Remarried couples should abstain from sex, Philadelphia Catholic church says

By Aliyah Frumin | 6 July 2016
NBC News

“Often cohabiting couples refrain from making final commitments because one or both persons is seriously lacking in maturity or has other significant obstacles to entering a valid union. Here, prudence plays a vital role. Where one or another person is not capable of, or is not willing to commit to, a marriage, the pastor should urge them to separate,” Archbishop Charles Chaput also wrote. (Credit: YouTube / screengrab)

The head of the Philadelphia Archdiocese says gay, divorced and remarried Catholics can receive the sacrament of Communion — as long as they don’t have sex.

“Live as brother and sister,” Archbishop Charles Chaput wrote in a seven-page guideline that was released July 1.

Titled “Pastoral Guidelines for Implementing Amoris Laetitia,” it also states that gay Catholics should not be allowed to hold “positions of responsibility” in the parish.

“It’s important to remember that some same-sex couples do live together in chaste friendship and without sexual intimacy, and many pastors have had the experience of counseling such couples,” says the guidelines. “But two persons in an active, public same-sex relationship, no matter how sincere, offer a serious counter-witness to Catholic belief, which can only produce moral confusion in the community,” it later adds.

The rules stand in stark contrast to Pope Francis’ document, “Joy of Love,” that was released in April and addressed issues including divorce and homosexuality. Francis took a softer approach, encouraging priests to show “pastoral discernment” to civilly remarried Catholics who want to receive Communion. Like Chaput, Francis spoke against gay marriage, but also called for an end to “unjust discrimination” against homosexuals.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. That so many are still convinced that the Roman Catholic Church has any moral authority, much less a supernaturally justified authority has taken on tragic proportions.

  2. What is missing here is the theological Foundation that these statements are predicated upon. If a religion believes that the Creator God made man and woman as the natural order, and that the Fidelity of one man to one woman for their lifetimes is considered the absolute Norm of human the sexual relationships as varying cultures around the world has implemented for Generations, then one understands the logic and rational behind the Catholic Church’s instructions on this matter. Whether you accept or agree with it is a matter of your freedom to choose.

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