CV NEWS FEED // The British Confraternity of Catholic Clergy released a statement on Thursday that said the blessings of same-sex couples are “theologically, pastorally, and practically inadmissible.”
The statement comes after the Vatican published Fiducia Supplicans on December 18. The British Confraternity represents over 500 priests and deacons in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Responding to “widespread confusion over Catholic doctrine on same-sex unions and sexual behavior outside of marriage,” the British Confraternity of Catholic Clergy said they felt “impelled to reassert the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church.”
The group began by pointing out that Church teaching on homosexuality remains irreproachable by the fact of its Scriptural roots:
Tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They 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.
“It is in this context,” they continued, “that we must assess the recent document Fiducia Supplicans—which proposes a call for discernment which may lead to bestowing blessings on those in same-sex or unmarried unions.”
While the group acknowledged they admired the nobility in “pastoral desire to assist people to move forward by renewal of life and the call to conversion,” they stated that they “see no such situation in which blessings of a couple could be properly and adequately distinguished from some level of approval.”
For this reason, the group asserted that carrying out such blessings “would inevitably lead to scandal” for everyone involved directly or indirectly.
“We believe that genuine charity always follows true doctrine,” the group wrote in conclusion:
Such blessings would work against the legitimate care a priest owes to his flock. With honest parresia and from our own experience as pastors we conclude that such blessings are theologically, pastorally and practically inadmissible.
Since the Vatican announced its approval of the blessings, priests, bishops, and cardinals from the US and all over the world have rushed in to clarify, such as in the US and Europe, or forbid it entirely, such as in Zambia, Ukraine, Nigeria, and Malawi.
