Bispesynoden om ekteskapet

Katolsk, Teologi /

Bispesynoden i Vatikanet i høst skal ta opp flere aspekter ved ekteskapet, men fokuset har vært neste bare på om gjengifte (utenfor Kirken) skal få lov til å motta kommunion (noe de ikke har lov til i dag). Sandro Magister skriver om dette:

Pope Francis doesn’t like the discussion in view of the upcoming synod being focused only on communion for the divorced and remarried. He said so to journalists during the flight back to Rome from the Holy Land. His preference is decidedly for a «holistic,» global reflection on the family.

But what focused everyone’s attention on that controversial point was precisely the presentation with which Cardinal Walter Kasper introduced the consistory last February. A presentation that Francis immediately passed with flying colors, telling the cardinals he had found it theologically «profound,» «serene,» thought out «on [his] knees,» and that the Argentine Jesuit Juan Carlos Scannone, the theology professor of the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio, has praised even more highly in the latest issue of «La Civiltà Cattolica.»

The fact is that since that consistory the controversy over communion for the remarried has rocked the Church even at the highest levels. …

I denne artikkelen presnterer Magister noe kardinal Brandmüller har sagt i denne diskusjonen:

As the Church historian that he is – and as president for more than twenty years of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences – Brandmüller has presented in this essay the clash between Pope Nicholas I and Lothair II, king of Lotharingia, in the ninth century.

Lothair first had a mistress named Waldrada, then married the noble Teutberga for the sake of political interests, and later separated from her and married his previous companion, wanting at all costs that the pope should recognize the validity of his second marriage.

But in spite of the fact that Lothair enjoyed the backing of the bishops of his region and the support of Emperor Louis II, who even invaded Rome with his army at one point, Pope Nicholas I – now venerated as a saint – did not give in to his claims and never recognized his second marriage as legitimate. …

I denne artikkelen siterer Magister også noe (nyttig og interessant) som Martin Grichting sier om holdningen til kommunion mer generelt:

The upcoming synod, and in particular the question of the divorced who have «remarried» in a civil ceremony, could be an opportunity for new reflection on the conditions that make sacramental communion fruitful and on the frequency of receiving this sacrament.

The Council of Trent did not prescribe any particular frequency. Then the precept of receiving communion at least once a year was established. [. . .] Although afterward many spiritual authors recommended frequent communion, it was only with the decree «Sacra Tridentina Synodus,» issued by the sacred congregation of the council on December 20, 1905, that the turning point came.

This document, promulgated at the initiative of Pope Pius X, stated that frequent and even daily communion was highly commendable, and invited the faithful to receive it often.

Pius X, however, laid down a few conditions for frequent communion. The faithful must not receive it out of habit, for the sake of vanity or human respect. Above all they must be free from grave sin and have the intention of sinning no more, according to the word of Saint Paul: Let each one recognize the body of the Lord and not eat and drink his condemnation by receiving it unworthily (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:27-29).

Even back then, therefore, one could not think of a general and unrestricted invitation to receive sacramental communion, especially since the rules for Eucharistic fasting were much more restrictive than they are today. In many cases, in fact, communion was distributed only during the first Sunday morning Mass.

But unfortunately the conditions for receiving sacramental communion, which at the time of Pius X were still considered obvious, have practically been ignored by the Church in recent decades. In practice, what remains of the guidelines of Pius X today is only the invitation to frequent communion, which is even interpreted as an invitation extended to all present at the celebration. Today sacramental communion is seen as an obligatory part of the rite of the Mass, like making the sign of the cross with holy water or the exchange of the sign of peace.

So what is needed for those «remarried» in a civil ceremony – but not only them – is a change of mentality. If the conditions mentioned by Pope Pius X for approaching sacramental communion were still applied in pastoral practice, the question concerning sacramental communion for those «remarried» in a civil ceremony would be situated in a broader context more favorable to them. These faithful would no longer be the only black sheep discriminated against, since of course there is not only the sixth commandment but also the rest of the ten.

