Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 78

Welcoming the Light of Dogma

Detail from "God Dividing Land and Water" (Sistine Chapel Ceiling, 1508-12) by Michelangelo [WikiArt.org]

Welcoming the Light of Dogma | Brian Jones | CWR

The dogmatic teaching of the Church is liberating because truth is not something we create, but a divine gift we receive

During the moral theology class I was teaching this past summer, we read certain sections of St. Thomas Aquinas’ moral treatise in the Secunda Secundae of the Summa Theologiae. In his treatment on the virtue of faith, one question struck me in particular, something that I had read numerous times before, but whose power really caught my eye this time around.

In Question 5, Article 3, St. Thomas considers whether someone who disbelieves one article of faith can have faith in the other articles. While the whole question is worth reading in its entirety, the central, striking passage is from the main body of his response:

Now it is manifest that he who adheres to the teaching of the Church, as to an infallible rule, assents to whatever the Church teaches; otherwise, if, of the things taught by the Church, he holds what he chooses to hold, and rejects what he chooses to reject, he no longer adheres to the teaching of the Church as to an infallible rule, but to his own will.

The heart of St. Thomas’ statement concerns the very nature of faith. Contrary to the mentality of the “new atheists” and those that adhere to the ideology of scientism, much of our everyday lives are characterized by acts of faith. For example, when I walk into a university building on campus, I do not have knowledge that upon entering that the structure will stay in tact. I cannot claim to have a genuine knowledge that such buildings will not collapse if I, or anyone else for that matter, walk inside. What allows me not to be frightened or concerned about the building remaining stable when I am in it stems from an act of trust: I have faith and believe that the building will not collapse. The reason I lack knowledge in this area is that I know almost nothing about engineering, architecture, or any of the necessary skills involved in the building’s construction. Nor was I present when the builders were establishing its foundation and actually constructing the building to get to what it looks like now.

In an analogous way, this is how the gift of supernatural faith works as well.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Justice and the Kingdom

"The Grape Harvest" by Henri-Edmond Cross (1856-1910) [WikiArt.org]

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for September 28, 2014 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Ez 18:25-28
• Psa 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
• Phil 2:1-11
• Matt 21:28-32

Growing up I heard countless admonishments from my parents—all of them deserved, I readily confess. One that has stuck with me is a simple, commonsensical remark made many times by my mother: “Life is not always fair.” A variation of this was, “You don’t always get what you want.” And, sure enough, I didn’t always get what I wanted.

As a parent, I sometimes think of those remarks when my young son says, “That’s not fair!” This is usually uttered with great frustration and often after some conflict with his older sister. And she, of course, often responds in kind: “It’s not fair that he gets to play with that toy!”

Our sensitivity—or hyper-sensitivity, as the case might be—to being treated unfairly hardly diminishes as we grow up and become adults. On the contrary, we often develop more elaborate and sophisticated ways of discovering real or perceived injustices. We recognize that today’s reading from the prophet Ezekiel offers a true picture of the human condition and complaint: “The Lord’s way is not fair!” How often do we think that God is being unfair to us, even unjust? Are we occasionally tempted to mutter to ourselves, “It’s not fair that God is putting me through this difficult situation”?

It has been rightly noted by many wise men that there are two ways to approach God and reality. We can either try to conform them to ourselves and our desires, or we can conform ourselves to God and reality. Put another way, we can ask, as God did of the house of Israel, is it God’s way that is unfair, or rather, are not our ways unfair?

Jean Cardinal Daniélou (1905-1974), a French theologian much admired by John Paul II and Benedict XVI, once wrote that “God’s justice, according to the Bible, has nothing in common with the communicative justice that governs relationships between men, and the mistake lies precisely in wishing to apply such a criterion to the relationship between God and men” (God and the Ways of Knowing, [Ignatius Press, 2003], 96). One the lamentable errors often made by man is thinking that he deserves to have rights before God. This is not to say that God’s justice arbitrary or malleable. On the contrary, the Catechism reminds us, “In God, power, essence, will, intellect, wisdom, and justice are all identical. Nothing therefore can be in God's power which could not be in his just will or his wise intellect” (CCC 271).

