'Some say they are not bound by the doctrine, as explained' ... by the CDF.

Then why have a CDF?


CDF - Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.  It used to be called the Holy Office.  Letters, instructions, notices, etc. are indeed binding for Catholics.  Where did I get that idea?  I was taught that when I learned the Creed as a child.  I also profess it when I recite the Act of Faith:

O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons,Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teachesbecause you have revealed them who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In this faith I intend to live and die. Amen.

Over the years spiritual directors have told me I do not need to read encyclicals or documents from the Vatican, or this or that teaching isn't necessary for me to be concerned about - because it usually did not pertain to me or my situation.  I get that.

However, sometimes there are notifications from the CDF on issues related to popular piety, as well as faith and morals which do pertain to me.  Though addressed to 'Bishops' these documents may be necessary for a lay person to know.  For example, notices as to the authenticity concerning mystics and private revelations, as well as instruction to avoid the same, may be very necessary to know.  The prohibitions such as 'do not conduct pilgrimages' or 'do not sponsor this or that mystic and their locutions' are not only necessary to know, but they are binding.

It is not uncommon, even for priests and devout laity who follow such dubious private revelations to object to the judgment issued by the CDF, as well as to insist it is not binding and is certainly not condemned.  We see that in the cases of Vassula Ryden and Christina Gallagher, and the Medjugorje road show.

Now I'm told instruction from the CDF, in the form of 'Letters to Bishops' correcting this or that misunderstanding are not binding on the faithful.  How many Catholics have been taught that the teaching on contraception is not binding, as well?  Therefore I suppose I cannot be surprised that one can contradict CDF instructions and statements on faith and morals, anymore than be surprised Humanae Vitae is ignored by many Catholics.

I may give more importance than I should to some things the Pope and CDF have said, but when I do, it is because it resonates deeply with me, and accords with my conscience.  I attribute it to the sacrament of confirmation and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the gift of counsel, which is closely allied to the virtue of prudence.  Hence I see the necessity of submission of the intellect and will to what is taught, albeit not explicitly defined.

Canon 752: While the assent of faith is not required, a religious submission of intellect and will is to be given to any doctrine which either the Supreme Pontiff or the college of Bishops, exercising their authentic declare upon a matter of faith or morals, even though they do not intend to proclaim that doctrine by definitive act. Christ's faithful are therefore to ensure that they avoid whatever does not accord with that doctrine.

 Works for me.

To Never Despair of God's Mercy ...

The Woman at the Well, Lucia Wiley

The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” 

Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” 

The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” 

Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” - John 4

That is what I meant the other day when I said that same sex couples, partners, friends - whatever they call themselves, cannot be married, nor represent themselves as in an 'equivalent marriage':

As I said in another post, it is important to avoid scandal - to give the impression homosexual relationships are equal to marriage. Chaste friendship is not equal to marriage. Even if civil law allows for same sex marriage, same sex friends living together is not a marriage on any level, in truth, in the eyes of God. The dishonesty lies there. That is where the lie is. If the lesbian couple thinks they are somehow married or their particular friendship is equal to marriage, they are mistaken.

Chaste and celibate friends can and do live together under the same roof and receive the sacraments. - TN

People can and do repent and amend their lives.  It is the call of the Gospel.  In some circumstances, two friends may agree to share a house and act as supports to one another in order to live in fidelity to Catholic teaching. With good spiritual direction, they can and do return to the sacraments.  (After repentance of sin and/or a sinful lifestyle, Catholics are reconciled to God and the Church in and through the sacrament of penance and are thus free to approach Holy Communion.) 

Church teaching on Marriage is clear.

To claim homosexual friendship is analogous to marriage is false. 

There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. Homosexual acts “close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved”.

[...] 

Not even in a remote analogous sense do homosexual unions fulfil the purpose for which marriage and family deserve specific categorical recognition. 

[...] 

The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the primary unit of society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and women and for the good of society itself.

[...] 

Christians give witness to the whole moral truth, which is contradicted both by approval of homosexual acts and unjust discrimination against homosexual persons. Therefore, discreet and prudent actions can be effective; these might involve: unmasking the way in which such tolerance might be exploited or used in the service of ideology; stating clearly the immoral nature of these unions; reminding the government of the need to contain the phenomenon within certain limits so as to safeguard public morality and, above all, to avoid exposing young people to erroneous ideas about sexuality and marriage that would deprive them of their necessary defences and contribute to the spread of the phenomenon. Those who would move from tolerance to the legitimization of specific rights for cohabiting homosexual persons need to be reminded that the approval or legalization of evil is something far different from the toleration of evil. - CDF

This explains why I say that same sex persons cannot be married - and that they are not married - despite what public opinion may be, or civil legislation permits.  

Never despair of God's mercy.