Moreover, the problem concerning sacramental communion for those «remarried» in a civil ceremony has been getting more serious in recent decades because of the liturgical impoverishment of ecclesial life. In some parishes the liturgy is reduced solely to the Eucharistic celebration. The various forms of popular piety, the different religious functions, Eucharistic adoration, the common recitation of the rosary or the breviary have been ever more marginalized.

Without a doubt, the Eucharist is «the fount and apex of the whole Christian life» (Lumen Gentium, 11). But the thinning out of the forms that prepare for and lead to this apex accentuates the difficult situation of those who, for whatever reason, are unable to approach this fount of Christian life because the personal conditions of their lives do not permit them to do so. …

Fint vær i Oslo

Generelt /

Det har vært så fint vær i slutten av mai og starten av juni, at det nesten har vært vanskelig å arbeide. Første bilde viser sola (fra vår terrasse) ca kl 19 – den går ned kl 22 ved blokka på Enerhaugen. De to neste bildene viser blomster på år terrasse.

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Mer om Ekmans opptagelse i Kirken

Katolsk, Økumenikk /

Det var det katolske tidsskriftet Signum som først kom med nyheten om opptagelsen som skjedde onsdag 21. mai. De skriver:

Ulf Ekman, tidigare pastor för Livets Ord, och hans fru Birgitta är nu katoliker. Deras upptagning i den katolska kyrkans fulla gemenskap skedde i dag, onsdagen den 21 maj, inom ramen för en kvällsmässa i kapellet i Birgittasystrarnas kloster i Djursholm strax norr om Stockholm. Officiant var Anders Arborelius, biskop i Stockholms katolska stift. I omedelbar anslutning till själva konversionen mottog Ulf och Birgitta Ekman också konfirmationens sakrament av biskop Arborelius.

Förutom Birgittasystrar deltog ett 40-tal släktingar och vänner från när och fjärran i gudstjänsten. Efter mässan blev det mottagning med gemensam middag i Birgittasystrarnas gästhem.

birgittasystrarna_djursholm

I Livets Ords tidsskrift (Världen i dag) kan vi også lese følgende om dette:

Ulf och Birgitta Ekman berättar för Världen idag att de valt kapellet i Djursholm.

«Det blev en underbar högtid för oss. Vi är framme och vi är mycket glada och tacksamma till Herren,» säger de.

Resan framåt gör de alltså nu som katoliker.

«Vi tror på fortsatt gemenskap och kärlek mellan oss kristna i Sverige. Det är vår stora förhoppning att endräkten ska växa när vi alla riktar in oss på Jesus och drar oss närmare honom.»

Les hva Ulf Ekman sier til svenske Dagen dagen etter opptagelsen: «Det här är inget brännande av broar, jag kommer att bygga broar».

Ulf og Birgitta Ekman er nå blitt katolikker

Katolsk, Økumenikk /

Jeg leser i dag i avisa Dagen. Slik står det:

Så er vi da katolikker, skriver Birgitta Ekman på sin Instagram-konto torsdag 22. mai. Hun skriver videre:

Etter en fin høytid i Birgittasystrarnas kapell i Djursholm står vi ved biskop Anders Arborelius mellom oss.

Kapellet ligger noen mil nord for Stockholm i retning Uppsala hvor Ulf og Birgitta Ekman bor. Birgittasystrernas kloster i Djursholm tilhører Birgittinorden, etablert av hellige Birgitta i 1370.

Prestene på bildet er fra venstre: p. Fredrik Emanuelsson (biskopens vikar for evangelisering), p. Ulf Johnson, biskop Anders Arborelius, p. Pascal René Lung (generalvikar).

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Leder av Wir sind Kirche i Østerrike ekskommunisert

Katolsk /

Fredag kveld leste flere katolikker verden rundt om et katolsk ektepar i Østerrike som fikk opplest en ekskommunikasjon fra Vatikanet – av sin lokale biskop. The Tablet skriver slik om dette:

The head of pro-reform movement We Are Church in Austria has been excommunicated by Pope Francis for «celebrating» Mass, the Austrian press has reported.

According to the Austrian daily Tiroler Tageszeitung Martha Heizer and her husband Gert were excommunicated for regularly “simulating the Mass”, which the Church considers a delictum gravius, or “grave delict”. The couple are now barred from the sacraments.

