The recent lecture given by Terry Prendergast to Quest: Family – norms and ideals for a new paradigm(?), has rightly caused concern among many Catholics. Prendergast is the Chief Executive of Marriage Care, formerly the "Catholic Marriage Advisory Council."Damian Thompson has written a strong critique of the lecture (What is Archbishop Nichols going to do about Terry Prendergast?) and Catholic Action UK points to the criteria for entry in the Catholic Directory which seem to have been very clearly breached. (See: Marriage Care head on homosexual unions.)
The BBC reports a response from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, quoting as follows:
The views expressed by Terry Prendergast about the definition of family and marriage are clearly not a reflection of the Church's teaching, nor those of the Bishops' Conference.although there is, as yet, no notice of this on the CBCEW website - there is nothing at the Press Releases section and a search of the site for "prendergast" generates no results. It would be good to have the full statement available.
Prendergast's lecture is certainly "not a reflection of the Church's teaching" - it is a flat contradiction of it in many instances. For example he states that "there is sacrament" where there is "commitment, consent and covenant" in cohabiting heterosexual couples and same-sex couples, and he opposes "the point of view of Church" that a proper family must have a marriage in it.
It seems to me that this incident highlights two important needs. First, to support marriage and the family as understood in the teaching of the Catholic Church; secondly, to offer compassionate and sensitive support to Catholics with a homosexual inclination who are seeking to live the Christian life according to Catholic moral teaching.
17 comments:
Eve Tushnet
You have a typo in your blog post title, Father. It currently reads "The sacrament of cohabiting" but it should read "Sacrament of cohabiting". Articles are passé, as is evidenced by this excerpt from the article: "we should be less concerned, as Church, with the purely civil, and focus on sacrament that is more about the expression of the presence of God mediated through commitment, consent and covenant. Where this exists in married couples, in cohabiting heterosexual couples and same-sex couples, there is sacrament, I believe." It is also outrageous to imagine that the Church is concerned "with the purely civil" when it comes to the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
And this is just embarrassing: "The cohabitation of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s bears no resemblance, other than in purely external form, to the current cohabitation of hetersexuals. Where wedding ring and suburban housing once were consequences of marriage, the modern day wedding ring is a mortgage, children, and a personal and private decision to be together. Duncan Dormor writes well on this phenomenon in his book, Just Cohabiting, where he suggests that modern cohabitation is akin to Mediaeval betrothal."
With respect Father, you are wrong! This incident highlights more than the two factors you mention. It highlights the fact that the Bishops' Conference through its agencies is staffed by many who do not subscribe to Church teaching. Father Clifton drew attention to that in his book "The Enemy Within"some years ago. The tragedy is that most catholics who subscribe to the National Catholic Fund and other Second collections are being complicit in betraying the Church through providing a livelihood for such people.
"Every family, with a marriage at its heart, makes its journey with Jesus present in its midst. In family life, then, we carry Him with us". extract from homily of Archbishop Nichols May 30th 2009 before 600 married couples.
Hey, HERE'S a thought...how about "the powers that be" requiring the heads of any organization that recieves money from churches back the party line on church teaching AS PART OF THEIR COMMITMENT TO TO THE JOB, OR THEY GET FIRED.
Yes, I'm yelling. But I'm hot, tired, and mad at stupid people!
You want Catholic Money and to be promoted in Catholic Churches and get the parishioners moola? Then BE Catholic. Wow. What a concept.
Karen
For example he states that "there is sacrament" where there is "commitment, consent and covenant" in cohabiting heterosexual couples and same-sex couples, and he opposes "the point of view of Church" that a proper family must have a marriage in it.
Unbelievable. I see the terrible effects of this viewpoint every day, and it raises my hackles to see people defending it.
Cohabiting is by definition an absence of commitment. The whole point of a man (term used loosely) bedding a girl down without marrying her first is precisely so he can walk away from whatever comes of it.
Incidentally, "cohabitation" is a euphemism. I think we ought to go back to calling it "concubinage." Ugly things deserve ugly names.
Will the Bishops' Commission do anything about Mr Prendegast do you think?
When my husband and I were preparing for marriage last year we were compelled (by logistical and geographical and temporal constraints) to attend a 1 day Marriage Care seminar. The first point to make is that the cost of the seminar was ludicrous- over £100. The second thing is that of the two "leaders", one was not Catholic (and possibly even on his second marriage, for all I can remember), and the other was a man in his mid 60s who had left the priesthood and was spending his time running up and down the M1 to see his girlfriend. It went downhill form there.
My husband and I were unique in our situation- neither living together nor having had sexual relations. The content was clearly geared to those couples (15 or so) who both were and had, and for whom generally marriage would be more of a formality or convenience than a sacrament.
I was also shocked by the explicit sexual content one of the questionnaires we were invited to complete (but didn't). I have kept the offending material for future reference.
Happily we were married in the Mother Church of this country, but I have longed ever since for correct, orthodox preparation for those sincerely seeking the sacrament within the Church.
Jeff - yes, it should have been "cohabiting as sacrament"
EF - my list was not intended to be exhaustive and I agree with you.
Universal Doctor - sorry to hear of that experience.
I think a good point was raised concerning sensitive care towards homosexual persons. The Courage/Encourage Apostolate of Fr. John Harvey is one such example. Perhaps more can be done to promote and support Encourage here in the UK.
Done.
Monstrous. Saepe cogimur dicere Quousque, Domine?
Dear All - I do understand the anger that this episode has generated among good Catholics but please don't use insulting expressions about the speaker.
Just zapped a couple of comments that had some good things to say but need to be purged a bit - and unfortunately blogger doesn't allow editing of comments. (Feel free to re-post with "version 2".)
Oh Fr Tim! Spoilsport!
How could one leave honest comment about this 'guy', without using the honest language that gets you put in prison these days...?
Terry Prendergast obviously has not researched this issue at all.
Marriage is a sacrament. Jesus instituted it because without the help of God marriage would be impossible.
Statistics show that there is no association between cohabitating before marriage and success in a relationship or marriage. In fact most couples that live together end up seperating as there is nothing keeping them together.
Any couple married and true to their Catholic Faith will admit that when troubles occur they turn to God and call on Sacramental Grace to help them, and guess what Sacramental Grace is provided and God helps them deal with the issue.
Now, being married to the most wonderful man possible I can assure you that many of the problems we have had with our children have been solved this way.
Why take a stone (cohabitating) when you can have a pearl (marriage).
Believe me God wants us to marry, He wants to share in our love, together we make and earthly Trinity.
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