A caution from Archbishop Chaput: dishonest mercy helps no one

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Philadelphia, Pa., Nov 17, 2015 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- True mercy, and trust in the transformative power of God’s grace are key to helping divorced-and-remarried Catholics, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia has said in a critique of proposals to admit them to sacramental Communion without a change in their lives.
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“Ironically, a pastoral strategy that minimizes sin in the name of mercy cannot be merciful, because it is dishonest,” the archbishop said in a December 2015 essay for the U.S. journal First Things.
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Authentic mercy is evangelical and believes “God’s grace has the power to transform us.” This is relevant to the Church’s pastoral response to the divorced-and-remarried, he maintained.
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catholicnewsagency.com/news/a-caution-from-archbishop-chaput-dishonest-mercy-is-helpful-to-no-one-25720/
 
Indeed, the Catechism (2447) describes works of mercy as “charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities.” How then may we best help our neighbor in spiritual need? The Catechism goes on to say, “Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently.”
 
Mercy extended to the unrepentant is enabling; to the repentant is helpful.
 
St_Francis said:
Mercy extended to the unrepentant is enabling…
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I have trouble with this assertion as it seems to contradict what the church teaches about mercy. We are required to go to confession to have our grave sins absolved, but those sins are not and cannot be absolved unless we repent of them. If mercy is extended to the unrepentant then wouldn’t this require the priest to absolve us of our sins whether or not we repent?

The expectation of mercy is based on being repentant; without that, mercy is not appropriate.***1847 **"God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us. "To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults.
*If God does not extend mercy to the unrepentant it’s not clear why we should.

Ender
 
Ender said:
I have trouble with this assertion as it seems to contradict what the church teaches about mercy. We are required to go to confession to have our grave sins absolved, but those sins are not and cannot be absolved unless we repent of them. If mercy is extended to the unrepentant then wouldn’t this require the priest to absolve us of our sins whether or not we repent?

The expectation of mercy is based on being repentant; without that, mercy is not appropriate.***1847 ***"God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us. "To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults.
If God does not extend mercy to the unrepentant it’s not clear why we should.

Ender
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And yet extending mercy to the unrepentant is what some propose. That is the issue at hand.
 
Ender said:
I have trouble with this assertion as it seems to contradict what the church teaches about mercy. We are required to go to confession to have our grave sins absolved, but those sins are not and cannot be absolved unless we repent of them. If mercy is extended to the unrepentant then wouldn’t this require the priest to absolve us of our sins whether or not we repent?
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May ‘take’ on what St Francis meant by ‘enabling’ was similar to the use of that word in regards to those with addictions, in that it encourages them to continue the destructive behavior.

In that context, the term is very much in accord with Church teaching.

"Mercy’ extended to the unrepentant simply encourages them to continue the sinful behavior.
 
Ender said:
I have trouble with this assertion as it seems to contradict what the church teaches about mercy. We are required to go to confession to have our grave sins absolved, but those sins are not and cannot be absolved unless we repent of them. If mercy is extended to the unrepentant then wouldn’t this require the priest to absolve us of our sins whether or not we repent?

The expectation of mercy is based on being repentant; without that, mercy is not appropriate.***1847 ***"God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us. "To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults.
If God does not extend mercy to the unrepentant it’s not clear why we should.

Ender
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Oh, oops, I misunderstood what you didn’t understand. I used the word enabling in the sense of helping someone do soemthing bad, like when parents give money to a their drug-addicted son which allows him to continue using drugs. That kind of enabling.
 
