Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe contradictory things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six contradictory things before breakfast.”
- Lewis Carrol (slightly altered)
There are some mornings that being in the Catholic Church makes me feel like I'm going insane. This morning is one of them.
I should clarify that, and specify that I am not speaking in hyperbole here. I mean that attempting to make sense of some of the Church's current statements, some of which seem to me to be self-contradictory at best and complete nonsense at worst, feels like it threatens my coherent thought processes, and I get dizzy, sometimes physically so.
I like to think through things, and consider their implications.
I have referred in previous posts to Gregory Bateson's concept of the Double Bind, and how being given contradictory statements to have to follow can be a factor in causing schizophrenia, a split mind. Our minds aren't built to be able to believe two contradictory things at the same time. In the attempt, the mind will either choose one and ignore the other - or, split into two compartments, each holding one of the contradictory things - or, just blur over and refuse to think clearly on the topic, using vague words to make it sound like they are not contradictory.
Looking at the Catholic news media today, it seems that the third option - blurring over and refusing to think clearly - is by far the most common coping mechanism.
Let me share a couple of back-to-back news pieces that showed up in my inbox today. These are from CNA, Catholic News Agency, which I consider to be mainstream Catholic.
Vatican says priests can bless same-sex couples without condoning their lifestyles
There's a lot of verbal smokescreen in this article, but the gist of it seems to be the Church being welcoming to people in same-sex relationships while at the same time condemning their sexual behavior.
So people in a same-sex sexual relationship can have their relationship blessed without blessing their same-sex sexual relationship.
To quote a phrase I recall from an old move, Whut De H.ll Does Dis Mean?
Why are they blessing their same-sex relationship? So they can go out and have coffee together??
Here's a defining paragraph out of the article.
The ruling, which also applies to Catholics civilly remarried without having received an annulment as well as to couples in other “irregular situations,” underscored that such blessings cannot be offered in a way that would cause any confusion about the nature of marriage, which the document affirms is the only “context that sexual relations find their natural, proper, and fully human meaning.”
So sex is only proper within marriage, but we can bless a sexual relationship other than marriage provided we make clear that we are not blessing the sex in the sexual relationship.
So what exactly are we blessing here?? Again, Whut De H.ll Does Dis Mean?
Maybe this next sentence from the article will help clarify things.
The declaration emphasizes that blessings may only be given “spontaneously” and not in the context of a formal liturgical rite.
So the reason the blessing cannot be given in a formal liturgical rite is?? Because it's not really a formal blessing but only a spontaneous blessing? And what exactly is the difference between a formal blessing and a spontaneous blessing?
A little further on it further emphasizes that this is a pastoral and not a liturgical gesture.
By this point I'm beginning to feel like my mind is starting to cloud over and is being filled with a vague nondescript grey fog. The more I try to think through what exactly they are trying to say here, the more I run into self-contradictory meaninglessness with a sneaky ulterior motive.
You have the link to the whole article if you feel inclined to read it and come to your own conclusions. I don't claim that my reaction is either correct or definitive. I'm just sharing what goes through my mind when I try to make sense of this article.
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Oh, well. Enough with that article; let's let that one go.
Let's see what the next news headline is:
U.S. bishops: Vatican declaration does not change Church teaching on marriage
Gah.... I'm sorry but I'm not going there. I can't take any more of this.
I think it's time to turn off the computer for awhile, and go read something sensible like Alice in Wonderland...
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As an afterword to this article, I want to make clear that what bothers me here is the verbal hypocrisy and the vague self-contradictory language being used to cover up what they're actually saying and doing.
I am very open to having a clear and honest discussion about the Church and sexual morality, and whether or not the traditional teachings should be changed. In fact, I would welcome a clear, honest and open discussion of the topic.
I am NOT okay with changing things while insisting you're not changing things, or blessing things while you insist you're not condoning them. Either change things or don't change them, but in the name of all that is holy, be honest and open about it!
Recall that the one place in Our Lord's life where He expresses what I would call a real anger and outrage, is towards hypocrisy. Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!
I don't think the Church will be destroyed by attacks from without. I think it is far more likely that it will be blurred out of existence, dissolved into a cloudy grey sludge of meaningless verbiage.
Something like, ending not with a bang but with a whimper.
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Reminds me of years ago when Peter Kreeft gave a talk at the University of Minnesota. He started by saying something like, "Whenever I can't take anymore of the fantasy world, I pick up the Lord of the Rings for a dose of reality."
Thanks for this Charlie! Once again you’ve nailed it. I so appreciate the way you bring such sincere search for truth even into the Church which tries to serve it ready made. I know how much becoming part of the Church meant to you and love how you manage to hold onto yourself at the same time!