclude anyone from the sacraments. The Cardinal Prefect condemns any attitude that excludes these and others in situations that burden them with difficult choices to support their families. The Christian community, for example, must help people who face hard choices in their life. The letter specifically mentions women who feel forced into prostitution to support their families.
It can occur that one of these mothers, given the fragility of her situation, sometimes resorts to selling her body to support her family. The Christian community is called to do everything possible to help her avoid this very serious risk rather than judge her harshly.
Letter vs Spirit
Principles in the statement seem to draw people away from the legalistic “letter of the law” understanding of Catholicism and more into the “spirit of the law” focusing on the most loving aspect of Christian discipleship. It was this same dichotomy that set Jesus against the Pharisees in his day. They interpreted the letter of the law rigidly and he called for a love-based interpretation based on the spirit of the law over the letter.
Pope Francis suffers great rejection by those members of the Church, particularly in the United States, who maintain that the letter of the law must hold a higher priority than the spirit of the law. CNN recently published a piece by their religion reporter, Christopher Lamb, on those who line up against the pontiff and maintain the more traditional law-based spirituality and the rigidity and clericalism it fosters. The former Archbishop of Buenos Aires who is in his eleventh year of his pontificate works to eliminate this rigorism in the clergy and in the Church.
Cardinal Raymond Burke, Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis, teaches that doctrine, tradition, and canon law, the law of the Church, supersede the pastoral ministry the pope also embraces.
Some of the words, like “pastoral,” “mercy,” “listening,” and “discernment” have a place in the doctrinal and disciplinary tradition of the Church, but they are now being used with a new meaning and without reference to the Tradition. For instance, pastoral care is now regularly contrasted with concern for the doctrine, which must be its foundation. The concern for doctrine and discipline is characterized as pharisaical, as wishing to respond coldly or even violently to the faithful who find themselves in an irregular situation morally and canonically. In this errant view, mercy is opposed to justice, listening is opposed to teaching, and discernment is opposed to judgment. Writes Burke on his website in an essay entitled: Discipline and Doctrine: Law in the Service of Truth and Love.
However, the pope responds that canon law does not cover many situations found in the lives of many ordinary people. His position is that while canon law doctrine and tradition are immutable, our understanding of them grows more deeply. Therefore, our action must reflect this new and deeper understanding.
Online reaction to the DDF statement
Reaction online to the letter includes people who do not believe that there are priests and parishes who are so restrictive. Others demand that those single mothers must recognize their need to be in a state of grace, which is foundational in Church teaching.
Eric Sammons, Executive Editor of Crisis Magazine and one of the pope's strongest critics, actually had no complaint about the statement on his X account.
If it's true that some single mothers thought they could not receive Communion (assuming they are otherwise in a state of grace, of course), then it's a good thing that this was clarified by the Vatican.
However, there are many cases of people who feel they cannot be full members of the Church because of having a child out of wedlock or because of being divorced. This letter puts an end to those areas of the Church where a strict interpretation of the law produced incorrect teaching. It demands that Catholic parishes teach that single mothers are not prevented from receiving the Eucharist even if a more rigorous priest restricted them previously.
This is the second response this week for the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith and one of several over the past weeks. The pattern seems to demonstrate that the newly appointed prefect is working to offer clarifications to many issues he receives in correspondence on how to deal with realities in daily parish life prior to his appointment.
One can assume there will be many more forthcoming in the months ahead.
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