[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: FW: Cardinal McElroy on ‘radical inclusion’ for L.G.B.T. people, women and others in the Catholic Church | America Magazine

[Catherine Walther]

A friend forwarded this article to me. Long but a good summary of the
synodal responses. I just hope it’s not too late.  Catherine

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/01/24/mcelroy-synodality-inclusion-244587?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2928&pnespid=66VgB3VAPbIF3uGaq2zkE86R70OsTINyJ7Sn3.Bq8RpmrY_9RHz1Dy36D_JCejo.g7JIcWyh
Cardinal McElroy on ‘radical inclusion’ for L.G.B.T. people, women and
others in the Catholic Church

What paths is the church being called to take in the coming decades? While
the synodal process already underway has just begun to reveal some of these
paths, the dialogues that have taken place identify a series of challenges
that the people of God must face if we are to reflect the identity of a
church that is rooted in the call of Christ, the apostolic tradition and
the Second Vatican Council.

Many of these challenges arise from the reality that a church that is
calling all women and men to find a home in the Catholic community contains
structures and cultures of exclusion that alienate all too many from the
church or make their journey in the Catholic faith tremendously burdensome.

Reforming our own structures of exclusion will require a long pilgrimage of
sustained prayer, reflection, dialogue and action—all of which should begin
now.

It is important at this stage in the synodal process for the Catholic
community in the United States to deepen our dialogue about these
structures and cultures of exclusion for two reasons. The first is to
continue to contribute to the universal discernment on these issues,
recognizing that these same questions have surfaced in many nations of the
world. The second reason is the recognition that since the call to
synodality is a call to continuing conversion, reforming our own structures
of exclusion will require a long pilgrimage of sustained prayer,
reflection, dialogue and action—all of which should begin now.

Such a pilgrimage must be infused with an overpowering dedication to listen
attentively to the Holy Spirit in a process of discernment, not political
action. It must reflect the reality that we are part of a universal and
hierarchical church that is bound together on a journey of faith and
communion. It must always point to the missionary nature of the church,
which looks outward in hope. Our efforts must find direction and
consolation in the Eucharist and the Word of God. And they must reflect the
understanding that in a church that seeks unity, renewal and reform are
frequently gradual processes.

“Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,
<https://www.synod.va/content/dam/synod/common/phases/continental-stage/dcs/Documento-Tappa-Continentale-EN.pdf>”
the document issued last year by the Holy See to capture the voices of men
and women from around the world who have participated in the synodal
process, concluded that “the vision of a church capable of radical
inclusion, shared belonging and deep hospitality according to the teachings
of Jesus is at the heart of the synodal process.” We must examine the
contradictions in a church of inclusion and shared belonging that have been
identified by the voices of the people of God in our nation and discern in
synodality a pathway for moving beyond them.

We must examine the contradictions in a church of inclusion and shared
belonging and discern in synodality a pathway for moving beyond them.
*Polarization Within the Life of the Church *

An increasingly strong contradiction to the vision of a church of inclusion
and shared belonging lies in the growth of polarization within the life of
the church in the United States and the structures of exclusion that it
breeds. In the words of “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” “the wounds of
the church are intimately connected to those of the world.” Our political
society has been poisoned by a tribalism that is sapping our energy as a
people and endangering our democracy. And that poison has entered
destructively into the life of the church.

This polarization is reflected in the schism so often present between the
pro-life communities and justice-and-peace communities in our parishes and
dioceses. It is found in the false divide between “Pope Francis Catholics”
and “St. John Paul II Catholics.” It is found in the friction between
Catholics who emphasize inclusion and others who perceive doctrinal
infidelity in that inclusion. Even the Eucharist has been marred by this
ideological polarization, in both the debates about the pre-conciliar
liturgy and the conflicts over masking that roiled many parishes during the
pandemic of the past several years.

As “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent” observes, we find ourselves “trapped in
conflict, such that our horizons shrink and we lose our sense of the whole,
and fracture into sub-identities. It is an experience of Babel, not
Pentecost.”

