Archbishop Chaput in epic throwdown with Cardinal-designate Farrell

“Red hat? I don’t need no stinking red hat.”
I’m paraphrasing.
Archbishop of Philadelphia and still Not Cardinal Charles Chaput has issued a response to comments from Cardinal-designate Kevin Farrell, former Bishop of Dallas and now the Prefect for Laity, Family and Life. +Farrell, whose central duty in his new role will be the worldwide enforcement implementation of Amoris Laetitia, had already revealed his treacherous intentions in his new role last month:

“I honestly don’t see what and why some bishops seem to think that they have to interpret this document. I believe that the pope has spoken…I think that the document Amoris Laetitia is faithful to the doctrine and to the teaching of the church It is carrying on the doctrine of Familiaris Consortio of John Paul II. I believe that passionately.  Basically this is the Holy Spirit speaking to us.  Do we believe that the Holy Spirit wasn’t there in the first synod? Do we believe he wasn’t in the second synod? Do we believe that he didn’t inspire our Holy Father Pope Francis in writing this document?…I firmly believe this is the teaching of the church. This is a pastoral document telling us how we should proceed. I believe we should take it as it is.”

Here is what he had to say earlier this week regarding +Chaput’s diocesan guidelines on AL, which upheld traditional Catholic teaching:

“I think that it would have been wiser to wait for the gathering of the conference of bishops…I don’t share the view of what Archbishop Chaput did, no. I think there are all kinds of different circumstances and situations that we have to look at – each case as it is presented to us.  I think that is what our Holy Father is speaking about, is when we talk about accompanying, it is not a decision that is made irrespective of the couple. Obviously, there is an objective moral law, but you will never find two couples who have the same reason for being divorced and remarried.” HERE

+Farrell in his own words exposes why he and AL are such frauds. It is simply not possible for a thing to be both true and untrue at the same time. If the “objective moral law” really exists, as +Farrell claims here and the Catholic faith teaches, then the subjective realities of any individual situation have zero impact on the objective moral law, because… YOU CAN’T CHANGE OBJECTIVE REALITY. Reality – it’s really real. Like the physical universe.  Actually, the objective moral law is even MORE real than the physical universe. It predates the physical universe. Honestly, how hard is this? I have an undergraduate degree in Food Marketing, for crying out loud.
Look, I am critical of +Chaput and every other prelate, individually and collectively, for failing to speak more forcefully against Amoris Laetitia. But that doesn’t mean we can’t recognize incremental progress, and this is pretty good stuff. Here is his response to +Farrell (emphasis mine):

“Why would a bishop delay interpreting and applying Amoris Laetitia for the benefit of his people? On a matter as vital as sacramental marriage, hesitation and ambiguity are neither wise nor charitable…I was a delegate to the 2015 synod and then elected and appointed to the synod’s permanent council. So I’m familiar with the material and its context in a way that Cardinal-designate Farrell may not be… I wonder if Cardinal-designate Farrell actually read and understood the Philadelphia guidelines he seems to be questioning. The guidelines have a clear emphasis on mercy and compassion…But mercy and compassion cannot be separated from truth and remain legitimate virtues. The Church cannot contradict or circumvent Scripture and her own magisterium without invalidating her mission. This should be obvious. The words of Jesus himself are very direct and radical on the matter of divorce…Under canon law – not to mention common sense – governance of a diocese belongs to the local bishop as a successor of the apostles, not to a conference…As a former resident bishop, the cardinal-designate surely knows this, which makes his comments all the more puzzling in the light of our commitment to fraternal collegiality.” HERE

I wonder if this response would have been so forceful had +Burke’s interview with Edward Pentin not been released the other day. Maybe the sides will start to finally line up and show themselves? You know, “open warfare”?
Maybe. If you read the whole thing from +Chaput, there are still plenty of tender caresses for Francis, which seems kind of pointless when you’ve just outed yourself to be on the side of Truth.
In honor of the archbishop, I give you the Blunt Force Trauma speech, followed by some Philadelphia fight music:

8 thoughts on “Archbishop Chaput in epic throwdown with Cardinal-designate Farrell”

  1. Kudos to Abp. Chaput for standing his ground. Despite not having actually received his red hat, Bishop Farrell has already decided to start throwing his weight around. Hopefully when we get a good pope he will declare such appointments as null & void & give these positions to those who truly deserve them for their loyalty to God & the First Apostles.

