LUMEN GENTIUM 25 says we must assent to the Magisterium of the Church, even when the pope does not speak Ex Cathedra, simply, dissent from the Magisterium is not an option.
Cardinal Bernadine said in his Common Grounds speech that we "could" dissent from the Magisterium in a limited way…..
When our Holy Father Pope John Paul II went to the Los Angelus miner seminary "Our Lady of the Angels" in LA on September 16, 1987 in response to Arch-Bishop Quinn’s following question said….
Arch-Bishop Quinn ask, "Holy Father, we have a difficulty today, some very good Catholics do not accept the Church’s teaching in regards to marital morality…"
Here is a quote of the Holy Father’s response at the above named seminary on 16 Sept. 1987.
Found in the book "Unity in the Work of Service" published in 1987 by the US Catholic Conference on page 144.
"It is sometimes reported that a large number of Catholics today, do not adhere to the teaching of the Church on a number of questions; notably, sexual and conjugal morality, divorce and remarriage, some are reported as not accepting the Church’s clear position on abortion. It has also been noted that there is a tendency on the part of some Catholics to be selective to their adherence to the Church’s moral teaching. It is sometimes claimed that dissent from the Magisterium is totally compatible with being a "good Catholic" and poses no obstacle to the reception of the sacraments. This is a grave error that challenges the teaching office of the Bishops of the United States and elsewhere." Pope John Paul II 16 September 1987 Reference Vatican II Lumen Gentium 25
What this says is that if a person dissents from Church’s teachings dealing with faith or morals that such dissent is, in virtue of itself, an obstacle to the reception of the sacraments. This is a grave error, i.e. a mortal sin that separates them for the salvation graces of Jesus Christ.
What Francis de Sales says about "Grave Error": It is only mortal sin that is incompatible in the devout life. Mortal sin separates in us the grace of God. For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must "together" be met… 1) the object is grave matter, 2) committed in full knowledge and 3) deliberate consent. Mortal Sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying Grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness it causes the exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell. For our freedom has the power to make choices forever with no turning back.
I submit the following as a corollary to the above:
Cardinal Bernadine said in his Common Grounds document that limited descent is possible. This is in direct variance to the above quote of our Holy Father and in equal variance to paragraph 25 of LUMEN GENTIUM,….(The Dogmatic Constitution of the Catholic Church in the Modern World of Vatican II).
Okay, lets approach this from another direction. If Cardinal Bernadine was to advise a priest under his authority that he had a new assignment for this priest, I wonder what the Cardinal’s reaction would be if the priest said something like, "No Cardinal, not this time… you see I chose to dissent from your order this time, it’s limited, after all, I obey you most times." How would he respond? If it is possible and allowable to dissent from the Bishop of Rome whom the Holy Spirit placed over us, how much more acceptable must it be to dissent from some local ordinary? Shakespeare might say that obedience should be made of sterner stuff.
As to Common Ground: We can NOT dialog with descent, dissent from the established and defined Magisterium of Mother Church. One can not hold dialog with error. One can dialog until they are blue in the face and all the dialog in the world will not make truth, not truth. All the dialog in the world will NOT change the fact that 2+2=4…. (period). There, in fact, is NO common ground between Truth and Error, yes and no, love and hate, obedience and disobedience, and yes, light and dark. (54. But no reason, however grave, may be put forward by which anything intrinsically against nature may become conformable to nature and morally good. ... CASTI CONNUBII, Paragraph 54) There is grave danger inherent in such dissent in that it can lead to scandal which is a sin against the Fifth Commandment, a sin which our Lord Himself warned that it would be better to have a millstone around our neck and have us cast into the depths of the ocean. (Matt 18:6). Also the warning contained in Isaiah 5:20 "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil." To Church is the mystical body of Christ on earth, Her teachings are guaranteed genuine by Jesus Christ Himself. Only arrogance (the spawn of pride) would suggest the Church to be wrong based on the limited understanding of any man. To place our selves at variance with Mother Church is to place ourselves in the outer darkness… The fruit of such is the worst form of blindness and darkness. Sin has the two fold effect of darkening the mind and weakening the will. But when we come back to the faith, i.e. repent… the opposite effect occurs, repentance enlightens the mind and strengthens the will. Holy Writ tells us that if the blind lead the blind, both will fill into the ditch…. But with repentance, our eyes are opened by Divine Truth and we experience the joy of truth, the Splendor of Truth, the ("clear light which corrects the darkened gaze." Evangelium Vitae, Paragraph 6).
