Our Way Together
Dear Friends
As we celebrated the final service of the Month of creation in the Diocese Pope Francis started the Universal Synod on the Feast of St Francis. On the same day he published a follow-up to his letter on the care of our common home and encourages governments to take the climate crisis seriously. Also recently the Holy Father had been given a number of questions by five Cardinals called “Dubia” which literally means doubts. Among other things the Holy Father was asked about the blessing of same sex relationships. The Pope responded:
The Church has a very clear conception of marriage: an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the begetting of children. It calls this union “marriage.” Other forms of union only realize it “in a partial and analogous way” (Amoris Laetitia, 292), and so they cannot be strictly called “marriage.”…
For this reason the Church avoids any kind of rite or sacramental that could contradict this conviction and give the impression that something that is not marriage is recognized as marriage… For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage. For when a blessing is requested, one is expressing a request for help from God, a plea for a better life, a trust in a Father who can help us to live better.
Please find our Newsletter below with the invitation to join in the Big Listening either on Sunday 15th Oct at 2.00pm or on Wednesday 18th Oct at 7.00pm. We look forward to hearing from you
God Bless
Fr Reginald and Fr Bryan