Our political society has been poisoned by a tribalism that is endangering
our democracy. And that poison has entered destructively into the life of
the church.

A culture of synodality is the most promising pathway available today to
lead us out of this polarization in our church. Such a culture can help to
relativize these divisions and ideological prisms by emphasizing the call
of God to seek first and foremost the pathway that we are being called to
in unity and grace. A synodal culture demands listening, a listening that
seeks not to convince but to understand the experiences and values of
others that have led them to this moment. A synodal culture of true
encounter demands that we see in our sisters and brothers common pilgrims
on the journey of life, not opponents. We must move from Babel to Pentecost.
*Bringing the peripheries to the center *

“Closely related to the wound of polarization,” the U.S. report on the synod
<https://www.usccb.org/resources/US%20National%20Synthesis%202021-2023%20Synod.pdf>
concludes, “is the wound of marginalization. Not only do those who
experience this wound suffer, but their marginalization has become a source
of scandal for others.” The continuing sin of racism in our society and our
church has created prisons of exclusion that have endured for generations,
especially among our African American and Native American communities.

Synod participants have testified eloquently to the sustained ways in which
patterns of racism are embedded in ecclesial practices and culture. These
same patterns infect the treatment of many ethnic and cultural communities
within the life of the church, leaving them stranded on the periphery of
ecclesial life at critical moments. Piercingly, the church at times
marginalizes victims of clergy sexual abuse in a series of destructive and
enduring ways.

The poorest among us, the homeless, the undocumented, the incarcerated and
refugees often are not invited with the same energy and effectiveness as
others into the fullness of church life and leadership. And the voice of
the church is at times muted in advocating for their rights.

Faced with such patterns of exclusion in our church and our world, we must
take to heart the message of Pope Benedict speaking to the people of Latin
America on the wounds that marginalization inflicts: “the church must
relive and become what Jesus was; the Good Samaritan who came from afar,
entered into human history, lifted us up and sought to heal us.”

Pope Benedict XVI: “The church must relive and become what Jesus was; the
Good Samaritan who came from afar, entered into human history, lifted us up
and sought to heal us.”

One avenue for lifting us up and healing the patterns and structures of
marginalization in our church and our world is to systematically bring the
peripheries into the center of life in the church. This means attending to
the marginalization of African Americans and Native Americans, victims of
clergy sexual abuse, the undocumented and the poor, the homeless and the
imprisoned, not as a secondary element of mission in every church
community, but as a primary goal.

Bringing the peripheries to the center means constantly endeavoring to
support the disempowered as protagonists in the life of the church. It
means giving a privileged place in the priorities and budgets and energies
of every ecclesial community to those who are most victimized and ignored.
It means advocating forcefully against racism and economic exploitation. In
short, it means creating genuine solidarity within our ecclesial
communities and our world, as St. John Paul repeatedly urged us.
*Women in the Life of the Church *

The synodal dialogues in every region of our world have given sustained
attention to the structures and cultures that exclude or diminish women
within the life of the church. Participants have powerfully pointed out
that women represent both the majority of the church and an even larger
majority of those who contribute their time and talents to the advancement
of the church’s mission. The report of the Holy Land on its synodal
dialogues captured this reality: “In a church where almost all
decision-makers are men, there are few spaces where women can make their
voices heard. Yet they are the backbone of church communities.”

The synodal dialogues have reflected widespread support for changing these
patterns of exclusion in the global church, as well as for altering
structures, laws and customs that effectively limit the presence of the
rich diversity of women’s gifts in the life of the Catholic community.
There are calls for eliminating rules and arbitrary actions that preclude
women from many roles of ministry, administration and pastoral leadership,
as well as for admitting women to the permanent diaconate and ordaining
women to the priesthood.

One productive pathway for the church’s response to these fruits of the
synodal dialogues would be to adopt the stance that we should admit, invite
and actively engage women in every element of the life of the church that
is not doctrinally precluded.

This means, first of all, eliminating those barriers to women that have
been erected at all levels in the church’s life and ministry not because of
law or theology, but because of custom, clericalism, bigotry or personal
opposition.