LUMEN GENTIUM - The Dogmatic Constitution of the Catholic Church
25. Among the more important duties of bishops that of preaching the Gospel has pride of place.[39] For the bishops are heralds of the faith, who draw new disciples to Christ; they are authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people assigned to them, the faith which is destined to inform their thinking and direct their conduct; and under the light of the Holy Spirit they make that faith shine forth, drawing from the storehouse of revelation new things and old (cf. Mt. 13:52); they make it bear fruit and with watchfulness they ward off whatever errors threaten their flock (cf. 2 Tim. 4-14). Bishops who teach in communion with the Roman Pontiff are to be revered by all as witnesses of divine and Catholic truth; the faithful, for their part, are obliged to submit to their bishops' decision, made in the name of Christ, in matters of faith and morals, and to adhere to it with a ready and respectful allegiance of mind. This loyal submission of the will and intellect must be given, in a special way, to the authentic teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, even when he does not speak ex cathedra in such wise, indeed, that his supreme teaching authority be acknowledged with respect, and sincere assent be given to decisions made by him, conformably with his manifest mind and intention, which is made known principally either by the character of the documents in question, or by the frequency with which a certain doctrine is proposed, or by the manner in which the doctrine is formulated.
I exhort you therefore--no, not I, but the love of Jesus Christ: partake of Christian food exclusively; abstain from plants of alien growth, that is, heresy. Heretics weave Jesus Christ into their web-- to win our confidence, just like persons who administer a deadly drug mixed with honeyed wine, which the unsuspecting gladly take--and with baneful relish they swallow death! ........Saint Ignatius of Antioch
RECENT PAPAL TEACHINGS DEMAND ASSENT
In a lengthy article which is prominently displayed in today's edition of L'Osservatore Romano, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, outlines several key ideas regarding "the reception of magisterial documents and public dissent." Archbishop Bertone is the deputy to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Vatican's chief doctrinal agency.
In the L'Osservatore article, Archbishop Bertone acknowledges that some questions have been raised regarding the level of authority in certain recent Vatican documents. (He specifically mentions the papal encyclicals Veritatis Splendor and Evangelium Vitae, the apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, the Responsus ad Dubium promulgated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in answer to questions about that apostolic letter, and finally the same Congregation's letter to bishops on the question of whether Catholics who divorce and remarry should be allowed to receive the Blessed Sacrament.) Therefore, the archbishop sets out to clarify the understanding of the doctrine of infallibility, and to sort out the differences between fallible and infallible teaching.
Archbishop Bertone makes a clear distinction between two notions: infallibility and truth. People often confuse the two notions, he observes, so that they do not distinguish between "the infallibility of the magisterium" and "the truth of the doctrine."
The truth of a doctrine does not depend on the invocation of infallibility, he cautioned. Rather, the best guarantee that a doctrine is true can be found in "the deposit of faith transmitted by Scripture and Tradition."
Infallibility, he continued, defines the certitude that a given teaching is true. Thus infallibility "refers only to the degree of certainty in the magisterial teaching."
With that clarification, the archbishop rejected the popular notion that there can be a sharp distinction between the infallible doctrines defined by the Church, and the ordinary teachings of the magisterium, which some theologians prefer to regard as "fallible." These theologians suggest that unless a teaching is formally defined as an infallible truth, it should be open to dispute and disagreement..
In fact, Archbishop Bertone writes, infallibility is not solely defined by the proclamations of the Holy Father. "The infallible character of a teaching, and the definitive and irrevocable assent which it commands, is not a prerogative solely of that which has been solemnly defined by the Roman Pontiff or the ecumenical Council," he explains. As the Vatican II declaration Lumen Gentium proclaimed, the bishops who act in communion with Peter's successor enjoy the same infallibility.
Thus the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith draws this clear conclusion: "When the bishops are dispersed in their own dioceses, while still in communion with the Successor to Peter, and teaching a doctrine that must be held in a definitive manner, they enjoy the same infallibility as that of the Pope speaking ex cathedra, or of a Council."
As a practical matter, then, what is the level of authority of such documents as Veritatis Splendor, Evangelium Vitae, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, or the other recent documents which Archbishop Bertone mentions? He points out that in each of those documents the Pope (or his representatives) was "confirming" or "reaffirming" a doctrine which forms a part of "the teaching of the ordinary and universal magisterium." The teaching is therefore definitive and irrevocable. Such teaching demands the assent of faithful Catholics; it is not necessary for the Pope to issue a formal declaration that such teachings are infallible.
As Archbishop Bertone recalls, both Vatican I and Vatican II taught that the "ordinary and universal magisterium" has an infallible character. Doctrines which are universally taught, and "constantly held" as part of the Church tradition, therefore, require the assent of the faithful.
The "ordinary and universal" magisterium, the archbishop writes, "consists in the unanimous teaching of the bishops jointly with the Pope." And in the normal life of the Church, he added, such teaching may be done in "facts" rather than "words."
