
CV NEWS FEED // The Archdiocese of Vancouver is weighing in on the Vatican’s latest Declaration on blessings for same-sex couples, with its Archbishop J. Michael Miller describing the document as an effort to make the Church “an ever more welcoming community.”
According to a local report, Archbishop Miller said Fiducia Supplicans “clearly affirms the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage between a man and a woman,” and seeks to “broaden” and “enrich” the tradition of blessings.
The Archdiocese is currently “discerning how the declaration might impact how we can serve all people in our Catholic community,” according to Miller, who emphasised the importance of blessing sinners who are in “faithful knowledge of their sinfulness.”
In the context of the Church’s current ongoing synodal process, however, Miller said the Archdiocese is “striving, in keeping with the Gospel and Tradition, to become an ever more welcoming community.”
“We pray that this Vatican document will open new doors through which we can share God’s love and mercy,” he added, saying the “reflection process” would “take time.”
Coordinator of Courage Ministry for same-sex attracted members of the Vancouver Archdiocese Deacon Hilmar Pabel instructed Courage members to read the declaration on account of its “insightful and inspiring teaching on blessings.”
Pabel also noted how the document makes “clear that blessing couples in irregular situations should not become a liturgical ritual so as to avoid confusing it with a liturgical blessing for a married couple.”
The two Vancouver representatives echo the statement released by the Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops (CCCB), who also emphasised that blessings “must be directed to the persons themselves rather than their situation,” be “spontaneously requested,” and distinct from liturgical or ritual actions.
“The guiding principle in the Declaration is the fact that the very request for a blessing represents an openness to God’s mercy and can be an occasion for greater trust in God,” the CCCB said.