The parable of the two sons, proclaimed in today’s Gospel, reveals this truth in a simple, powerful manner. To work in the vineyard is to pursue the will of God, to strive for holiness and to pursue justice. One son says he will not work the vineyard, but then changes his mind; the other son gives lip service, but fails to enter the vineyard. This is a picture of the Pharisees—who said the right things but failed to do them—and those sinners who acknowledged their need for God and acted accordingly. It is also a depiction of each one of us, who are sinners. We are invited by the Father to work the vineyard, to enter the Kingdom of God. What will we say? More importantly, what will we actually do? “Words are not enough,” the Catechism pointedly explains, “deeds are required” (CCC 46).

“Justice and the Kingdom,” wrote Daniélou, “are one and the same thing.” Why? Because both are gifts from God drawing us into His fatherly love. “God’s justice is not defined with reference to man. It is the faithfulness of love to itself.” Human justice will sometimes fail and life will in fact often be unfair. We won’t always get what we want.

But, then, the question for us should be different: What does God want for us and from us? And what should we, children born of grace, say in return? Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the September 28, 2008, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Cardinal Walter Kasper on “Artificial” Birth Control

Cardinal Walter Kasper on “Artificial” Birth Control | John F. Kippley | Homiletic & Pastoral Review

The Cardinal simply has to know that “artificial” has nothing to do with the birth control issue

In the online edition of the Telegraph (UK) on September 19th, Religious Affairs editor John Bingham reported that Cardinal Walter Kasper “hinted at the possibility of a reinterpretation of the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on artificial contraception.”

He said it was “the responsibility of the parents” to decide how many children they should have.  Almost no informed orthodox Catholic will disagree with that if it is rightly understood as decisions made in the light of the divine call to generosity in the service of life and family. A church of only one-child and two-child families is doomed to self-extinction. 

According to Bingham, the Cardinal said that “so-called natural family planning, which is promoted by the Church as an alternative to contraception, also has an ‘artificial’ element.”  Bingham notes that some representatives of natural family planning will be at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family and then adds, “But the Cardinal argued that natural methods have an ‘artificial aspect’.” 

The Cardinal simply has to know that “artificial” has nothing to do with the birth control issue.  Almost everything we do today has an artificial aspect.  The alarm clock that wakes us in the morning.  The central heat that goes on automatically at a preset time.  A thermometer used to check body temperatures.   None of this has anything to do with being contrary to nature. 

Cardinal Walter Kasper is 81 years of age.  That means that he was 35 when he witnessed the promulgation of Humanae Vitae and the explosive dissent from it including the German bishops’ lack of support for it. 

Conitinue reading at www.HPRweb.com.

"True Mercy and the Indissolubility of Marriage" by Cardinal George Pell

Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy (CNS photo/Robert Duncan)

True Mercy and the Indissolubility of Marriage | Cardinal George Pell | Catholic World Report

In his foreword to a new book, Cardinal George Pell argues that “one cannot maintain the indissolubility of marriage by allowing the ‘remarried’ to receive Holy Communion.”

The following appears as the foreword to the book The Gospel of the Family: Going Beyond Cardinal Kasper’s Proposal in the Debate on Marriage, Civil Re-Marriage, and Communion in the Church , which will be published by Ignatius Press next month. The book is co-authored by Juan José Pérez-Soba, a priest of the Diocese of Madrid and the director of international research in moral theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome, and Stephan Kampowski, an associate professor of philosophical anthropology at the John Paul II Institute in Rome.

This book is important for many reasons. A courteous, informed, and rigorous discussion, indeed debate, is needed especially for the coming months to defend the Christian and Catholic tradition of monogamous, indissoluble marriage—focusing on the central elements of the challenges facing marriage and the family, rather than being distracted into a counterproductive and futile search for short-term consolations.

