Artwork
by Soichi Watanabe http://www.artway.eu/content.php?id=1017&lang=en&action=show
Our
society has become quite adept at imposing sentence for wrong doing, be it a
petty offence or a serious crime. There is no doubt that transgressors of the
law must be brought to justice for the general good of society.
However
that is only half the story.
What
happens after the public exposure, the trial and the sentence? How good are we
in helping with rehabilitation, of really making an effort to repair a broken
spirit? For some in our society, retribution is the end of the affair.
Yet
for a Christian, the act of forgiveness is at the very core of faith, the
forgiveness we show each other and the forgiveness shown to us by him whose name
is ours.
One
of the central issues for discussion at the Synod which opened in
Rome
last Sunday will focus on the sharing of the Eucharist with
those whose marriage has failed and who have chosen to start again in a second
relationship.
The
argument put forward in recent days by Cardinal Burke and others is clear cut. “Cardinal
Raymond Burke has expressed hope that the forthcoming Synod on the Family will
confirm once and for all the Church’s teaching that divorced and remarried
people are excluded from Communion” as
quoted on the Tablet website this last weekend. Contrast that with the words of
Cardinal Kasper, also quoted on the Tablet website
Cardinal
Kasper has argued – he says with the encouragement of Pope Francis – that
the Church should be more “merciful” to Catholics living in unorthodox
relationships. While the doctrine on the indissolubility of marriage cannot
change, he says, the discipline on who can receive Communion could be developed.
There
is a contrast in these two statements that cannot be avoided, for one has an
edge that cannot be crossed, the other looks to the care of the individual.
And
that surely is the spirit of the Gospel, a story to live by offering continued
sustenance when things go wrong.
Nearer to home in these last few days the
English church has been saddened by the sudden resignation of a well-respected
bishop whose relationship with a
woman six years ago was about to be revealed by a Sunday Newspaper.
Bishop Kieran
Conry announced at the weekend that he was submitting his resignation to Pope
Francis after The Mail on Sunday newspaper revealed details
of the affair. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Bishops’ Conference
of England and
Wales
, said: “This is a
sad and painful moment. All involved
are much in my prayers."
Whatever
the circumstances and the huge personal cost of the ensuing publicity for
+Kieran, it is to be hoped that those in his diocese and beyond will extend
forgiveness, love and care to a man who has served them well.
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