It has seemed to me that the one sin that could not be "forgiven" was divorce and re-marriage. Of course, the tribunal -- the review court on marriages -- can grant an annulment, and in truth, I have heard that its purpose is to help people process and grieve the loss of their first marriage. One thing the church does not want to do is to encourage serial marriage without thought, prayer, and counsel. But the process of annulment is lengthy and the thought of it frightening to people who just want to move on in their lives. In the meantime, they cannot receive Communion under the laws of the church.
The situation in a small town, as I have discovered, is particularly troubling. In a large city, few could people other than your immediate neighbors would even know you were divorced; in a small town, everyone knows it. So divorcees who want to re-marry most often just stop going to church; it is just too painful to be there and not receive communion with everyone else. And yet, Communion is the sacrament of spiritual healing, the one thing people have most need of after a divorce.
The church changes slowly, as indeed it should, considering that as a world-wide organization, it must embrace and minister to the culture and values of millions of people in millions of communities. But the value of moving slowly often gets lost in stagnation, in not moving at all when it needs to. Thank God that Jesus is still the Head of the church; when the human scaffolding becomes an impairment to the spiritual needs of the people, He sends help from above!
In the 1960's, Pope John 23rd prayed that the windows of the church would open and a New Pentecost would blow through it. Vatican II was the organizational renewal he prayed for, but the totally unexpected charismatic renewal appeared in the early 70's -- a movement no one could have orchestrated, foreseen, or planned for "from the top." This morning, I was reflecting on how graced I have been to have known the "old" church and to have experienced the "new" church, the church renewed from above---it has changed my life entirely, bringing me the Word of God and the realization of the Holy Spirit in a way that doctrine and church membership never could have done!
And now, Francis. In reading his encyclical The Joy of the Gospel, I found these words:
The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open....there are other doors that should not be closed either. Everyone can share in some way in the life of the church; everyone can be part of the community, nor should the doors of the sacraments be closed for simply any reason. This is especially true of the sacrament which is itself "the door:" baptism.
The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacrament life, is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak. These convictions have pastoral consequences that we are called to consider with prudence and boldness.
Frequently, we act as arbiters of grace rather than its facilitators. But the Church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems.
This has frequently been my suffering, as I agonized with those who felt rejected by their church after a painful divorce and re-marriage. We are all sinners; we fail in different ways -- but that never seemed to bother Jesus. The one question He asked His disciples about the Eucharist was, "Will you also go away?" I think He knows that if we keep coming to Him, He has to power to change our hearts from within. The one thing that prevents that transformation is for us to stop coming to Him, to walk away.
I don't know how long it will take for the church as a lumbering institution to reflect upon and find ways to implement Francis' philosophy of the church as the Father's house and the sacraments as healing for the sick. My hope is that I will see it in my lifetime. But at least, at least, we have a ray of light that can lead to change in this area!
I have always seen the church as a hospital, where recovering patients actually tend to those who are more in need of help, a place where, as Jesus told Peter, "when you have turned, turn and help your brothers." Peter is chief of the apostles because he was the chief sinner who turned back to Jesus; in his weakness, he could have compassion on the sins of others without judging them. If we can somehow find an avenue back to Jesus for those who have lost their way, the church will become more conformed to Francis' vision of the Father's house.
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