The health of an organization can be gauged by observing the amount of time and energy devoted to the discussion of various topics. Healthy communities do not spend most of their energies on peripheral issues, and unfortunately the number of divorced and remarried Catholics who feel they should be allowed to receive Holy Communion is very small indeed.

The pressures for this change are centered mainly in some European churches, where churchgoing is low and an increasing number of divorcees are choosing not to remarry. The issue is seen by both friends and foes of the Catholic tradition as a symbol—a prize in the clash between what remains of Christendom in Europe and an aggressive neo-paganism. Every opponent of Christianity wants the Church to capitulate on this issue.

Both sides in this discussion appeal to Christian criteria, and everyone is dismayed by the amount of suffering caused to spouses and children by marriage breakups. What help can and should the Catholic Church offer?

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

New: "Life for Life: Maximilian Kolbe" (DVD)

Now available from Ignatius Press:

Life for Life: Maximilian Kolbe (DVD)

This DVD can only be sold in the US and Canada

Auschwitz, 1941. One of the prisoners, Jan, escapes from the German concentration camp while working at a gravel pit. Thanks to the help of good-hearted people he finds shelter. There Jan hears tragic news about ten random inmates sentenced to death by starvation by the Nazis as a punishment for his escape. One among the convicts is Fr. Maximillian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest who volunteered to die in place of one of the inmates.

Now Jan is not just fleeing the Nazis, but also from his guilt for his involvement in Kolbe's death. He goes to visit Niepokalanów, a very large Franciscan monastery where Fr. Kolbe had been the founder and superior. There Jan wants to learn what were the motives behind his decision to die for another prisoner, a complete stranger. Though free from Auschwitz, Jan will continue to be confronted by the life and death of Maximilian Kolbe wherever he goes.

In addition to Jan - torn between wanting to forget and a fascination with Kolbe - another key character emerges, Brother Anselm. He is a devout young Franciscan priest who quietly but strongly witnesses to Kolbe's heroic faith and love, and then rejoices at the Beatification of Kolbe by Pope Paul VI. Later Kolbe will be canonized by his fellow countryman, Pope John Paul II, who proclaimed Kolbe as the "patron saint of the difficult 20th century".

This acclaimed film was directed by Krzystof Zanussi, and stars Christoph Waltz and Edward Zentara in powerful performances.

In Polish, with English and Spanish subtitles.  

Includes a 16-page Collector's Booklet and Study Guide with color photos, and text by Catholic film critic Steve Greydanus

Praise for Life for Life:

"Life for Life reflects thoughtfully on what the cult of the saints means for us, on the nature of hagiography itself. Perhaps more than any film I can think of, it explores how the saints can and should inspire us, if we are open to them, or how we may stumble at them if we are not. For this reason alone, it's among the most essential saint films I've seen."
-Steven Greydanus, Film Critic, National Catholic Register

Video trailer:

Marriage, Communion, and the Teachings of the Church

Newly married couples kneel as Pope Francis celebrates the marriage rite for 20 couples during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Sept. 14th. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Marriage, Communion, and the Teachings of the Church | CWR Staff | Catholic World Report

Two of the contributors to the book, Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church, discuss the Scriptural, historical, and theological basis for Catholic doctrine

Rev. Robert Dodaro, OSA., is President of the Patristic Institute, Augustinianum, in Rome. He is the editor of the forthcoming book, Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church (Ignatius Press, early October 2014), in which five cardinals of the Church, along with four other scholars, respond to Walter Cardinal Kasper's call for the Catholic Church to harmonize “fidelity and mercy in its pastoral practice with civilly remarried, divorced people.” Those contributors are Walter Cardinal Brandmüller; Raymond Cardinal Burke; Carlo Cardinal Caffarra; Velasio Cardinal De Paolis, CS.; Paul Mankowski, S.J.; Gerhard Cardinal Müller; John M. Rist; and Archbishop Cyril Vasil', SJ.

