Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano - What is the meaning of his excommunication by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican? Friday, July 5th, 2024

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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How do we handle conflicts?

People in authority in the Church and in society are much like you and me.

In the face of a difficult situation, we generally want to give other people the benefit of the doubt.

If it's serious enough or it keeps happening, then, we must take a closer look, and even investigate the situation ourselves or ask someone else to do it. This may or may not lead to clarity and to appropriate action. The more complicated the situation, the more time and effort are needed to clarify it and take steps toward the most desirable resolution. 

When complaints accumulate against a person, or when we ourselves come to a well deliberated conclusion that we must intervene, that's usually when we do it.

Each case is unique and there aren't really any cut and dry policies in our lives, and it's pretty much the same with our Church. At certain times in the past, Church authorities deemed it necessary to make judgments and excommunications more frequently, because there were open attacks on the Church or the truths of the Gospel and the Word of God, or the Church itself as the living organism founded by our Lord Jesus Christ on Peter and the Apostles. 

There have been eras in history when people looked at issues more in a black and white perspective, but with the extremely rapid development this past century in the social sciences, as well as the pure sciences, this has enhanced our understanding of the complexities of human life and behaviour. As a result, the Church now tends to be more circumspect and cautious, rather committed to investing more time and focused attention to details, and even reluctant to be shooting off frequent condemnations. In our lifetime, the shooting off of condemnations hasn't been anything resembling common practice; so, this latest excommunication seems unusual, but it really isn't.

Sooner or later, we must all render accounts, and those who make more noise are likely to attract more attention. There is another dimension to this; the personal dimension. So far, we've really only considered the issues, right and wrong, truth and falsehood.

The difference between the ways of the Lord and those of the enemy of humankind

There is also the difference between the ways of the Lord and the ways of the enemy of humankind, which of these we have been integrating into ourselves, and by which of these we live our lives and relations with others.

The enemy makes everything black and white, cut and dried, with no room for nuance, and quick to assign blame and condemn. It is the way of war and the culture of death.

The ways of the Lord reflect the awesome attributes of the Most Holy Trinity. There is truth, but also goodness and beauty. There is justice, but also mercy. God is never quick to judge, but always slow to condemn and eager to save.

When Church authorities, especially those of the Vatican, approach someone against whom there have been complaints or who stands out in criticizing the Pope or the Church itself - as Archbishop Vigano has consistently done since his retirement - the authorities are interested not only in the issues to be clarified, but equally in the attitude, words, behaviour, and actions of the other person.

Will the other approach peacefully, openly, with a docile spirit and willingness to accept the authority of the Church and manifest eagerness to obey and do the will of God? Such a person manifests a soul that is integrating the ways of the Lord into their own life, a life of holiness; a soul that is living in the Kingdom of God.

On the contrary, a person who is belligerent, condemning others left and right, accusing everyone, giving the impression that only THEY have the truth, and that everyone should be obeying THEM; well, such a soul is manifesting itself as caught up in the ways of the enemy of humankind, and the kingdom of this world, and most likely under the influence of the prince of this world; the same one who tempted Jesus in the desert.

What exactly is an excommunication?

Jesus declared that the only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin against the Holy Spirit, which simply put, is the sin of a soul setting itself up against God, accusing God, closing itself off from God, pushing God aside and trying to take God's place as it were. As long as the gates of the mind, heart, and soul are closed to God, then it stands to reason that his grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love cannot enter into such a soul. It is basically condemning itself.

So, a declaration of excommunication is simply the Church declaring that such a soul has already cut itself off from God and the Church. Therefore, it would be sacrilegious for them in their rebellion to take the sacraments, because they are not in a proper disposition of soul. The excommunication is not a condemnation but an act of justice and mercy that is made in the hope that it will shake the person up and open them up to repentance and conversion.

Secular society, which has adopted the closed perspective of the enemy, sees everything in black and white; therefore, it is almost incapable of understanding the above dynamic and how the Church is ever seeking to help souls open themselves up to the truth, the goodness, the beauty, the justice and mercy of God, and to give God the first place in our lives; rather than setting ourselves up on any kind of personal throne or chair of authority.

Being ordained a deacon, priest, or bishop, or being appointed archbishop or cardinal, is a heavy burden of responsibility which only God's grace can help us carry. It is the same with the daily grace of Marriage. Those who accept daily their grace of vocation are able to carry themselves with humility before God, and are eager to show everyone else kindness and understanding, patience and goodness, mercy, forgiveness, and love, unconditionally; just as God shows each of us all these graces unconditionally and liberally. 

So, you can see from all this, that we are very much in need of having sympathy for one another, of showing kindness and understanding to one another, but also of standing up for the truth, for goodness, for beauty, for justice and mercy. We also need to do this with a calm and peaceful disposition, with only love towards those who disagree with us or cause trouble of any kind. For this we need the grace of God, the power, presence, and action of the Holy Spirit within us, enabling us to stand fast against any and all attacks against God and his purposes in the world and in Creation.

