U.S. bishops issue flurry of responses to Vatican blessings document

Following the Dec. 18 release of the Holy See’s declaration permitting blessings of those in irregular relationships, and the ensuing reaction from media and Catholics around the country, U.S. bishops have been responding with their own statements supporting and/or clarifying the document, known as “Fiducia Supplicans.”

Bishop Robert E. Barron, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, said in a statement posted to the USCCB’s website Dec. 21 that the document “in no way calls for a change in the Church’s teaching regarding marriage and sexuality.”

“In fact,” Bishop Barron said, “it goes to great lengths to insist that, in accord with unchanging doctrine, marriage is a union of one man and one woman in lifelong fidelity and openness to children.

“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,” continued Bishop Barron, who leads the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota. “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.”

Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minn., in a Dec. 18 statement to the clergy and lay faithful of the diocese, also underscored that church teaching had not changed, adding that it is “impossible for us to bless a same-sex union, since any sexual-union outside of the marriage of one man and one woman is contrary to the Gospel … .”

“Fiducia Supplicans is very much congruent with Pope Francis’s long-held conviction that those who do not live up to the full demand of the Church’s moral teaching are nevertheless loved and cherished by God and invited to accept the Lord’s offer of forgiveness,” Bishop Barron added.

“The Church’s teaching about marriage, since it is rooted in the Gospel we have received from Jesus Christ, is unchangeable,” Bishop Cozzens said.

Still, he said, we may bless individuals who are not yet living in full accord with the Gospel, even those in a same-sex union.

“This is not a marriage blessing and should never be done in a liturgical or ceremonial way which would give the false idea of blessing a union contrary to the Gospel,” Bishop Cozzens said. “It is not legitimate to use the Book of Blessings or any official ritual for blessing a union contrary to God’s law. This is a blessing for persons who ‘recognizing themselves to be destitute and in need of his help — do not claim a legitimation of their own status, but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit’ (FS, 31).”

Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich welcomed the declaration in a Dec. 18 statement, saying that it is “a step forward, and in keeping not only with Pope Francis’s desire to accompany people pastorally but Jesus’s desire to be present to all people who desire grace and support.”

“At the heart of the Declaration is a call for pastors to take a pastoral approach by being available to people who, while not claiming a legitimation of their own status, recognize their need for God’s help and ‘who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit,” he said.

He emphasized that the declaration “remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage, not allowing any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion.”

In a Dec. 19 statement, Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley thanked Pope Francis for “his love and care of all the people in the flock” while also cautioning and making clear “that the Holy Father has not endorsed gay marriage, but has recognized all Catholics, including those whose unions are not recognized by the Church, as equally in need of God’s grace and love.”

The declaration, he said, “offers a type of blessing that can be conferred on anyone to invoke God’s help and mercy in their lives. It is the Church reaching out a hand of affection to all Catholics in the hope that these simple gestures provide an effective means of increasing trust in God on the part of the people who seek to be guided by a greater understanding of God’s plan for love and truth.”

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, N.J., said in a Dec. 20 announcement that the document “highlights the difference between sacramental blessings during religious ceremonies and pastoral blessings, which can be given to people who seek God’s grace. Recipients of pastoral blessings can include people in a same-sex union.”

He added: “The Church’s teaching on marriage remains unchanged, and the statement underscores the importance of blessings as a support for people on their spiritual journeys, recognizing that everyone can benefit from God’s healing love and mercy.”

The DDF’s declaration “was intended to offer nuance to the Church’s teaching on blessings without in any way changing the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage or on sexual morality,” said Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul-Minneapolis in a Dec. 18 statement. “The blessings do not imply that the Church is officially validating the status of the couple. Effort is particularly to be taken, moreover, to make sure that such blessings are not confused with the sacrament of marriage.”

“Nevertheless, the hope is that these blessings can assist those who request them to ‘open their lives to God, to ask for his help to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness,'” he continued, quoting “Fiducia Supplicans.”

Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, said in a Dec. 19 statement that “Fiducia Supplicans” “recognizes that even those in immoral relationships, recognizing themselves to be in need of His help, can ask for and receive a blessing in the pastoral realm at the prudence and at the option of the minister, when this is done informally and spontaneously, outside of any liturgical or ritualized format, and always without creating an impression of approval or legitimation of status, of falsely implying any sort of equivalency with marriage, or creating any scandal (leading others to do evil) or confusion among the faithful.”

“The blessing put forth in ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ is not meant to be a legitimation of same-sex unions, but an opportunity for people in irregular relationships to open their lives to God,” he continued.

The individual statements come after the USCCB, via its spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi, executive director of public affairs, said Dec. 18 that the declaration “articulated a distinction between liturgical (sacramental) blessings, and pastoral blessings, which may be given to persons who desire God’s loving grace in their lives.”

“The Church’s teaching on marriage has not changed, and this declaration affirms that, while also making an effort to accompany people through the imparting of pastoral blessings because each of us needs God’s healing love and mercy in our lives,” Noguchi said.

In a statement posted Dec. 20 on the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston’s website, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo said that he “associate(s)” himself with the USCCB statement, calling it “clear and succinct” and encouraging that it be read by all.

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