Bishop Steven Lopes on Amoris Laetitia
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| The Wedding Feast at Cana (1563), by Paolo Veronese |
If you have not already dined on the cuisine that is Bishop Lope's statement on Amoris Laetitia, and you are not fed up with the whole issue, make the time to engage His Excellency's thoroughly refreshing commentary.
His Excellency's statement is clear, precise, deep and charitable. It goes without saying that it is orthodox. It is beautiful. A treasure to be shared.
An excerpt:
The Experience of the Ordinariate
Lex orandi, lex credendi — as we worship, so we believe. Those formed in the traditions and rich spiritual heritage of English Christianity well know that liturgy functions as a guide for belief. In the “Divine Worship: Order of Solemnization of Holy Matrimony,” marriage is understood covenantally, as evidenced by the “Nuptial Blessing”: “Send thy blessing upon these thy servants, this man and this woman, whom we bless in thy Name: that, living faithfully together, they may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made” (“Solemnization of Holy Matrimony”). Not a covenant between the man and woman only, but “such an excellent mystery, that in it is signified and represented the spiritual marriage and unity betwixt Christ and his Church” (“Nuptial Blessing,” Form A). The sign, and the reality grounding it, are indissoluble, for God “hast taught us that it should never be lawful to put asunder those whom thou by matrimony hadst made one.” By God’s grace the couple is enjoined to “please him, both in body and soul, and live together in holy love unto your lives’ end” (“Final Blessing”). The troth is pledged “till death us do part.”
Yet despite the law clearly revealed in worship, the Anglican Communion, as is well known, has “followed a practice of pastoral accommodation to the changing social and sexual mores in Europe and North America. [...]" As a result, that Communion has fractured as the plain teaching of Scripture, Tradition and reason was rejected.
In this context, “the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately” (Anglicanorum Cœtibus). To our great joy, the “successor of Peter, mandated by the Lord Jesus to guarantee the unity of the episcopate and to preside over and safeguard the universal communion of all the Churches,” did not “fail to make available the means necessary to bring this holy desire to realization.”
The three personal ordinariates “maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church” (III). In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we have “the authoritative expression of the Catholic faith” and are “governed according to the norms of universal law and the present apostolic constitution … subject to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the other Dicasteries of the Roman Curia in accordance with their competencies” (I.5, II). Consequently, members of the ordinariate, as full members of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, are governed by the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on marriage and divorce.
This is a blessing and a gift, a homecoming and source of great joy; we do not consider or experience the teaching as alien or external, but as our own. The indissolubility of marriage is our own teaching found in Scripture, from Our Lord, in our liturgy, in reason and the nature of marriage itself, and in the Tradition of the Church of which we are part.
Still, it remains the case that some in the ordinariate were divorced and civilly remarried while still in Anglicanism, and thus experienced a pastoral practice and Eucharistic discipline distinct from that of the Catholic Church. For them, as indeed for us all, Amoris Laetitia, in continuity with constant teaching of the Church, is a welcome occasion for discernment, ongoing conversion and grace.
And here's an excerpt from an article by then Father Lopes regarding Divine Worship Occasional Services, 2014-06-12 L’Osservatore Romano:
Divine Worship: The Order of the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony
While Divine Worship attempts to preserve a consistency with the Prayer Book tradition, the process of elaborating and approving these texts for Catholic worship did require some modification of the marriage rite so as to ensure a closer conformity to Catholic doctrine and canonical form. The rubrical directory which introduces Divine Worship: Order of Solemnization of Holy Matrimony makes clear, for example, that the celebration of Marriage between two baptized persons ordinarily takes place during Mass because of the intimate connection of the sacrament with the Paschal Mystery of Christ. The self-offering of Christ for the Church actualized in the Eucharist is understood the shape and foundation of the marital covenant which is actualized in the consent of the spouses to give themselves to each other, a perspective underscored by explicit reference to The Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The very first element of Divine Worship: Order of Solemnization of Holy Matrimony is the Admonition and Scrutiny in which the ends of marriage are rather forthrightly proclaimed and the persons to be married are publicly asked about any impediments to their marriage. Even when celebrated during a nuptial Mass, the rite begins with this Admonition and Scrutiny and only if no impediment is alleged does the Mass continue. The Rite for the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony follows the Liturgy of the Word and consists of the Profession of Intention, the Exchange of Consent, and the Blessing and Exchange of Rings. Mirroring the Roman Rite, the Nuptial Blessing occurs after the Eucharistic Canon and the Lord’s Prayer and is completed in the exchange of the Peace. The texts for the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony during Mass also include a Final Blessing of the couple and the congregation.