Second, the call for inclusion challenges the church to examine with care
the juridical barriers to women’s leadership in the life of the church.
Pope Francis initiated reform in this area when he loosened the mandatory
tie between episcopal identity and leadership roles in the Roman Curia,
including directing major Roman departments. This re-examination should
also include questions such as the legal limitations on laity in diocesan
leadership, including tribunals, as well as the nature of jurisdiction in a
parish, which presently prohibits any layperson from being the
administrator of a parish community.

“In a church where almost all decision-makers are men, there are few spaces
where women can make their voices heard. Yet they are the backbone of
church communities.”

The proposal to ordain women to the permanent diaconate had widespread
support in the global dialogues. While there is historical debate about
precisely how women carried out a quasi-diaconal ministry in the life of
the early church, the theological examination of this issue tends to
support the conclusion that the ordination of women to the diaconate is not
doctrinally precluded. Thus, the church should move toward admitting women
to the diaconate, not only for reasons of inclusion but because women
permanent deacons could provide critically important ministries, talents
and perspectives. At the Synod on the Amazon
<https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/06/30/amazon-churches-create-transnational-body-implement-synod-proposals>
in 2019, the bishops of the Amazon region in prayer and discernment
overwhelmingly supported this pathway, stating that it would be an enormous
grace for their local churches that are so desperately short of priests.

The question of the ordination of women to the priesthood will be one of
the most difficult questions confronting the international synods in 2023
and 2024. The call for the admission of women to priestly orders as an act
of justice and a service to the church was voiced in virtually every region
of our world church. At the same time, many women and men who participated
in the synod favored reserving the priesthood for men in keeping with the
action of Christ and the history of the church.

It is likely the synod will adopt this latter stance because of its
rootedness in the theology and history of the church. Whichever position
emerges from the synodal discernment on this question, the reality remains
that the synodal dialogues have asked the church to move in two
contradictory directions on this question. During the synodal process over
the next two years, God will have to grace the church profoundly if we are
to find reconciliation amid this contradiction.

The question of the ordination of women to the priesthood will be one of
the most difficult questions confronting the international synods in 2023
and 2024.
*The Christological Paradox *

The report of the synodal dialogues from the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops points to an additional and distinct element of exclusion in the
life of the church: “Those who are marginalized because circumstances in
their own lives are experienced as impediments to full participation in the
life of the church.” These include those who are divorced and remarried
without a declaration of nullity from the church, members of the L.G.B.T.
community and those who are civilly married but have not been married in
the church.

These exclusions touch upon important teachings of the church about the
Christian moral life, the commitments of marriage and the meaning of
sexuality for the disciple. It is very likely that discussions of all of
these doctrinal questions will take place at the synodal meetings this fall
and next year in Rome.

But the *exclusion* of men and women because of their marital status or
their sexual orientation/activity is pre-eminently a pastoral question, not
a doctrinal one. Given our teachings on sexuality and marriage, how should
we treat remarried or L.G.B.T. men and women in the life of the church,
especially regarding questions of the Eucharist?

“Enlarge the Space of Your Tent” cites a contribution from the Catholic
Church of England and Wales, which provides a guidepost for responding to
this pastoral dilemma: “The dream is of a church that more fully lives a
Christological paradox: boldly proclaiming its authentic teaching while at
the same time offering a witness of radical inclusion and acceptance
through its pastoral and discerning accompaniment.” In other words, the
church is called to proclaim the fullness of its teaching while offering a
witness of sustained inclusion in its pastoral practice.

As the synodal process begins to discern how to address the exclusion of
divorced and remarried and L.G.B.T. Catholics, particularly on the issue of
participation in the Eucharist, three dimensions of Catholic faith support
a movement toward inclusion and shared belonging.

