The purpose of law

Editor:

Recently there were two articles which caught my attention. One was in our Catholic Star Herald Oct. 17 quoting Pope Francis and the other in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Oct. 23 quoting Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput. In the first article, the following was said by the pope on Oct. 13 during his homily at his morning Mass where he lives. God’s laws are meant to lead all people to Christ and his glory, and if they do not, then they are obsolete. The article continues quoting the pope, according to Vatican Radio, saying “Jesus did ‘strange things’ like ‘walk with sinners, eat with tax collectors’ — things the scholars of the law ‘did not like; doctrine was in danger, that doctrine of the law’ that they and the ‘theologians had created over the centuries.’”

“The scholars were safeguarding the law ‘out of love, to be faithful to God,’ the pope said, but ‘they were closed up right there,’ and forgot all the ways God has acted in history.”

According to the Inquirer article, Archbishop Chaput, taking questions after a speech in New York, said holy Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics “can’t be a reality in our lives.” He continued saying, “The public message” from the synod, or bishops’ meeting in Rome, “was confusion,” adding, “Confusion is of the devil.” According to the article, the archbishop was quoted as saying “You don’t receive Communion unless you’re in communion with the teachings of Christ.” Where in Christ’s teachings did he say that? Or was it in the laws, or doctrine of the church which the pope said a few days earlier that such laws are obsolete, if they do not lead people to Christ. I see the conflict each week as a Eucharistic minister at a hospital where one has been “barred” from holy Communion for many years, but now is facing a serious illness, such as cancer, which could result in their death. It appears that the pope is getting at the heart or essence of the matter. For so long we have been allowing the essence or substance of Christ’s teaching as found in the Gospels to be dictated by the structure, or certain laws or doctrines, and are leading people away from Christ, and therefore should be obsolete.

Jack Callahan

Cherry Hill

The writer is Chair Emeritus of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Volunteerism and Chair of the Board of the Kenosis Prison Ministry of New Jersey.

To see the full text of Archbishop Chaput’s comments, go to the First Things blog at http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/10/chaput-on-the-synod