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In Amoris Laetitia: Pope Francis As Pastor The University of Notre Dame Australia ResearchOnline@ND Theology Papers and Journal Articles School of Theology 2017 'Weakness, and wounded and troubled love' in Amoris Laetitia: Pope Francis as pastor Thomas Ryan The University of Notre Dame Australia, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theo_article Part of the Religion Commons This article was originally published as: Ryan, T. (2017). 'Weakness, and wounded and troubled love' in Amoris Laetitia: Pope Francis as pastor. Australasian Catholic Record, 94 (2), 131-147. Original article available here: https://www.acr.catholic.org.au/images/pdf/ACR%20April%202017_1%20Ryan.pdf This article is posted on ResearchOnline@ND at https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theo_article/194. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This article originally published: - Ryan, T. (2017) 'Weakness, and Wounded and Troubled Love' in Amoris Laetitia: Pope Francis as Pastor, Australasian Catholic Record, 94(2), 131-147. Permission granted by the Australasian Catholic Record for use on ResearchOnline@ND. © Australasian Catholic Record 2017. ACR April 2017.qxp_1 Ryan 2/5/17 8:09 am Page 131 131 ‘Weakness, and AWmoournidse Lda aentid tia Troubled Love’ in : Pope Francis as Pastor Tom Ryan * ‘Accompanying, Discerning and Integrating Weakness’ is the ‘contested’ Amoris chapter 8 of Pope Francis’s postsynodal allocution ‘The Joy of Love’ ( Laetitia . ) This collegial document can be approached from various perspectives, for example, in its historical and theological context; in its significance for moral theology; in its reception within local churches. 1 The aim here is pastoral, namely, to clarify the chapter’s content and, specifically, its implications for the faithful and those engaged in pastoral ministry. What is chapter 8’s purpose? While reaffirming God’s (the church’s) will concerning the marriage bond, the Pope and bishops want to offer hope to those who fail in this regard, namely those ‘who show signs of a wounded and troubled love’ (AL, 291). 2 They offer a model of pastoral discernment that builds on the Year of Mercy. Concerning the church, the Pope says: Illumined by the gaze of Jesus Christ, ‘she turns with love to those who participate in her life in an incomplete manner, recognizing that the grace of God works also in their lives by giving them the courage to do * Tom Ryan, SM, is a Marist priest who lives in Sydney. He is an honorary fellow of the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy of the Australian Catholic University and an adjunct associate professor of the School of Philosophy and Theology of the University of Notre Dame Australia. Apart from chapters in books, he has had numerous articles published in theological journals, both national and international. Amoris Laetitia : 1. TGheeraolldo gOic’aClo lSlitnusd,i e‘Ts he Joy of Love ( ) The Papal Exhortation in Its Context’, 77, no. 4 (2016): 905–21; CAomnnoorri s KLaeleltyi,t ia ‘ThTeh eRoloolge icoafl Sthtued iMes oral Theologian in the Church: A Proposal in the Light of Amoris Laetitia ’, Theological Studies 77, no. 4 (2016): 922–48; James F. Keenan, ‘Receiving ’, 78, no. 1 (2017): 193–212. 2. UnAlemsso roitsh Lerawetiisteia noted, numbers in parentheses in the text refer to the numbered paragraphs of . Henceforth, AL. ACR April 2017.qxp_1 Ryan 2/5/17 8:09 am Page 132 132 The Australasian Catholic Record good, to care for one another in love and to be of service to the community in which they live and work’. (291) This quote sets the scene and indicates the four stages in chapter 8’s structure. The first two concern the data: (1) What is happening and why? (2) How can we understand what is happening and why? The consequences follow: (3) What positive elements can be discerned in what is happening and why (as suggested above in n. 291)? (4) What are the implications for the church and, specifically, for guidance by pastors? Finally, section (5) below considers the level of authority in this teaching. 1. What Is Happening and Why? Three ‘irregular’ issues are addressed concerning marriage. First, there is divorce and remarriage. This can involve a ‘variety of situations’ that ‘should not be pigeonholed’ (298). Second unions can be consolidated over time and have proven fidelity. There are situations where a second union is partly motivated to ease the suffering and confusion of the children. Here, the ‘obligation to separate’ is confronted by the needs of children and associated issues of justice. There are those who have made every effort to save their first marriage and were ‘unjustly abandoned’ and are, sometimes, ‘subjectively certain in conscience that their previous and irreparably broken marriage had never been valid’ (298). Two other issues follow: the choice respectively of a civil marriage and cohabitation (293–4). These practices are ‘often not motivated by prejudice or resistance to a sacramental union, but by cultural or contingent situations’ (294). Cultural influences can involve a general attitude to anything institutional or definitive. They can be financial, for example, marriage is deferred until there is a steady job or income. In some countries, numerous de facto unions result not from rejection of marriage and family values, but rather from the excessive cost of the marriage given the social circumstances. Thus, ‘material poverty drives de facto people into unions’ (294). 