I was contemplating today the constant debates and
arguments that we seem to have in the Catholic Church around various subjects.
I was in particular thinking about emotionally charged subjects like the
ordination of women, gay marriage and the use of contraceptives to regulate
childbirth.
I find it really offensive that the proponents of these
subjects, subjects which have quite clearly been definitively decided on by the
Church already, persist in their endeavours to challenge and change the
Church’s teaching, particularly when it is Catholics who are the proponents.
The latest example is a story in the National Catholic Reporter about Melinda Gates. Gates is the wife of Bill Gates, one of the founders of Microsoft, and
she has now made it known, along with highlighting publicly her Catholic
identity and values, that she does not agree with the Church’s teaching on artificial
contraception.
I would like to simply remain silent. I would like to
ignore it to avoid confrontation. But I cannot remain silent because that,
sadly, is what most Catholics do in these situations. It is precisely this silence,
of the majority of Catholics, which encourages the proponents of these subjects
and which has even, of late, led these proponents to disingenuously, and
without basis, interpret this silence as a reflection of the support given by
Catholics against the official teaching of the Church.
The question of course is why do I, and millions of other
Catholics accept the official teaching of the Church on these subjects, as
correct and refute those who present alternate views. What makes us so
absolutely dead certain that the Church is right and convinces us that all others
are wrong?
The answer to this question comes directly from our Lord
Jesus: “And I tell you, you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail
against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven.”[i]
In the same way, our Lord appointed the apostles to lead
the Church: “And when it was day, he
called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles”.[ii]
Our Lord Jesus appointed St Peter as the head of the
Church and, along with him, the other apostles as the foundation of the Church.
They act in the person of Christ. This is confirmed by Vatican II when it says:
“it is clear that, by means of the
imposition of hands and the words of consecration, the grace of the Holy Spirit
is so conferred, and the sacred character so impressed, that bishops in an
eminent and visible way sustain the roles of Christ Himself as Teacher,
Shepherd and High Priest, and that they act in His person.”[iii]
Vatican II also reaffirms that the “pope’s power of primacy over all, both pastors and faithful, remains
whole and intact. In virtue of his office, that is as Vicar of Christ and
pastor of the whole Church, the Roman Pontiff has full, supreme and universal
power over the Church. And he is always free to exercise this power. The
order of bishops, which succeeds to the college of apostles and gives this
apostolic body continued existence, is also the subject of supreme and full
power over the universal Church, provided we understand this body together
with its head the Roman Pontiff and never without this head.”[iv]
Therefore, when the Pope in Humanae Vitae declares that
the use of artificial contraceptives is wrong, or in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis that
the Church has no authority to ordain women, or the Church makes its position
on Gay Marriage abundantly clear, what more do we Catholics actually require in order to
accept this teaching as the only correct teaching. If we challenge these
teachings of the Church, are we not in fact directly choosing to challenge Christ?
What more do we need to be convinced that we are right? Simply following the official teaching of the Church is enough. We need nothing else!
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