+ + +
An excerpt:
The Experience of the Ordinariate
Lex orandi, lex credendi — as we worship, so we believe. Those formed in the traditions and rich spiritual heritage of English Christianity well know that liturgy functions as a guide for belief. In the “Divine Worship: Order of Solemnization of Holy Matrimony,” marriage is understood covenantally, as evidenced by the “Nuptial Blessing”: “Send thy blessing upon these thy servants, this man and this woman, whom we bless in thy Name: that, living faithfully together, they may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made” (“Solemnization of Holy Matrimony”). Not a covenant between the man and woman only, but “such an excellent mystery, that in it is signified and represented the spiritual marriage and unity betwixt Christ and his Church” (“Nuptial Blessing,” Form A). The sign, and the reality grounding it, are indissoluble, for God “hast taught us that it should never be lawful to put asunder those whom thou by matrimony hadst made one.” By God’s grace the couple is enjoined to “please him, both in body and soul, and live together in holy love unto your lives’ end” (“Final Blessing”). The troth is pledged “till death us do part.”
Yet despite the law clearly revealed in worship, the Anglican Communion, as is well known, has “followed a practice of pastoral accommodation to the changing social and sexual mores in Europe and North America. [...]" As a result, that Communion has fractured as the plain teaching of Scripture, Tradition and reason was rejected.
In this context, “the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately” (Anglicanorum Cœtibus). To our great joy, the “successor of Peter, mandated by the Lord Jesus to guarantee the unity of the episcopate and to preside over and safeguard the universal communion of all the Churches,” did not “fail to make available the means necessary to bring this holy desire to realization.”
The three personal ordinariates “maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church” (III). In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we have “the authoritative expression of the Catholic faith” and are “governed according to the norms of universal law and the present apostolic constitution … subject to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the other Dicasteries of the Roman Curia in accordance with their competencies” (I.5, II). Consequently, members of the ordinariate, as full members of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, are governed by the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on marriage and divorce.
This is a blessing and a gift, a homecoming and source of great joy; we do not consider or experience the teaching as alien or external, but as our own. The indissolubility of marriage is our own teaching found in Scripture, from Our Lord, in our liturgy, in reason and the nature of marriage itself, and in the Tradition of the Church of which we are part.
Still, it remains the case that some in the ordinariate were divorced and civilly remarried while still in Anglicanism, and thus experienced a pastoral practice and Eucharistic discipline distinct from that of the Catholic Church. For them, as indeed for us all, Amoris Laetitia, in continuity with constant teaching of the Church, is a welcome occasion for discernment, ongoing conversion and grace.
And here's an excerpt from an article by then Father Lopes regarding Divine Worship Occasional Services, 2014-06-12 L’Osservatore Romano:
Divine Worship: The Order of the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony
While Divine Worship attempts to preserve a consistency with the Prayer Book tradition, the process of elaborating and approving these texts for Catholic worship did require some modification of the marriage rite so as to ensure a closer conformity to Catholic doctrine and canonical form. The rubrical directory which introduces Divine Worship: Order of Solemnization of Holy Matrimony makes clear, for example, that the celebration of Marriage between two baptized persons ordinarily takes place during Mass because of the intimate connection of the sacrament with the Paschal Mystery of Christ. The self-offering of Christ for the Church actualized in the Eucharist is understood the shape and foundation of the marital covenant which is actualized in the consent of the spouses to give themselves to each other, a perspective underscored by explicit reference to The Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The very first element of Divine Worship: Order of Solemnization of Holy Matrimony is the Admonition and Scrutiny in which the ends of marriage are rather forthrightly proclaimed and the persons to be married are publicly asked about any impediments to their marriage. Even when celebrated during a nuptial Mass, the rite begins with this Admonition and Scrutiny and only if no impediment is alleged does the Mass continue. The Rite for the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony follows the Liturgy of the Word and consists of the Profession of Intention, the Exchange of Consent, and the Blessing and Exchange of Rings. Mirroring the Roman Rite, the Nuptial Blessing occurs after the Eucharistic Canon and the Lord’s Prayer and is completed in the exchange of the Peace. The texts for the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony during Mass also include a Final Blessing of the couple and the congregation.
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