2. How Can We Understand What Is Happening and Why? As noted above, the Pope’s overall aim is to offer a method of pastoral discernment, particularly for those in ‘irregular situations’ concerning marriage. In so doing, he wants to provide grounds, from the Catholic moral tradition, that justify his situating this model of pastoral discernment within the ambit of papal teaching. The second question, then, can be approached through three traditional moral principles guiding the Pope’s understanding of what is happening: practical reason; mitigating factors concerning the moral act; objective disorder and subjective culpability. ACR April 2017.qxp_1 Ryan 2/5/17 8:09 am Page 133 ‘Weakness, and Wounded and Troubled Love’ in Amoris Laetitia 133 Principle 1 In interpreting chapter 8 and in understanding the Pope’s model of pastoral discernment, a helpful hermeneutical lens is found in Catholic moral theology’s practical reason notion of . Pope Francis explains this term by drawing on a key statement of Thomas Aquinas concerning moral norms and moral reasoning: ‘Although there is necessity in the general princi ples, the more we descend to matters of detail, the more frequently we encounter defects’ (304). 3 This observation is part of Aquinas’s discussion of moral knowledge, namely, concerning ‘truth or practical rectitude’ in ‘matters of action’. In other words, how do we know what is the right thing to do? First, Aquinas clarifies his language. Truth can be known through ‘speculative reason’, namely, given the terms or the data, we can gain certain knowledge. For instance, once we understand what ‘two’ and ‘four’ mean, then ‘two and two equals four’ is not a matter of opinion. Alternatively, something ‘true’ can be apprehended from the perspective of its goodness, as a value to be pursued or acted on, as in ‘preserve human life’ or ‘keep promises’. This is moral knowledge, which, for Aquinas, is evaluative ratio practica ratio affectiva ‘knowing’, namely, an act of practical reason ( or ). It is knowing as ‘appreciation’ of something true precisely insofar as it is good, a form of affective knowledge. Further, it entails a ‘personally felt appreciation for the significance of the information known’ and an estimation of the value involved such ‘that the person owns it in a personally significant way’. 4 But what level of certainty accompanies knowledge from ‘practical reason’, namely, about both moral principles and specific actions? As noted above, Aquinas speaks of ‘necessity’ in general principles or he says that such principles are the same for all concerning ‘truth or practical rectitude’ in matters of action. In other words, we can be certain about basic principles, such as ‘preserve human life’, or ‘keep promises’ (as we can with ‘2 + 2 = 4’). These may extend to more specific situations, for instance, concerning the beginning and end of life: ‘the intentional and deliberate direct taking of innocent human life is always wrong’. Moral truth in human experience, then, involves the ideal (principles, norms) and the existential. Human moral life is ultimately about specific behaviour. Whatever the moral area (life, promises, etc.), it comes down to ‘what is the right thing to do in this situation?’ 3. ‘Although there is necessity in the general princi ples, the more we descend to matters of detail, the more frequently we encounter defects … In mat ters of action, truth or practical rectitude is not the same for all, as to matters of detail, but only as to the general principles; and where there is the same rectitude in matters of detail, it is not equally knowSnu tmom aall T…h eTohloeg piarie nciple will be found to fail, according as we descend further into detail.’ , I-II, q.94, a.4. Making Disciples: A Handbook of Christian Moral Formation 4. Timothy E. O’Connell, (New York: Crossroad, 1998), 70. ACR April 2017.qxp_1 Ryan 2/5/17 8:09 am Page 134 134 The Australasian Catholic Record In other words, actual life situations entail so many variables (‘the more we descend to matters of detail, the more frequently we encounter defects’) that we cannot formulate an absolutely certain moral rule that applies for everyone in all situations. We gather all the facts, evaluate the situation in the light of the principles of Christian life, take counsel, learn from the church’s wisdom and make a judgment—‘in this situation, this is the right (correct) thing to do’.
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