Theologians who suggest that the Pope must pronounce a doctrine as infallible in order to command assent are devaluing the ordinary magisterium, Archbishop Bertone writes.
Furthermore, the Vatican official points out, the ordinary magisterium is "diachronic" in its authority. In other words, a teaching which is held by all of the Church over a period of centuries cannot be brought into question simple on the basis of opinions which become popular in a particular era. The apostolic tradition should not be questioned on the strength of today's intellectual fashions.
It is precisely this continuity in the Church tradition which now poses a problem for Anglicans, Archbishop Bertone writes. It has been the clear, consistent, and unanimous teaching of the Church since apostolic times, he noted, that women cannot be ordained as priests-- indeed that, any such ordination would be invalid. This is a teaching-- conveyed through the fact of universal Church history, as well as the actual words of Church documents-- of the ordinary and universal magisterium. And, the archbishop concludes without equivocation, the teaching is definitive.
Archbishop Bertone attributes many of the current questions about Church teaching to a "crisis of faith," which can only be remedied by proper spiritual and intellectual formation. Unless Catholics properly understand and accept the teachings of the ordinary and universal magisterium, he said, the identity of Catholicism itself is in jeopardy. Since the authority of the Church is intended to serve the cause of truth, the failure to recognize that authority imperils "the integrity and teaching of the divine truth."
NEW VATICAN NORMS ON THEOLOGICAL DISSENT
(The following is the English text of the document issued by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The text is intact, although footnotes are not included. )
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Regulations for Doctrinal Examination
Art. 1. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has the function of promoting and safeguarding doctrine on faith and morals throughout the Catholic world. In accomplishing this purpose, it renders a service to the truth, by protecting the right of the People of God to receive the Gospel message in its purity and entirety. Therefore, in order that faith and morals not be harmed by errors however disseminated, it also has the duty of examining writings and opinions which appear contrary to correct faith or dangerous.
Art. 2. This fundamental pastoral responsibility concerns all pastors of the Church, who have the duty and the right to exercise vigilance, whether individually or gathered in particular Councils or Episcopal Conferences, in order that the faith and morals of the members of the faithful entrusted to their care not suffer harm. To this end, they can also be served by Doctrinal Commissions, institutionalized consultative bodies which assist Episcopal Conferences and individual Bishops in their solicitude for the doctrine of the faith. The principle remains, however, that the Holy See can always intervene and, as a rule, does so when the influence of a publication exceeds the boundaries of an individual Episcopal Conference, or when the danger to the faith is particularly grave. In such cases, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith uses the following procedures:
I. Preliminary Examination
Art. 3. The indicated writings or teachings, in whatever way they are disseminated, are given attention by the competent Office, which submits them to the examination of the Congresso [the weekly meeting of the Superiors and Officials of the Congregation]. After a preliminary evaluation of the gravity of the question, the Congresso decides whether or not to undertake a study by the Office.
II. Office Study
Art. 4. Once the authenticity of the writings has been verified, it is carefully examined with the collaboration of one or more Consultors or other experts in the particular area.
Art. 5. The outcome of this examination is then presented to the Congresso, which decides whether this is sufficient for an intervention with the local authorities, or whether the examination needs to proceed further by one of two established procedures: ordinary examination or examination in cases of urgency.
Art. 6. Should the Congresso judge that the study undertaken was sufficient, it can entrust the case directly to the author's Ordinary and, through him, bring the doctrinal problems presented in the text to the author's attention. In such a case, the Ordinary is invited to deepen the study of the question and ask the author to provide the needed clarifications for submission to the judgment of the Congregation.
III. Ordinary Procedure for Examination
Art. 8. An ordinary examination is used when a writing appears to contain grave doctrinal error, the identification of which requires attentive discernment, and the possible negative influence on the faithful does not seem to involve particular urgency. The examination is structured in two phases: an internal phase of preliminary investigation undertaken within the Congregation and an external phase involving the presentation of objections to the author and subsequent dialogue.
Art. 9. The Congresso designates two or more experts who examine the text in question, give their opinions, and evaluate whether it is in conformity with the doctrine of the Church.
Art. 10. The same Congresso appoints a relator pro auctore, who has the task of illustrating, in a spirit of truth, the positive aspects of the teaching and the merits of the author, of cooperating in the authentic interpretation of his thought within the overall theological context, and of expressing a judgment regarding the influence of the author's opinions. For this purpose, the relator pro auctore has the right to examine all the acts relative to the case.
Art. 11. The Office Report, which contains all the information relevant to the examination of the case (including the antecedent elements), the opinions of the experts and the presentation of the relator pro auctore, is distributed to those who will take part in the Consultation.