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My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2024 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2024 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Love seeks the truth and truth loves deeply: Jesus and tax collectors

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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As I prepared the homily for today's Sunday worship, a question from the weekly homily service "This Sunday's Scripture" by Twenty-Third Publications really turned me on my head. Considering Matthew's Gospel verse: "Treat him as you would a Gentile or tax collector." the author asked, "How did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors?" Wow. Until now, I had considered this an instruction or advice to reduce one's dealings with that person who refused to admit their wrongdoing, apologize, or change. 

This plucky little question changes everything. It boldly faces eyeball to eyeball the common impression that people who go on and on about love are soft on the truth, and that those who are sticklers about truth and morality have little use for the love discourses. At best, they might concede the need for "tough love", meaning discipline without compromise. They interpret Jesus' treatment of the Scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites as an approach to be applied to the faults of everybody else. 

Jesus' words to these spiritual leaders were hard not because they were sinners. We are all sinners. No, it was because they refused to accept Jesus' invitation to get closer to God, and even worse, hindered those who wanted to respond to Jesus' call. They were abusing their positions of authority. Jesus' approach to sinners was much like that of John the Baptist, who called everyone to wake up and repent, because the time is short. He attended first of all to the lost sheep of Israel, and did not go out of his way to attend to Gentiles or tax collectors. 

However, He was open to them and quick to welcome them at the first sign of faith or repentance. Consider the faith of the Roman centurion whom Jesus warmly receives, and commends for his faith. Jesus engages the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, looking for her faith to refresh Him. He pushes the Syro-Phoenician woman's buttons in order to get her to express her faith and immediately responds to her. He spots Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree and invites Himself to dinner at this tax collector's house, sensing the man is ripe for repentance. 

Jesus gives Levi the nod right there in his tax booth and calls him to join his fledgling band of apostles. Levi unexplainably accepts, and takes the name Matthew. He becomes a new man. In his joy, he invites Jesus to a party at his house in His honor, and Jesus not only comes, but He coolly sits amid other sinners and undesirables, making Himself at home. What would it look like if we were to imitate Jesus in his treatment of those who either don't know or don't care about our beliefs, values, and morals, or of those whose life or career choices put them in opposition to what we hold to be right, good and true? 

We thought that we should oppose such people tooth and nail, take every opportunity to defend what we consider right by condemning those we consider wrong, and certainly avoid their company, doing nothing favorable towards them that might in any way "reward" their evil behavior. Perhaps the ultimate question here is: "Are love and truth compatible? Can they co-exist?" They certainly did in Jesus, who made the bold claim: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me." Jesus taught the truth without compromise, yet received sinners warmly. He loved his disciples; yet He rebuked Peter when the apostle set himself in opposition to the Father's will. 

So it's not a choice of either truth or love, but rather a complementary union of both of them. We are to love God with all we have and are, and love others as we love ourselves; while at the same time clinging to and proclaiming the truth. Jesus made no compromise about the truth when He spoke, preached, and taught; yet He left people free to draw their own conclusions, receive the truth in freedom, and abide by it out of goodness. If we are to follow Him, then we must leave them free as well. It is inevitable that at times it falls to us to try to correct others, but if we do so from this perspective Jesus gives us as an example; then we will go about this fraternal correction in a way that is respectful and kind. We can still love others while we adhere to the truth, goodness, and righteousness. 

Doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong does not hinder us from loving others. On the contrary. At the very least, we can love others apart from their behavior. God raised the bar to the highest possible level by loving us despite our sins. He is Father to us, and the good parent still loves his children, even when they misbehave. He can punish, without interruption in his love. This is the new standard God sent his Son Jesus into the world to reveal. It's not impossible; in fact, we can't become fully human or fully alive without it. How's that for a shocker? God loves us better because He knows we are sinners. The quality of his love is far superior to that of the one who only loves us when we are without sin. The gauntlet is down. 

God expects and invites us to love others in the very same way He loves us. Love and truth are not only compatible, they are joined at the hip. One cannot be fully what it is without the other. As I realized this today and shared the insight with those who had come to worship the Lord, There was a quality of freedom and joy in the air and in our hearts. It is true what Jesus said, "The truth shall set you free." True freedom causes joy to erupt, because we find ourselves in the very air breathed by God, with his very life coursing through us. 

This is exactly the lift we need to embrace the love and truth combo and practice it, extending it to others. We need to resist our miserly human inclination to exchange the gift of love for an equal weight of the coins of truth. This is the bill of goods, the hybrid of belief and attitude that drives much of our human society, business, and culture. It doesn't have to be that way. There's a new paradigm, and its value is incalculable. We cannot buy it, but we can receive if for free if we are willing to give everything we have and our very life itself in order to make room for it. It is simply too big to take in if we try to keep all the old furniture. Which will you prefer?

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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