From the Pastor’s Desk
Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”) was released by the Holy See on Friday, April 8. It is a lengthy document, officially called an “Apostolic Exhortation” promulgated by Pope Francis as a follow-up to the two Synods on the Family that were held in October 2014 and October 2015. The document, when printed out based on the Vatican’s .pdf file, is over 250 pages and 391 footnotes. Therefore, even in the time that it has been available to the public, I haven’t been able to read the whole thing!
Unfortunately, in this world of instant access to social media, our Holy Father’s message was immediately panned as “dangerous to the Catholic faith,” “a revolution that will cause irreparable harm to the Church,” and “a document of hate to those who are in the LGBT community.” Even a cursory reading of this massive document will tell any balanced person none of this is in Pope Francis’ words or intent. How a document in which the first words are “The Joy of Love experienced by families is also the joy of the Church” can be immediately interpreted in such a negative way is difficult to fathom.
This document is what is termed an “Apostolic Exhortation.” By definition such a document is meant to exhort, “strongly encourage” (Cambridge English Dictionary) or “be words of advice” (Merriam-Webster). Our Holy Father is seeking to inspire us to greater fidelity to the message of the Christian Gospel while applying the virtues of that Gospel to circumstances we face in our contemporary world.
On Monday, May 9, I will offer a presentation on Amoris Laetitia from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Cathedral. In meantime, you can download the document yourself and read it. Come with your questions and, together, let’s see how Pope Francis is inviting us to more faithfully live the Gospel of Christ.
Love,
Father Tom