Art. 12. The experts who had submitted opinions on the text can also be invited to participate in the Consultation-- in addition to the Consultors themselves, the relator pro auctore and the author's Ordinary (who cannot be substituted by another and is bound to secrecy). The discussion begins with an exposition by the relator pro auctore, who makes a comprehensive presentation of the case. After him, the author's Ordinary, the experts, and the Consultors each express their own opinion, orally and in writing, on the content of the text under examination. The relator pro auctore and the experts may respond to the observations and offer clarifications.
Art. 13. When the discussion has finished, the Consultors alone remain in the room for the general vote on the outcome of the examination, aimed at determining whether doctrinal errors or dangerous opinions have been found in the text, and specifically identifying these in light of the different categories of truth-propositions found in the Professio fidei.
Art. 14. The entire file, including the minutes of the discussion, the general vote and the opinions of the Consultors, is submitted to the examination of the Ordinary Session of the Congregation, which decides whether to present objections to the author, and if so, on which points.
Art. 15. The decisions of Ordinary Sessions are submitted to the consideration of the Supreme Pontiff.
Art. 16. If, in the prior phase, it was decided to proceed to a presentation of objections, the author's Ordinary or other concerned Ordinaries, as well as the competent Dicasteries of the Holy See, are informed.
Art. 17. The list of erroneous or dangerous propositions at issue, together with an explanatory argumentation and the documentation (reticito nomine) necessary for the defense, are communicated through the Ordinary to the author and his advisor, whom the author has the right to nominate, with the approval of his Ordinary, to assist him. The author must present a written response within three canonical months. It is appropriate that, together with the author's response, the Ordinary also forwards his own opinion to the Congregation.
Art. 18. The possibility is also foreseen of a personal meeting between the author, assisted by his adviser (who takes an active part in the discussion) and delegates of the Congregation. In this eventuality, the Congregation's delegates, who are appointed by the Congresso, are to keep minutes of the meeting, the text of which is to be signed by them, by the author and by his advisor.
Art. 19. Should the author not send the written response, as is always requested, the Ordinary Session of the Congregation takes the appropriate decisions.
Art. 20. The Congresso examines the written response of the author as well as the minutes of any meeting that has taken place. If this examination reveals truly new doctrinal elements requiring further evaluation, it is then decided whether the question should again be presented to the Consultation, which may be expanded to include additional experts, among these the author's advisor, appointed in accordance with art. 17. Otherwise, the written response of the author and the minutes of any meeting are submitted directly to the judgment of the Ordinary Session.
Art. 21. If the Ordinary Session decides that the question has been resolved positively and that the response is sufficient, the process does not go further. Should this not be the case, adequate measures are then taken, also for the good of the faithful. Moreover, the Ordinary Session decides whether and in what way the results of the examination are to be made public.
Art. 22. The decisions of the Ordinary Session are submitted for the approval of the Supreme Pontiff and then communicated to the author's Ordinary, to the Episcopal Conference and to concerned Dicasteries.
IV. Examination in Cases of Urgency
Art. 23. An urgent examination is employed when the writing is clearly and certainly erroneous and, at the same time, its dissemination could cause or already has caused grave harm to the faithful. In this case, the Ordinary or the concerned Ordinaries are immediately informed together with the competent Dicasteries of the Holy See.
Art. 24. The Congresso appoints a commission which is especially entrusted with promptly determining the erroneous or dangerous propositions.
Art. 25. The propositions identified by the Commission, together with the relative documentation, are submitted to the Ordinary Session, which will give priority to the examination of the question.
Art. 26. If the Ordinary Session judges that the above-mentioned propositions are in fact erroneous and dangerous, after the approval of the Holy Father, they are transmitted to the author, through his Ordinary, with the request that they be corrected within two canonical months.
Art. 27. If the Ordinary, having heard the author, believes it is necessary to ask him also for a written explanation, this text must be forwarded to the Congregation together with the opinion of the Ordinary. Such an explanation is then presented to the Ordinary Session for the appropriate decisions.
V. Disciplinary Measures
Art. 28. If the author has not corrected the indicated errors in a satisfactory way and with adequate publicity, and the Ordinary Session has concluded that he has committed the offense of heresy, apostasy, or schism, the Congregation proceeds to declare the latae sententiae penalties incurred; against such a declaration no recourse is admitted.
Art. 29. If the Ordinary Session ascertains the existence of doctrinal errors which do not involve latae sententiae penalties, the Congregation proceeds, according to the norm of law, whether universal or proper to the Congregation.
The Sovereign Pontiff John Paul II, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Prefect on May 30, 1997, confirmed these Regulations, adopted in the Ordinary Session of this Congregation, approving at the same time in forma specifica articles 28-29, contrariis quibuslibet non ostantibus, and ordered their publication.
Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, June 29, 1997, the Solemnity of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.
+ Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect [NOTE] Now Pope Benedict XVI
+ Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli, Secretary
