#Blessed

There has been much talk recently about blessings, and of course, the Blessing Problem Child, Fiducia Supplicans.

(If you would like an overview of the document and subsequent…discussion, the Wikipedia article is useful.)

I was a little surprised to see that I had never written about FC. I’m not sure why. Perhaps because when it was issued, I was weary of everything that had been emanating from Rome for years by that point. Come to think of it, I’m sure that’s it.

As the issue bubbles up again, perhaps about to come to a boil, I’ll just point this out.

Those who justify FC at every level say that it’s fine, fine, fine, because it’s not blessing a couple as a couple, but the individuals in their journey, and so on. It’s just like the blessing at the end of Mass! Todos!

If it’s just like the blessing at the end of Mass or any gathering, why is it necessary?

The point is also made by defenders and, of course, by the document itself, that this type of blessing doesn’t infer approval of the status quo of the relationship, but could be seen as a prayer for God’s assistance in helping the couple (or…more?) grow in God’s grace towards more conformity with his will. Sick, doctors, etc.

Well, guess what?

You, as a person struggling with any sin or situation, can go to anyone, including a priest, and say, “I’m struggling with this. Can you pray for me? Can we pray together that God might give me strength, courage, and grace and that I might be open to it?”

You can do those things. You can offer that prayer for yourself and for others. But that is different from a blessing, which indeed does infer God’s approval, not just of the people involved and their intrinsic goodness as his beloved children, but of the situation.

More knowledgeable people than I–called theologians, of which I am not one–have parsed this.

In short. If the FC blessing is no different from the ways we’re blessed in general at Mass, no matter who we are, then it wasn’t necessary.

If the purpose of these “blessings” is to specifically help people who are aware of their distance from the mind of Christ find the courage and grace to change and be more open to God’s will, well, that’s not the purpose of a blessing. There are other forms of prayer for that.

No, it’s obvious to anyone that the purpose of FC was to utilize–we might even say weaponize–the Church’s nuanced thinking on the workings of grace in human life and the awareness of God’s presence in every situation to recognize homosexual relationships as a good and establish space for them in the life of the Church.

That’s it. It’s pretty simple, and it is very obvious.

And as I said on X the other day, in regard to the Holy Father’s continual invocation of “unity”:

… before we go much further down this road–of Germans, the SSPX, ecumenism and everything–we need a refresher from Church leadership on what “unity” actually is, what breaks it and why, and one that addresses us as intelligent human beings who not only can process basic logic, but also have pretty good situational awareness of the present moment. That is – we can see and hear just fine.

That is to say, in this context: How about some forthrightness on this matter? For once?

(And yes, FC could be abrogated. If SP can be tossed, so can this.)

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