Dr. John M. Rist, one of the nine contributors, is Emeritus Professor of Classics and Philosophy at the University of Toronto, and former holder of the Kurt Pritzl, OP, Chair of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America.

Catholic World Report recently corresponded with Fr. Dodaro and Dr. Rist about the book.

CWR: What were the reasons for writing and production this volume?

Fr. Dodaro: The five Cardinals and four other scholars who contributed to this book wanted to respond to Cardinal Kasper's proposal [in The Gospel of the Family, published by Paulist Press, 2014] that the Catholic Church should adopt a variation of the Eastern Orthodox practice of admitting divorced and civilly remarried persons to the sacraments, specifically to penance and Holy Eucarist. We wanted to show the bishops and other faithful that Cardinal Kasper's proposal contradicts both Christ's teachings in the Gospels and the interpretation of His's teachings by the early Church.

Finally, we wanted to show that the current teaching and sacramental discipline of the Catholic Church offers a pastorally sound and, yes, even merciful approach to the care of civilly remarried Catholics.

CWR: What are the key issues and concerns that you and the contributors address in the book?

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Is Pope Francis upset about an Ignatius Press book?

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Left: Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ (Photo: CWR). Right: Cardinal Walter Kasper (Photo: CNS).

Vatican City, Sep 19, 2014 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- Catholic Church sources have dismissed rumors that Pope Francis is annoyed by an Ignatius Press book critical of Cardinal Walter Kasper’s position on Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried.

The French Catholic newspaper La Croix said Sept. 17 that “a senior source close to the Argentine Pope” claimed that Pope Francis would be “annoyed by the publication of this collective work.”

However, sources close to the Pope denied this claim, telling CNA that the Pope is not even aware of the book.

The book, from Ignatius Press, is titled “Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church.” It is a collection of essays on the pastoral approach to Catholics who have divorced and civilly remarried. Authors of the essays include five cardinals as well as other scholars.

  Contributors include Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura; Cardinal Walter Brandmuller, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences; Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna, one of the closest theologians to St. John Paul II in questions of morality and the family; and Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, president emeritus of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See.

The book is set to be published next month, around the time that the Synod of Bishops will be meeting in Rome to discuss issues involving the family.

The Ignatius Press book’s introduction says the essays in “Remaining in the Truth of Christ” are responses to Cardinal Walter Kasper’s 2014 book “The Gospel of the Family,” which includes his advocacy of giving Holy Communion to some Catholics who have divorced and civilly remarried without an annulment.

Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., founder and editor of Ignatius Press, responded sharply to claims by Cardinal Kasper in an email exchange with CNA. He drew from Cardinal Kasper’s Sept. 18 interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, responding point-by-point to the cardinal’s statements.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

God's Goodness and the Laborers in the Vineyard

"Red Vineyards at Arles" (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh (www.wikiart.org)

God's Goodness and the Laborers in the Vineyard | A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, September 18, 2011 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Is 55:6-9
• Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18
• Phil 1:20c-24, 27a
• Mt 20:1-16a

Why did God make us? The Baltimore Catechism, in its first lesson, answers this question succinctly: “God made us to show forth His goodness and to share with us His everlasting happiness in heaven.”

The opening paragraph of the Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses the same topic, saying, “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. … In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life” (par 1).

It is a foundational belief of the Catholic faith that man was created because of the goodness of the loving Creator, and that God desires each of us to enter into the Kingdom of God and to live in perfect communion with Him. This relational, familial fact helps make sense of passages such as today’s Gospel reading, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.

This parable, of course, is not an economic treatise or a business blueprint. Like many parables, it draws upon the agrarian life that most first-century Jewish readers would know and understand intimately, and uses that familiar context to reveal something significant about the Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus throughout his public ministry. Matthew’s Gospel was meant first and foremost for a Jewish audience and one of its main themes is that the kingdom of heaven is not meant exclusively for the Jews, but for Gentiles as well (cf., Matt. 12:18-21).

