Taking his cue from Cardinal McElroy—and ignoring the strong cautions from Archbishop Aquila and Archbishop Naumann, among others—Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich has written a column in his archdiocesan newspaper calling for full inclusion of active homosexuals in the life of the Church.
Actually the cardinal does not mention homosexuality in his column. But anyone conversant with current debates within the Church will know what he means when he laments: “There are voices that insist the church must exclude sinners from fuller participation in the life of the church until they have reformed, out of respect for God’s justice.” Cardinal Cupich stops short of saying that active homosexuals should be admitted to Communion, but his argument clearly leads toward that conclusion. And of course the same logic would suggest welcoming to the Eucharist all those Catholics who are divorced and remarried, or who support legal abortion, or who flout Church teachings on other moral issues.
By now, sadly, we are accustomed to hearing from prominent Catholic leaders who question fundamental Church teachings, and refuse to uphold clear-cut moral norms. Still this column by Cardinal Cupich is astonishing because he so blatantly misrepresents the thoughts of those who do support the perennial Catholic tradition—in particular, the late Pope Benedict XVI.
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