Andrew’s last posting on the
Mass, which was taken from our forthcoming Christmas Bulletin, received a
comment basically saying we were trying to get youngsters to Mass by using the fear
of hell. Well, no. We were hoping to inspire pre-teen children to value Holy Mass
by expounding its wonders. That said...
When I was a child our home was
heated by coal fires. I was warned about the dangers of fire by my parents and
given a smack on the bum if I did not heed the warnings. This was not mum and
dad being cruel; rather, it was mum and dad being very caring and very loving: they
sought to prevent me being burned. In the Church of today many clergy -Bishops
included- fail to be caring and loving because they are afraid to warn people about
the danger of hell fire.
Instead, many seek out ways of
accommodating or excusing those who contracept; who cohabit, who have contracted
civil marriages or are in same-sex pairings etc. Dressed up as pastoral
sensitivity, this accommodation is to fail in charity, and to fail badly, since
if we truly care for our neighbour we should
want to warn them that their actions are harmful to their relationship with Jesus
Christ. Clergy in particular should note and perhaps tremble when we read the
scripture, “If I say to a wicked
man, ‘You are to die’, and you do not speak to him and warn him to renounce his
evil ways and live, then he shall die for his sin, but I will hold you
responsible for his death” (Ez. 3:18). “Teach them to observe all the commands I gave you” is a duty
placed upon us all. Yes the world has moved on and found ways of justifying its
‘new morality’ which is antithetical to the Judeo-Christian Revelation, but the
Church must be faithful to her perennial doctrine, for “Jesus Christ is the same today as He was yesterday, and will be
forever. Do not let yourselves be led astray by all kinds of strange doctrine”
(Hebrews 13v8,9).
That so many reject the Church’s
teaching on marriage and family life makes the survey we have been asked to
complete on Pastoral Challenges and the Family very dangerous; such a survey gives
the impression that we can change teaching to fit with today’s society, and may
lead to the hostility of those who use it to solicit such change when they
realise they cannot get it. It also gives the impression that Church teaching
relies upon acceptance by the majority of those surveyed to be deemed authentic
teaching, since too many restrict the sensus
fidelium to reception by Catholics living now and fail to see it is the belief
of the whole Church, including
Catholics of the last 2000 years who would not hold to today’s social
constructions and modern innovations in morality and pastoral care.
Genuine Pastoral Care has for a
long time been inhibited by pastoral
sentimentality; by not saying anything that might offend or hurt. Those who
practice it forget that God loves us too
much to let us get burned by the fire of hell without warning us of the danger.
Good (genuine) Pastoral Care is about listening to where a person is in life; it
is about understanding their pain while helping them to see the error and
danger of their ways; the beauty of the truth, and giving them the support they
need to live the truth. Anything other than that is just not Christian.
Yes hell is a fearful thing, and
I wish we were able to inspire people to live the Gospel from love of the
all-loving God, but we are damaged by original sin and prone to concupiscence,
which means encouraging souls to fear hell must remain part of our teaching. I
can tell you, I would rather have my family, friends and parishioners saved
from hell by the fear of hell, than see
them go to hell because they were consoled by the Church in following the ‘life-style
choices’ the secular, so-called inclusive world promotes (though it excludes that
life-style choice of being pro-life, pro-family and Catholic...)