The parable has often been interpreted as referring to the Jews—the laborers chosen early in the day, that is, earlier in history—and to the Gentiles—the laborers chosen later in the day. Cyril of Alexandria wrote that “day” refers to “the whole age during which at different moments since the transgression of Adam [God] calls just individuals to their pious work, defining rewards for them for their actions.” The laborers hired first are angry that the laborers hired late in the day receive the same wage. This indeed seems unfair to us as long as we think in temporal, earthly terms. But, as today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah reminds us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.”

In fact, if man—whether Jew or Gentile—was judged by God on his own merits, he would fail to receive the wage of eternal life; that “wage” is actually a gift from God. As Saint Paul explained to the Ephesians, the Gentiles, who were once “without hope and without God in the world … have become near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:11-13). 

Another interpretation, given by Saint John Chrysostom (as well as others), is that the vineyard refers to “the commandments of God, and the time of working refers to the present life.” The workers are those who are “who have come forward at different ages and lived justly.” Some are baptized as babies and remain in the family of God their entire lives, some enter the Church as adults, and some accept Christ on their deathbeds. Those who might think this is unfair fail to appreciate that the issue is not who is most deserving, but Who is most merciful. It is God who has pity on man, who invites him to work in the vineyard, and who pays the generous wage.

“The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God…” states the Catechism, “That land, like a choice vineyard, has been planted by the heavenly cultivator. Yet the true vine is Christ who gives life and fruitfulness to the branches, that is, to us, who through the Church remain in Christ, without whom we can do nothing” (CCC 755). This echoes what Paul explained to the Philippians in today’s Epistle: fruitful labor is only possible in and through Jesus Christ. 

That is how God shows forth His goodness and shares with us His everlasting happiness in heaven.

 (This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the September 21, 2008, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Spinning the Synod

Pope Francis leads opening prayer during a meeting of cardinals in the synod hall at the Vatican Feb. 20. The Synod of Bishops wills meet in Rome October 5-19 to discuss “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization” (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Spinning the Synod | Carl E. Olson | CWR Editorial

Here are five misleading claims and skewed statements about the upcoming Synod of Bishops

Here’s a word that hasn’t been used much in recent discussions about the approaching Battle of the Cardin—er, the Synod of Bishops, taking place October 5-19 in Rome: evangelization. Which is curious, since the official title, or theme, for the extraordinary general assembly is “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization”. To the contrary, it is safe to say that most people—Catholic and non-Catholic alike—think the Synod is going to be primarily about divorced Catholics, remarried Catholics, and the reception of Holy Communion by Catholics who currently live in “canonically irregular situations” (that is, are divorced and remarried).

Almost from the day the Synod was announced there has been a steady, even unrelenting, emphasis by a large number of commentators on the matter of divorced and remarried Catholics receiving Communion. It didn’t take long for “mercy” to be equated with somehow relaxing (whatever that means) or even changing the Church’s teaching on the matters. Pope Francis, interviewed on July 28, 2013, while returning from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, was asked: “Holy Father, during this visit too, you have frequently spoken of mercy. With regard to the reception of the sacraments by the divorced and remarried, is there the possibility of a change in the Church’s discipline? That these sacraments might be an opportunity to bring these people closer, rather than a barrier dividing them from the other faithful?” The Holy Father, in responding, did not address the apparent assumption that mercy automatically corresponds with a change in Church teaching, but spoke of forgiveness, the motherhood of the Church, and the Orthodox practice of oikonomia—“they give a second chance, they allow it.” He also mentioned that his predecessor in Argentina, Cardinal Quarracino, “used to say that as far as he was concerned, half of all marriages are null.”

