December 22, 2023

The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (USA) wishes to address the recent turmoil over the proper interpretation and application of Fiducia Supplicans from the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith. We unite our concerns with those of our brethren in the British Confraternity of Catholic Clergy as stated in their public announcement. Sinful behavior and disordered inclinations can never be blessed or condoned. Even the appearance of endorsement of any moral evil must be avoided at all cost lest one infer that the one giving the ‘blessing’ is also a formal cooperator in evil, which is always forbidden.

The distinction that individuals can be blessed without approving their lifestyle and moral activity is certainly valid. Inmates in prison are frequently ‘blessed’ but always in the context that Divine assistance is being invoked on the persons themselves, not on their criminal behavior. At the same time, however, great care is warranted lest the façade be made that not only the person but also their actions and beliefs are also receiving an ‘imprimatur’ of sorts. Cohabitating couples (heterosexual or homosexual) if blessed together give the impression that their relationship is acceptable in the eyes of the Church, which it is not. While a cleric can ‘bless’ any human person, he cannot bless immoral or disordered behavior. Loving the sinner does not mean loving the sin. Jesus commanded the woman caught in adultery to “sin no more.”  He did not ‘bless’ her lifestyle but He forgave her sins.

Likewise, as we cannot bless abortions, pornography, marital infidelity, child abuse, terrorism, and all grave evils (like fornication and adultery), we must also avoid conflating immoral things with those who commit them. Prudence requires us to avoid sending the wrong message and. Moral truth is as precious as dogmatic truth. Yes, the Church has not changed her perennial teaching on human sexuality and the sanctity of marriage, but we should not muddy the waters, either. Admonishing sinners is still a work of mercy and obscuring their moral vision is not; even if it is called a ‘blessing.’