The couple has reportedly been celebrating Mass privately at their house together with a small group of friends for several years in what they term “celebrations of the Eucharist without a priest”.

Bishop Manfred Scheuer of Innsbruck received the decree of excommunication last night. He took the excommunication decree to their house last night and read it out to them but they refused to accept it. ….

Vatican Insider skriver også om dette.

Er det tortur å nekte mennesker å ta abort?

Generelt, Katolsk /

Det er First Things som skriver slik om uttalelser til FN-eksperter i Geneve:

U.N. experts in Geneva were at it again last week telling the Holy See that Catholic teaching on abortion is a human rights abuse, revealing a chasm between the Church’s understanding of its mission and how U.N. officials perceive it. …

The American on the U.N. Committee Against Torture, Felice Gaer, told the Holy See that the Church’s position on abortion was a “concern” and that “women should have a right to choose.” Prohibitions on abortion are a form of torture according to Gaer—who ironically spent a decade on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

An expert from the country of Georgia tried to be nuanced, and accused the Catholic Church of having “publically shamed” women and doctors who commit abortions through excommunication, thereby torturing them.

This unholy reverse inquisition found its match in Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Apostolic Nuncio in Geneva, who responded calmly to his questioners. The experts ended up getting a crash course on the separation of Church and State.

“Abortion is a form of torture,” he said, capitalizing on the silence of the committee on late-term abortions in particular. His tone was abrasive—the only time during his grueling six-hour interrogation. He showed no intention of apologizing for the Church’s solicitude for unborn children, telling the committee that this line of questioning was a “direct violation” of religious freedom.

Unfortunately, the Archbishop’s enlightening interpretation of the U.N. convention against torture has almost certainly fallen on deaf ears. …..

Hvordan utfordrer Ulf Ekmans konvertering?

Katolsk, Økumenikk /

Lederartikkelen i Svensk Pastoral-tidskrift (som jeg nevnte her) skriver også en del del om at Ulf Ekmans konvertering viser at det er behovet for autoritet og kontinuitet som bør utfordre protestanter aller mest. Verken Bibelen alene eller sterke menighetsledere vil fungere i det lange løp, skriver dette lutherske tidsskriftet – selv om de presiserer at de ikke (fullt ut) deler Ekmans konklusjon:

…. Hela protestantismens systemfel är just frånvaron av en fungerande auktoritet. Detta har bland annat lett till en kyrkosplittring av enorma proportioner där nya samfund ideligen bildats, en process som Ekman själv har varit en del av. Mot kyrkans under 1500-talet mer eller mindre korrumperade läroämbete ställde reformatorerna Skriften; där fanns klar och tydlig auktoritet och vägledning, menade man. Men omedelbart började sönderfallet i fraktioner och oliklärande kyrkor, och den nödvändiga auktoriteten fick istället komma utifrån, genom bindande bekännelsedokument och/eller via den lokala furstemakten. Att Skriften var allena och att den skulle kunna utgöra kyrkans auktoritet, det blev en trossats som ideligen visade sig komma på skam. Inget har förändrats på den punkten.

Eftersom Skriften inte fungerar som auktoritet, bjuder »protestantismen» på olika former av substitut för en förlorad sådan. I vissa sammanhang utövas olika former av karismatiskt ledarskap där auktoriteten knyts till en persons förmåga. Så har det påtagligt varit i Livets ord, men Ekmans konversion visar att också denna auktoritet är sårbar. När kungamakten upphörde att utgöra den direkta auktoriteten i Svenska kyrkan, har istället den demokratiska processen, utövad i en politisk kongress som kallas »kyrkomöte», getts funktionen av läroämbete med dithörande auktoritet. Också detta är uppenbart ett substitut – och ett klart otillräckligt sådant.

Frånvaron av fungerande auktoritet riskerar påtagligt att leda till brott med kontinuiteten. Utifrån Skriften allena tror sig somliga kunna konstruera kontinuitet genom att återskapa ett urkyrkligt ideal, som man tror sig finna direkt i Nya testamentets skrifter. Andra hävdar att demokratin utgör en successiv uppenbarelse, och ser inga problem med att den demokratiska processens resultat i centrala frågor motsäger en flertusenårig lärotradition. Utan fungerande läroämbete är kontinuiteten hotad.