It is important for people to understand the Church welcomes sinners, that the mercy of God is always available to them in and through the sacraments.  Nothing is impossible with God.  If you do not know how to change your lifestyle, or how to return - if you feel there are impossible obstacles - do not despair of God's mercy.  Ask him, pray, pray, pray - ask God.  He will open a door, he will open a way.  Prayer is the trapdoor out of sin.  He appeared to the Samaritan woman and she was saved.

Whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ.  More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have forfeited everything and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and [the] sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. - Philippians 3

Nothing is impossible with God. 

My true colors... Papal.

My true colors come out at the election of a Pope.

I have remained Catholic all of these years precisely because Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, and that he has given us his Vicar on earth, the Pope, and of course, the Blessed Virgin as Mother of the Church.  Everything flows from that, in a sense.  To have the Eucharist we must have a Pope and the bishops who ordain the priests who minister the sacraments.  The Pope shepherds, guides, teaches, protects the sheep.  The Mother is the Blessed Shepherdess of the sheep.  But I'm mixing up an otherwise very simple profession of faith and reason why I am Catholic, which is a preface for the following.

When it comes to solid Catholic commentary on the conclave, I'm going with Fr. Z - if he manages to stay online, and those like him - if there are any.  This morning I especially liked his commentary on Cardinal Sodano's homily.

[This next part seems to me to be what the Dean, Card Sodano, is suggesting as a major point for the Cardinal Electors as they go into the Conclave. Remember, Sodano is over 80 and cannot vote even though he is the Dean of the College.] In the wake of this service of love toward the Church and towards all of humanity, the last popes have been builders of so many good initiatives for people and for the international community, tirelessly promoting justice and peace. Let us pray that the future Pope may continue this unceasing work on the world level. [Look. Yes, Pope's do these things. But is that their principle role? Is that the principle role of the Church in the world? To promote initiatives of justice and peace in the international community? I noted with interest that the Dean quoted Paul VI's Populorum progressio, which was not a little controversial in its day. At the time, there were concerns that to smacked of Marxism. It also spoke to the North/South divide. Perhaps I am reading this wrong, but I have the sense that this is a call for Paul VII. It is without question that Benedict XVI wrote eloquently of initiatives of justice and peace in Deus caritas est, etc. But to stress this, during the Year of Faith, when Benedict XVI tried to launch the Church on a project of NEW EVANGELIZATION, that is, the recovery of Catholic identity in those places where it has been dying and a new direction even in places where the Church is emerging, the Dean flips back the calendar to the 1970's. This is my first reaction. I may add and revise later. To be fair, the Dean quoted Benedict XVI in a way that opens what Paul VI said in a more expansive way than I have suggested. Here is what he said earlier in the sermon when he quoted Paul: "This is what Benedict XVI wrote in his Lenten Message for this year (n.3). "Sometimes we tend, in fact, to reduce the term "charity" to solidarity or simply humanitarian aid. It is important, however, to remember that the greatest work of charity is evangelization, which is the "ministry of the word". There is no action more beneficial – and therefore more charitable – towards one’s neighbour than to break the bread of the word of God, to share with him the Good News of the Gospel, to introduce him to a relationship with God: evangelization is the highest and the most integral promotion of the human person. As the Servant of God Pope Paul VI wrote in the Encyclical Populorum Progressio, the proclamation of Christ is the first and principal contributor to development (cf. n. 16)." BUT... let's continue to be fair. This sounds like Sodano contra Sodano. Quoting Populorum progressio is a signal.] 
 

We won’t get another Ratzinger in that sphere, for there isn’t one. But we can pray for a Pope who will embrace that vision and continue it. No initiative we undertake as a Church can succeed unless we revitalize our liturgical worship, exactly along the lines that Benedict XVI pointed to. - Fr. Z

I also want to say, if Cardinal Burke were to be elected Pope, I wouldn't be disappointed, because my greatest concern is that the Roman Catholic Church should remain, as Fr Z stated, "exactly along the lines that Benedict XVI pointed to."

I have always loved the martyrs of Gorcum who were martyred simply because they would not abandon belief in the Blessed Sacrament and in Papal supremacy.  At the end of my life, I hope I can proclaim with the Gorcum Martyr, Andreas Wouters of Heynoord, who stated, “Fornicator I always was, but heretic I never was.”  - Source 

 

Are you a hetero?

Heterodox
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Whenever I hear the word heterodox I always think of sexual preference.  I know.
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het-ero-dox 1: contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard or traditional form : UNORTHODOX, UNCONVENTIONAL  2: holding unorthodox opinions or doctrines.
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So that is why I took Fr. Ron's link down last week - I do not want to lead Catholics astray or give the impression I'm heterodox.
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Heretics
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"Heretics are heretics and bear the name, because out of the articles of faith they choose at their taste and pleasure those which it seems good to them to believe, rejecting and denying the others.  And Catholics are Catholics, because without any choice or election they embrace, with an equal assurance and without exception, all the faith of the Church." - St. Francis de Sales
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So yeah, to answer whatever questions you may have, I am a Catholic. 
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Art: "Hell" - Kurt Wenner's 3D street art