The first is the image that Pope Francis has proposed to us of the church
as a field hospital. The primary pastoral imperative is to heal the
wounded. And the powerful pastoral corollary is that we are all wounded. It
is in this fundamental recognition of our faith that we find the imperative
to make our church one of accompaniment and inclusion, of love and mercy.
Pastoral practices that have the effect of excluding certain categories of
people from full participation in the life of the church are at odds with
this pivotal notion that we are all wounded and all equally in need of
healing.

The effect of the tradition that all sexual acts outside of marriage
constitute objectively grave sin has been to focus the Christian moral life
disproportionately upon sexual activity.

The second element of Catholic teaching that points to a pastoral practice
of comprehensive inclusion is the reverence for conscience in Catholic
faith. Men and women seeking to be disciples of Jesus Christ struggle with
enormous challenges in living out their faith, often under excruciating
pressures and circumstances. While Catholic teaching must play a critical
role in the decision making of believers, it is conscience that has the
privileged place. Categorical exclusions undermine that privilege precisely
because they cannot encompass the inner conversation between women and men
and their God.

The third element of Catholic teaching that supports a pastoral stance of
inclusion and shared belonging in the church is the counterpoised realities
of human brokenness and divine grace that form the backdrop for any
discussion of worthiness to receive the Eucharist. As Pope Francis stated
in “Gaudete et Exultate
<https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.pdf>,”
“grace, precisely because it builds on nature, does not make us superhuman
all at once.... Grace acts in history; ordinarily it takes hold of us and
transforms us progressively” (No. 50).

Here lies the foundation for Pope Francis’ exhortation “to see the
Eucharist not as a prize for the perfect, but as a source of healing for us
all.” The Eucharist is a central element of God’s grace- filled
transformation of all the baptized. For this reason, the church must
embrace a eucharistic theology that effectively invites all of the baptized
to the table of the Lord, rather than a theology of eucharistic coherence
that multiplies barriers to the grace and gift of the eucharist.
Unworthiness cannot be the prism of accompaniment for disciples of the God
of grace and mercy.

It will be objected that the church cannot accept such a notion of radical
inclusion because the exclusion of divorced and remarried and L.G.B.T.
persons from the Eucharist flows from the moral tradition in the church
that all sexual sins are grave matter. This means that all sexual actions
outside of marriage are so gravely evil that they constitute objectively an
action that can sever a believer’s relationship with God. This objection
should be faced head on.

It is a demonic mystery of the human soul why so many men and women have a
profound and visceral animus toward members of the L.G.B.T. communities.

The effect of the tradition that all sexual acts outside of marriage
constitute objectively grave sin has been to focus the Christian moral life
disproportionately upon sexual activity. The heart of Christian
discipleship is a relationship with God the Father, Son and Spirit rooted
in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The church has a
hierarchy of truths that flow from this fundamental kerygma. Sexual
activity, while profound, does not lie at the heart of this hierarchy. Yet
in pastoral practice we have placed it at the very center of our structures
of exclusion from the Eucharist. This should change.

It is important to note that the synodal dialogues have given substantial
attention to the exclusions of L.G.B.T. Catholics beyond the issue of the
Eucharist. There were widespread calls for greater inclusion of L.G.B.T.
women and men in the life of the church, and shame and outrage that heinous
acts of exclusion still exist.

It is a demonic mystery of the human soul why so many men and women have a
profound and visceral animus toward members of the L.G.B.T. communities.
The church’s primary witness in the face of this bigotry must be one of
embrace rather than distance or condemnation. The distinction between
orientation and activity cannot be the principal focus for such a pastoral
embrace because it inevitably suggests dividing the L.G.B.T. community into
those who refrain from sexual activity and those who do not. Rather, the
dignity of every person as a child of God struggling in this world, and the
loving outreach of God, must be the heart, soul, face and substance of the
church’s stance and pastoral action.

The Italian synodal report stated “the church-home does not have doors that
close, but a perimeter that continually widens.” We in the United States
must seek a church whose doors do not close and a perimeter that
continually widens if we are to have any hope of attracting the next
generation to life in the church, or of being faithful to the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. We must enlarge our tent. And we must do so now.

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*May you walk in joy as love calls us on.*
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