  2. Interestingly, we are well beyond the narrative that has pitted Cardinal Burke (and the Cardinals associated with the dubia) against His Holiness Pope Francis. Actually, we have reached the point where it could be argued that the situation is one of Cardinal Burke versus one Cardinal and bishop after another.
    That is, one Cardinal and bishop after another, including Archbishop Chaput, has declared that Amoris Laetitia is 100 percent orthodox. They have declared that Amoris Laetitia does not change Church teaching. (In fact, Cardinal Burke this past April insisted upon that.)
    Therefore, Cardinal Burke is at odds with the overwhelming amount of Cardinals and bishops who have insisted that Amoris Laetitia is orthodox.
    For example, Archbishop Chaput’s guidelines in the implementation of Amoris Laetitia declared that the Exhortation is orthodox, beautiful, very useful, and does not change Church teaching. In fact, Archbishop Chaput noted that Amoris Laetitia declared that the Exhortation did not change Church teaching.
    Archbishop Chaput’s guidelines declared the following:
    “In fact, the Holy Father himself states clearly that neither Church teaching nor the canonical discipline concerning marriage has changed: “it is understandable that neither the Synod nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases” [Amoris Laetitia 300] – a point reiterated by Cardinal Schönborn at the Vatican’s presentation of the document.
    “The Holy Father’s Exhortation should therefore be read in continuity with the great treasury of wisdom
    handed on by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the witness of the lives of the Saints, the
    teachings of Church Councils, and previous magisterial documents.
    “Amoris Laetitia has sections of exceptional beauty and usefulness on the nature of family life and marital
    love.
    “The Holy Father’s statements build on the classic Catholic understanding, key to moral theology,
    of the relationship between objective truth about right and wrong – for example, the truth about
    marriage revealed by Jesus himself – and how the individual person grasps and applies that truth
    to particular situations in his or her judgment of conscience.”
    Therefore, Cardinal Burke, as well as the Cardinals associated with the dubia, are at odds with Archbishop Chaput and the vast amount of Cardinals and bishops who have declared that Amoris Laetitia is orthodox,
    Pax.
    Mark Thomas

    1. “Therefore, Cardinal Burke, as well as the Cardinals associated with the dubia, are at odds with Archbishop Chaput and the vast amount of Cardinals and bishops who have declared that Amoris Laetitia is orthodox.”
      That proves nothing. St. Athanasius was at odds with the vast number of bishops who professed Arianism.

      1. To cyrillist:
        Was Saint Athanasius at odds with Church teaching? Was he at odds with a Pope who promulgated Church teaching? His Holiness Pope Francis promulgated Amoris Laetitia. The Exhortation is Church teaching.
        The Exhortation has been embraced publicly as orthodox by one Cardinal and bishop after another…Cardinal Sarah, Cardinal Muller, the bishops of Poland, Costa Rica, Alberta…Archbishop Chaput, Cardinal DiNardo…on and on.
        Amoris Laetitia has been implemented as official Church teaching in one diocese after another by orthodox Cardinals and bishops.
        I would say that all of the above proves a lot.
        Pax.
        Mark Thomas

  3. I believe Chaput et al are saying that AL must be interpreted and implemented in accord with traditional Church teaching, because it cannot be otherwise. That’s not the same same as saying AL is orthodox. Burke and the other three are now saying, there are a few areas of AL which are very difficult to square with orthodoxy, so Francis please clarify. Burke and Chaput are not at odds, they are merely employing different tactics. Both have the goal of avoiding sacrilege.

  4. Cardinal Burke, for example, made it quite clear that AL was orthodox. He even denounced people who claimed that AL had departed from Church teaching.
    Cardinal Burke said:
    “The secular media and even some Catholic media are describing the recently issued post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, “Love in the Family,” as a revolution in the Church, as a radical departure from the teaching and practice of the Church, up to now, regarding marriage and the family.
    “Such a view of the document is both a source of wonder and confusion to the faithful and potentially a source of scandal, not only for the faithful but for others of goodwill who look to Christ and his Church to teach and reflect in practice the truth regarding marriage and its fruit, family life, the first cell of the life of the Church and of every society.”
    “It is also a disservice to the nature of the document as the fruit of the Synod of Bishops, a meeting of bishops representing the universal Church “to assist the Roman pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world” (Canon 342). In other words, it would be a contradiction of the work of the Synod of Bishops to set in motion confusion regarding what the Church teaches, safeguards and fosters by her discipline.”
    ==========================================
    Cardinal Burke made it clear that the Synod of Bishops on the Family had preserved “faith and morals” and assisted Pope Francis in that regard. In turn, according to Cardinal Burke, AL was orthodox and people who claimed that AL departed from Church teaching were guilty of having spread “confusion” and “scandal” among Catholics and non-Catholics.
    Cardinal Burke’s very words make it clear that AL does not depart from Church teaching. That is what he said.
    Pax.
    Mark Thomas

  5. Cardinal Burke and Archbishop Chaput are most certainly at odds in regard to AL. Cardinal Burke claimed originally that AL was orthodox. Now, he says that AL leads Catholics into grave errors.
    Conversely, Archbishop Chaput declared that AL is orthodox and does not allow for divorced and “remarried” Catholics to receive Holy Communion.
    Cardinal Burke believes that AL is a danger to the Faith. Archbishop Chaput has implemented AL is the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
    Those are two different positions on AL that differ radically from each other.
    Pax.
    Mark Thomas

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