Ekmans efterlysning av kontinuitet och auktoritet utmanar Sveriges reformatoriska kyrkor och samfund i grunden. Det måste finnas ett mellanting mellan ytterligheterna i dagens »protestantism». Läroämbetet behövs för att värna bekännelsen, den som skrifterna vittnar om. Utan läroämbete kan bekännelsen förvandlas till vad som helst, och det är precis detta vi idag bevittnar i Svenska kyrkan. …

Er halvparten av alle ekteskap ugyldige?

Generelt, Katolsk /

Kirkerettseksperten Edward Peters er ganske så kritisk til kardinal Kaspers påstand om at halvparten av ale ekteskap er ugyldige (jeg skrev om det her). En slik påstand er ikke dokumentert, skriver han, og påstanden skader som er gift og forsøker å få ekteskapet til å fungere så godt som mulig. Han skriver bl.a.:

….. I worked in tribunals for ten years. I saw hundreds of null marriages—not all of them Catholic, many not even Christian, but hundreds nevertheless. I need no more proof that there are far too many null marriages (including many between Catholics who married in Catholic rites) to let us ignore the great crisis in marriage today. But to parlay “there are too many null marriages” into “half of all marriages are null” seems like hysteria to me.

But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Kasper (and the pope?) are right, maybe half of all marriages (or at least half of whatever kind of marriages the prelate has in mind) are null. What then?

Well, the first step (or the second, depending on whether one wishes first to know whether this dark view of marriage really is the pope’s) would be, I think, to ask for some evidence in support of such an astounding assertion. Is there a better time than now to present such evidence, if it exists? Surely those preparing for upcoming Synod on Marriage need to know whether the sacrament they are examining is being conferred invalidly as often as it is validly. But, if it turns out that there is no evidence for the claim that marriage is as often chimeric as it is real, then the immediate project shifts to one of repairing the damage done to the psyches of all those preparing for, or struggling in, marriage, damage done by telling such folks that their chances for nothing were as great as their chances for something.

Then, I trust, we can refocus on the real problems in marriage today and marriage law. Of which there are plenty.

Ulf Ekmans konvertering – kommentert av Svenska Kyrkan

Katolsk, Økumenikk /

En venn tipset meg om en lederartikkel i Svensk Pastoral-tidskrift der de skriver om hva som virker nytt ved denne konverteringen og hvordan den utfordrer oss. (Jeg skriver også snart mer om behovet for autoritet og kontinuitet – som bør utfordre protestanter aller mest.)

… Ekman har varit en av representanterna för ett nytt slags ekumenik, samfundsövergripande till sin karaktär, där inte minst representanter för karismatiska samfund och romerska katoliker samlats till försvar av traditionella kristna trossatser och moraluppfattning, ofta i polemik och avståndstagande bland annat mot episkopala företrädare för Svenska kyrkan.

Ekmans konversion har emellertid släppt fram en hel del antikatolska strömmar inom den traditionella frikyrkligheten, där gamla missuppfattningar och fördomar går igen. Kanske visar detta, att den nya ekumeniken nog i huvudsak har utövats av enskilda personer och ledare, snarare än den varit förankrad på djupet inom respektive samfund. Den frikyrkliga utgångspunkten, präglad av en minst sagt förenklad biblicism, låter sig inte alldeles lätt inordnas i en allmänkyrklig, mer mångfacetterad teologi. Mycket talar för att det är detta som Ekman har kommit att inse.

Många bedömare har valt att kommentera Ekmans konversion utifrån frågan om han gör rätt eller fel, och en del kommentarer bär också tydliga spår av moraliserande. Det är en vansklig ingång. Ingen kan veta vad som rör sig i djupet hos den människa som tar ett så radikalt steg som det är att konvertera, än mindre när det innebär att för andra gången byta samfund, att nu lämna det samfund man själv startat och byggt upp, och att gå från att vara pastor och förkunnare till att av det nya samfundet betraktas som lekman. Man bör alltså vara försiktig med att fälla domar. …

(Hele artikkelen kan nå leses HER som siste lederartikkel, flyttes ett hvert over HIT.)

