I have posted this before. The Church acts as an entry way to Divine Mystery, NOT as a black & white place for answers to things that happen in human life. Only divine mandates like the Decalogue, & the Great Commandment of Jesus are absolute. All other teachings are guides to living a good life.
When I was studying to be a spiritual director, I had the delightful opportunity to talk to a religious sister from Italy, who was a member of my class. Her name was Sr. Sophia. She was puzzled at how much importance Americans place on following the letter of the law. As she explained, when driving in Italy, if there is a red light, if no one is coming you run the light. If late at night, there is no one on the road, you do not have to follow the speed limit. She explained that in Italy, the same applied to Church law. It was an important guide to living a good human life, but did not always apply to life in all of its circumstances. Church law was not the end unto itself, as we in America might think. Rather, Church law was there as an aid to the ultimate end of life which is God. If Church law hinders a person’s pathway to God, it must not be followed.
She did not say that Church law was not important. But she said that once must be self-aware of one’s faith and in deep communication with God. If, in that communication, Church law hinders the person’s relationship with God, it must not be applied in that instance.
The world of black and white answers, like Catholic Answers, is for people who lack the ability or are simply too lazy to struggle with the contradictions and challenges that are a part of our life and the lives of those we love. It is the struggle that builds up one’s faith. It is diving into the mystery of these challenges in human life in which one eventually finds the way to God. The law of the Church is a guide to help us understand these challenges for All of life is a Mystery. The law of the Church gives us a framework by which we can meditate and contemplate the mystery of our relationship with God. but NEVER solves that mystery.
I have found personally and in my work with others, that very little in life is absolutely black and white. It is important to have the law of the Church as our guide. It is vitally important, however, to NOT deify the law of the Church. The law of the Church is NOT God, but simply a tool by which we are guided to a deeper relationship with God. Our relationship is WITH God, and NOT with the law of the Church.
So, I get a little frustrated with the black & white world of sites like Catholic Answers. As a very faithful & very Catholic priest once advised me years ago, the Church teaches to the general & not to the particular. There are times when what the Church teaches may be harmful in particular circumstances. This is why the Church holds very high the teaching of the Internal Forum, when the person sorts things out with God. The mark of a faith that is healthy & vibrant is one NOT of blind obedience, but one that questions, ponders, & then owns one faith in the mystery that is God.