St_Francis said:
Oh, oops, I misunderstood what you didn’t understand. I used the word enabling in the sense of helping someone do soemthing bad, like when parents give money to a their drug-addicted son which allows him to continue using drugs. That kind of enabling.
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I was struggling to understand what you all meant precisely. I do not think I ve ever used a dictionary so much as in CAF…
 
graciew said:
I was struggling to understand what you all meant precisely. I do not think I ve ever used a dictionary so much as in CAF…
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Well, in y’all’s defense, enabling was a term hugely popular 20 or more years ago in pop-psychology, so I did use it in a possibly weird way for nowadays :o
 
St_Francis said:
Well, in y’all’s defense, enabling was a term hugely popular 20 or more years ago in pop-psychology, so I did use it in a possibly weird way for nowadays :o
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That s all right, in fact. it adds to learning your language.🙂
 
Ender said:
I have trouble with this assertion as it seems to contradict what the church teaches about mercy. We are required to go to confession to have our grave sins absolved, but those sins are not and cannot be absolved unless we repent of them. If mercy is extended to the unrepentant then wouldn’t this require the priest to absolve us of our sins whether or not we repent?

The expectation of mercy is based on being repentant; without that, mercy is not appropriate.***1847 ***"God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us. "To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults.
If God does not extend mercy to the unrepentant it’s not clear why we should.

Ender
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Should Jesus have permitted the cruel and gruesome death of the woman by stoning, or was it better that he extended mercy to her by saying what he did when he did?
 
Brendan said:
God’s Mercy is for those who repent. He has never enabled sin.
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God didn’t demand repentance when He decided to bring salvation to the world of sinners through Jesus Christ.

His mercy came prior to Jesus call for repentance.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
God didn’t demand repentance when He decided to bring salvation to the world of sinners through Jesus Christ.

His mercy came prior to Jesus call for repentance.

Jim
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It came, for those who repented. Hence all the prophets CALLING for repentance.

Such as when Samuel confronted David about Bathsheba.

Or 2 Chronicles, when God spoke to Solomon
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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Note the key word "IF’

Or when Jeremiah told God to tell Israel (jer 26)
Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5 and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth
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Or God to Exekiel ( Ez 18)
Suppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these other things (though the father has done none of them):
He eats at the mountain shrines.
He defiles his neighbor’s wife.
He oppresses the poor and needy.
He commits robbery.
He does not return what he took in pledge.
He looks to the idols.
He does detestable things.
He lends at interest and takes a profit.
Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he is to be put to death; his blood will be on his own head
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Yes, there is Mercy, but for those who turn away from sin. If they remain in sin, God promised them Death!
 
Brendan
It came, for those who repented. Hence all the prophets CALLING for repentance.
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Such as when Samuel confronted David about Bathsheba.
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Or 2 Chronicles, when God spoke to Solomon
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Note the key word "IF’
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Not the term, “My People” meaning the Jewish people.

Yet God brought salvation into the world even to the gentiles who did not know Him.
Or when Jeremiah told God to tell Israel (jer 26)
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Again, specific to Israel, which of course is how they viewed salvation.

They wouldn’t consider anyone other than Jews as being God’s people.
Yes, there is Mercy, but for those who turn away from sin. If they remain in sin, God promised them Death!
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If they have knowledge of what sin is and turn away.

Otherwise, they are in God’s merciful hands.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Brendan

Not the term, “My People” meaning the Jewish people.

Yet God brought salvation into the world even to the gentiles who did not know Him.
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If they followed His Law. That is why God gave us the Natural Moral Law. If they rejected what God had made known to them, they received no Mercy
If they have knowledge of what sin is and turn away.
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Otherwise, they are in God’s merciful hands.
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Jim
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See above regarding the Natural Moral Law.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
God didn’t demand repentance when He decided to bring salvation to the world of sinners through Jesus Christ.

His mercy came prior to Jesus call for repentance.

Jim
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But we only receive the fruits of that mercy after we repent.

The issue is that of giving the Eucharist to those in objectively sinful situations: remarried without an annulment or living in a sexual homosexual relationship. Should we let those unrepentent people have the Eucharist out of a sense of mercy?

Is it really mercy when we encourage people to “eat or drink unworthily”–leading them to be “guilty of His Body and His Blood”?
 
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