Pave Paul VI skal saligkåres 19. oktober i år

Katolsk, Paven /

I dag kl 11.20 ble følgende melding lagt ut på Vatikanradioens nettsider:

Pope Francis has approved the promulgation of the decree for the cause of beatification of his predecessor Pope Paul VI. The approval was announced Saturday.

The beatification ceremony is scheduled to take place October 19, 2014, at the conclusion of the III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family. ….

Kardinal Kasper er blitt intervjuet om ekteskapet

Katolsk, Paven, Teologi /

Et intervju med (pensjonerte) kardinal Kasper i Commonweal har fått mye oppmerksomhet de siste par dagene. Her sier han mye interessant om utfordringer Kirken har rundt ekteskapet (bl.a. om hvorfor en grundig forberedelse/katekese er nødvendig før man gifter seg katolsk). Her er et lite utdrag:

That’s a real problem. I’ve spoken to the pope himself about this, and he said he believes that 50 percent of marriages are not valid. Marriage is a sacrament. A sacrament presupposes faith. And if the couple only want a bourgeois ceremony in a church because it’s more beautiful, more romantic, than a civil ceremony, you have to ask whether there was faith, and whether they really accepted all the conditions of a valid sacramental marriage—that is, unity, exclusivity, and also indissolubility. The couples, when they get married, they want it because it’s stable. But many think, “Well, if we fail, we have the right.” And then already the principle is denied. Many canon lawyers tell me that today in our pluralistic situation we cannot presuppose that couples really assent to what the church requires. Often it is also ignorance. Therefore you have to emphasize and to strengthen prematrimonial catechesis. It’s often done in a very bureaucratic way. No, we have to provide catechesis. I know some parishes in Rome where couples have to attend catechesis, and the pastor himself does it. We must do much more in prematrimonial catechesis and use pastoral work and so on because we cannot presuppose that everybody who is a formal Christian also has the faith. It wouldn’t be realistic.

Men når han her sier at pave Frans selv mener at halvparten av alle ekteskap er ugyldige, har mange reagert ganske kraftig – men Vatikanet her selv ikke kommentert dette så langt. Kirkerettseksperten Peters har kommentert dette slik (les gjerne videre selv):

Cdl. Kasper’s claim cannot be ignored

I understand Fr. Lombardi’s unwillingness to comment on statements allegedly made by the pope to private persons. I’m not sure his ‘No Comment’ policy can be observed in the long run, but I understand why he wants to avoid questions about private papal conversations. But Cdl. Kasper’s shocking claim that the pope believes half of all marriages to be invalid, is different. Very, very different.

Debatt om protestantiske kirkesamfunn

Katolsk, Økumenikk /

Tre protestantiske kirkeledere i USA har nylig hatt en lang, saklig og grundig samtale om protestantismen og dens framtid. First Things skriver om dette i en artikkel kalt «THE UNCERTAIN FUTURE OF PROTESTANTISM» og har også en lenke til et lydopptak av hele samtalen. Slik beskriver de debatten:

Most promising for such future conversation was the extent of common ground uncovered. All three interlocutors were willing to grant that the Church of Rome is a part of the body of Christ, a diseased part, perhaps, but still a part of us whose sufferings and triumphs we can share in, and whose healing we desire, not some alien entity to be scorned or ignored.

All three speakers granted that some kind of reunion with Rome (and with Orthodoxy) must be eventual goals for Protestantism, which could not think of itself as the sole bearer of the church’s future. All three insisted therefore that Protestantism should be characterized more by its positive witness than by a negative self-definition over against its enemies. All three also managed to agree that the content of this witness was largely set by the terms of the early Protestant confessions, that the solas of the Reformation constituted fundamental truths that must remain the ground of future Protestant ecumenical engagement. Finally, all agreed that the best forms of ecumenism, for the foreseeable future at least, should be local and ad hoc, involving such small but powerful gestures as learning to pray with and for local Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Before moving on to the inevitable frustrated question, “Well where do they disagree then?” we ought first to marvel at, and take encouragement from, this substantial common ground. After all, this isn’t the Protestantism that many of us grew up in, a Protestantism which answered to many of the harsh criticisms contained in Leithart’s essay last fall, “The End of Protestantism”: either militantly convinced that Rome is nothing but a synagogue of Satan, or complacently ignoring her very existence, and also ignoring much of the robust theology of classical Protestantism. …

Fjorårets innlegg “The End of Protestantism” kan leses her.

Innvandring i Norge fra 2004 til 2014

Generelt /

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På OSLOBYs nettsider kan vi lese om utviklingen av flere innvandrergrupper i Norge (inklusive deres barn født i Norge). Artikkelen legger mest vekt på somalierne, men jeg syns antallet litauere er mest overraskende (de polske vet vi allerede om). Av land der mange katolikker kommer fra, legger jeg også merke til sterkt økning fra Filippinene og Eritrea.

Statistisk sentralbyrå har mer informasjon HER og HER.

Programmet for helligkåringsmessen er klart

Katolsk, Liturgi, Paven /

Vatikanet har nå offentliggjort programmet (en bok på 140 sider) som skal brukes under helligkåringsmessen for pave Johannes XXIII og pave Johannes Paul II kommende søndag. Last det ned her.

Vi legger merke til at hele messen er på latin, også erklæringen om at disse to pavene erklæres som hellige:

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PrayTell-bloggen skriver om dette, og nevner bl.a.:

Francis will co-celebrate this Sunday’s Mass for the canonizations of John XXIII and John Paul II, with about 150 cardinals, a thousand bishops and six thousand priests, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi said at a press conference.

Cardinals and bishops will be standing on the left hand side of the courtyard in front of the Basilica and so will the six thousand priests who will be attending, except they will be standing lower down. Meanwhile, official delegations will stand to the right of the courtyard.

Six hundred priests and two hundred deacons who will be leaving from the church of Santa Maria in Traspontina on Via della Conciliazione will be administering communion in St. Peter’s Square.

De skriver også at mange startsledere o.a. kommer til å delta, selv om ingen offisiell invitasjon ble sendt ut. Pave Benedikt kommer kanskje også til å delta, om han kjnner seg sterk nok.

Grundig intervju med Ulf Ekman i Catholic Herald

Katolsk, Økumenikk /

Luke Coppen i Catholic Herald publiserte i går et grundig intervju med Ulf Ekman om hans opptagelse i Den katolske Kirke. Der står det bl.a.:

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… … What happened, as I said, around 1998 was really a quest for what the Church really is. For me it was an existential and an ecclesiological question: what are we really doing? What are we really part of? And where does this lead us? What will happen to the free church movement 100 or a 150 years from now? How come that the historic churches, especially the Catholic Church, seemed to keep on going? It was an understanding of the stability and historicity of the Church that intrigued me. As I started to study this, especially ecclesiology, there’s no way you can study that without coming into contact with the Catholic Church. So I discovered one thing after another. …

… When I started to question the essence of the Church, it was authority, the sacraments and unity. Those are the three things that draw us to the Church. I’ve always had a strong sentiment for the sacraments, but when I started to discover what they really are and how they work I felt really on the outside looking in. I had a longing to participate in and to draw life from the sacraments in a way that I’ve not been able to do. Seeing that, I also saw what was lacking in our way of doing Communion. So I would say that the fullness that the Lord has put in the Catholic Church – that is what I discovered and long for. …

What role would you hope to have within the Catholic Church?

I don’t hope for any role. I’m just very content to become a Catholic. We’ve had for the last year a very strong yearning and we feel very privileged. We feel this is a grace from the Lord, to be received into the Catholic Church. I have, of course, 30 years of background, and that could be of use. But I feel very content just to try to be a good Catholic. …

Ekman mener helt sikkert også det siste han her sier, men om en stund vil det være rimelig å tro at han også ønsker å gjøre/ utrette noe innenfor Kirken. Det blir interessant å se hva det kan bli.

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