My dear parishioners,

            Peace! In other bulletins (4 December, 2016-11 June, 2017) we have considered the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on “conscience.” We then turned to Saint John Paul II’s encyclical letter Veritatis splendor (6 August, 1993) which addresses fundamental moral issues, including “conscience” more than one hundred times.  These reflections were begun earlier (6 April, 2018-30 May, 2018). Here we now consider a passage from Veritatis splendor, 110

            Saint John Paul II (+2005) when considering the “the service of moral theologians” in chapter III reminds us that “the Church’s Magisterium intervenes not only in the sphere of faith, but also, and inseparably so, in the sphere of morals.  It has the task of ‘discerning, by means of judgments normative for the conscience of believers, those acts which in themselves conform to the demands of faith and foster their expression in life and those which, on the contrary, because of intrinsically evil, are incompatible with such demands.”

            That Mother Church teaches with authority regarding both faith and morals did NOT begin with Saint John Paul II in Veritatis splendor.  It did not begin with Saint Paul VI in Humanae Vitae (25 July, 1968).  It did not begin with Saint John XXIII in Mater et Magistra (15 May, 1961).  It did not even begin with Blessed Pius IX in Pastor aeternus (18 July, 1870).  The authority to teach on matters of faith and morals was entrusted to Saint Peter (and his successors) by Jesus Christ as we read in Matthew 16:18-19:  “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven.”  This passage from the Gospel is for Mother Church what the “Necessary and Proper Clause” of Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution is for the Congress.  The missionary mandate, Matthew 28:19-20, is no less related to the teaching authority of Mother Church:  “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.”

            Mother Church was not established to merely entertain us or to only speak warm and fuzzy things.  There was nothing easy or comfortable about the Cross, yet, Christ the Lord mounted the wood of the tree to save us from our sins.  Mother Church, through her authoritative teaching helps to avoid sin (or repent those we have committed).  “Tough love” is called for not only in dealing with the drug addicted.  While Mother Church teaches us about the sins we should avoid (e.g. pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth) in what could be called the via negativia, she calls us to holiness no less.

            God bless you!

            Father John Arthur Orr