Then, in February of this year, Cardinal Walter Kasper gave an address to the extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals (February 20-21, 2014), that was soon published in English with additional material as The Gospel of the Family (Paulist, 2014). Kasper, in short, put forth arguments in favor of allowing remarried Catholics to receive Communion, something the German prelate has been pushing for since at least the early 1990s. His approach, on the more popular level, has been been to invoke “mercy” at every turn. For example, his September 15th essay, “The Message of Mercy”, published in America, refers to “mercy” and “merciful” nearly fifty times. And who, really, can be opposed to mercy? Well, according to Kasper, those who adhere to a “closed system” of doctrine and thus prefer “severity” over mercy. And the cardinal has not been shy about indicating that his position supposedly enjoys the full support of Francis, telling The Tablet this week that while he is not “the Pope’s theologian” (“that would be too arrogant”, he says), he has been told by Francis: “You are a man who discerns the spirit.”

There is much more to all of this (some of it mentioned below), but suffice to say that many in the secular media and progressive Catholic media have been presenting the Synod as a confrontation between reformist, merciful cardinals who enjoy the good graces of Francis and reactionary, even angry, cardinals who are obsessed with doctrine and power, caring little about the situation of ordinary Catholics. In addition, there are other simplistic and skewed contrasts being presented: between a Church ready to be relevant and adaptable to modern realities vs. a Church stuck in a rigorist, black-and-white past; a Church that is “pastoral” vs. a Church that is interested only in power and control; a Church that listens to the laity vs. a Church only concerned with what bishops think and say.

In the weeks to come, the spinning of the Synod—why it has been convened, what is seeks to accomplish, what it may or may not do—will be in full force. Here are five spins that are rotating at high speed and will likely be twirling about for some time to come, regardless of how inaccurate or misleading they are:

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Pre-order "Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church"

Available soon from Ignatius Press:

Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church

Edited by Fr. Robert Dodaro, O.S.A

Available late October 2014.

For Contents and Introduction click here.

"The purpose of the present volume is to answer Cardinal Kasper’s invitation for further discussion. The essays published in this volume rebut his specific proposal for a Catholic form of oikonomia in certain cases of divorced, civilly remarried persons on the grounds that it cannot be reconciled with the Catholic doctrine on the indissolubility of marriage, and that it thus reinforces misleading understandings of both fidelity and mercy." — Fr. Robert Dodaro, O.S.A, from the Introduction

In this volume five cardinals of the Church, and four other scholars, respond to the call issued by Walter Cardinal Kasper for the Church to harmonize "fidelity and mercy in its pastoral practice with civilly remarried, divorced people". The contributors are Walter Cardinal Brandmüller; Raymond Cardinal Burke; Carlo Cardinal Caffarra; Velasio Cardinal De Paolis, C.S.; Robert Dodaro, O.S.A.; Paul Mankowski, S.J.; Gerhard Cardinal Müller; John M. Rist; and Archbishop Cyril Vasil', S.J.

Cardinal Kasper appeals to early Church practice in order to support his view. The contributors bring their wealth of knowledge and expertise to bear upon this question, concluding that the Bible and the Church Fathers do not support the kind of "toleration" of civil marriages following divorce advocated by Cardinal Kasper. They also examine the Eastern Orthodox practice of oikonomia (understood as "mercy" implying "toleration") in cases of remarriage after divorce and in the context of the vexed question of Eucharistic Communion. The book traces the long history of Catholic resistance to this practice, revealing the serious theological and pastoral difficulties it poses in past and current Orthodox Church practice.

As the authors demonstrate, traditional Catholic doctrine, based on the teaching of Jesus himself, and current pastoral practice are not at odds with genuine mercy and compassion. The authentic "gospel of mercy" is available through a closer examination of the Church's teachings.

"Because it is the task of the apostolic ministry to ensure that the Church remains in the truth of Christ and to lead her ever more deeply into that truth, pastors must promote the sense of faith in all the faithful, examine and authoritatively judge the genuineness of its expressions and educate the faithful in an ever more mature evangelical discernment."
- St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio