“Five Cardinals Book” in defense of marriage, tradition – Remaining in the Truth of Christ

Click to PRE-ORDER

UPDATE 10 Oct: Amazon seems to be selling out as fast as they are stocking. 

HOWEVER, the good news is that the book is available for KINDLE (USA) for $12.86, which is much less than the paperback. HERE  It was $9.99.   The price is fluctuating!

Don’t have a Kindle yet.  What on earth are you waiting for?  USA HERE (for one type, a Paperwhite, you can surf to others) and UK HERE

Also available now in the UK! HERE – UK KINDLE HERE

_____

The new book, Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church contains five essays of cardinals, of the archbishop secretary of the Vatican congregation for the Oriental Churches, and of three scholars on the ideas supported by Walter Card. Kasper in the opening discourse of the consistory in February 2014.

These are the nine chapters of the book:

  • The Argument in Brief- Robert Dodaro, O.S.A.
  • Dominical Teaching on Divorce and Remarriage: The Biblical Data – Paul Mankowski, S.J.
  • Divorce and Remarriage in the Early Church: Some Historical and Cultural Reflections – John M. Rist
  • Separation, Divorce, Dissolution of the Bond, and Remarriage: Theological and Practical Approaches of the Orthodox Churches – Archbishop Cyril Vasil’, S.J.
  • Unity and Indissolubility of Marriage: From the Middle Ages to the Council of Trent – Walter Cardinal Brandmüller
  • Testimony to the Power of Grace: On the Indissolubility of Marriage and the Debate concerning the Civilly Remarried and the Sacraments – Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller
  • Sacramental Ontology and the Indissolubility of Marriage – Carlo Cardinal Caffarra
  • The Divorced and Civilly Remarried and the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance  – Velasio Cardinal De Paolis, C.S.
  • The Canonical Nullity of the Marriage Process as the Search for the Truth – Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

The Augustinian Robert Dodaro, the editor of the book, is head of the patristic institute “Augustinianum” in Roma. The Jesuit Paul Mankowski is a professor at the Lumen Christi Institute in Chicago. Professor John M. Rist teaches ancient history and philosophy at the University of Toronto and at the Catholic University of America in Washington.

______ORIGINAL POST Jul 29, 2014

There is a book of great importance about to emerge.  It is available for PRE-ORDER at a substantial discount.  It will come out in October 2014, timed for the upcoming Synod of Bishops, which will tackle – inter alia – Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried.

CLICK HERE

(Don’t hesitate, just click.  The UK link is HERE. Kindle is coming, I hope.)

I know quite a bit about this book, as it turns out.  The “five Cardinals” mentioned in the blurb, below, are going to please you when their names are revealed.  The other scholars involved are also top-notch.

The book will eventually be out in several languages.  It won’t be an easy read for some people, since a couple of the essays really drill into primary sources.  Do NOT let that discourage.  Punch above your weight, as they say.  You can do it.

YOUR TASK, however, is to pre-order this book NOW.  Make sure that Ignatius has a good response so they can have a big printing and wide distribution.

Here is the blurb:

In this volume five Cardinals of the Church, and four other scholars, respond to the call issued by Cardinal Walter Kasper for the Church to harmonize “fidelity and mercy in its pastoral practice with civilly remarried, divorced people”.

Beginning with a concise introduction, the first part of the book is dedicated to the primary biblical texts pertaining to divorce and remarriage, and the second part is an examination of the teaching and practice prevalent in the early Church. In neither of these cases, biblical or patristic, do these scholars find support for the kind of “toleration” of civil marriages following divorce advocated by Cardinal Kasper. This book also examines the Eastern Orthodox practice of oikonomia (understood as “mercy” implying “toleration”) in cases of remarriage after divorce and in the context of the vexed question of Eucharistic communion. It traces the centuries long history of Catholic resistance to this convention, revealing serious theological and canonical difficulties inherent in past and current Orthodox Church practice.

Thus, in the second part of the book, the authors argue in favor of retaining the theological and canonical rationale for the intrinsic connection between traditional Catholic doctrine and sacramental discipline concerning marriage and communion.

The various studies in this book lead to the conclusion that the Church’s longstanding fidelity to the truth of marriage constitutes the irrevocable foundation of its merciful and loving response to the individual who is civilly divorced and remarried. The book therefore challenges the premise that traditional Catholic doctrine and contemporary pastoral practice are in contradiction.  [Remember: Liberals will say to us who defend tradition that we are conducting a war on mercy.]

“Because it is the task of the apostolic ministry to ensure that the Church remains in the truth of Christ and to lead her ever more deeply into that truth, pastors must promote the sense of faith in all the faithful, examine and authoritatively judge the genuineness of its expressions and educate the faithful in an ever more mature evangelical discernment.”
– St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio

Start ordering.  Order and then order some more.  When this book comes out, we want a torrent of copies absolutely everywhere.  You can bet that those who want to overturn our teaching and practice will be as active as little termites, chewing away at our foundations.  Don’t let them.  Get good information into as many hands as possible.

Trust me.

Buy in USA HERE
Buy in UK HERE

UPDATE 29 Sept:

I saw a pretty good blurb about the book HERE

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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77 Comments

  1. tcreek says:

    I suspect (Hope) the book will follow the reasoning of our Pope Emeritus.
    20 years ago the document below was a response to liberal German bishops who publicly stated that divorced and remarried Catholics could follow their consciences in deciding whether to take Communion.
    ————-
    14 September 1994
    Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith

    Letter To The Bishops Of The Catholic Churc Concerning The Reception Of Holy Communion By The Divorced And Remarried Members Of The Faithful.
    Joseph Card. Ratzinger

    http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_14091994_rec-holy-comm-by-divorced_en.html
    —————-
    Then a follow-up 3 1/2 years later
    1 January 1998

    Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith
    Concerning Some Objections To The Church’s Teaching On The Reception Of Holy Communion By Divorced And Remarried Members Of The Faithful.
    Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

    http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19980101_ratzinger-comm-divorced_en.html

  2. gracie says:

    This is good news! However, unfortunately, the average person isn’t going to read it which means that this book needs to get discussed in the media most people use – t.v., radio, internet, etc. Also, please would the contributors to this book – i.e. the cardinals – line up interviews with the press, etc. to get this story across. Isn’t that what Pope Francis does – uses the media to get out his messages? Surely the cardinals could learn from his example and do the same. Before, books had enormous influence standing on their own merits. Now they need to be sold through other media for the message to get out to the masses – specifically, in this case, the Catholic masses. One of the problems with the Second Vatican Council was that those who wanted a revolution came prepared and they got Time, Newsweek, the NYTimes, etc. to spread their ideas. The orthodox need to take a page from that book and do the same.

  3. Thomas S says:

    Reports of apparently overwhelming opposition to Kasper from rest of the cardinals has been heartening. That five of them have actually seen fit to publish a book against his proposals is even more encouraging. Francis has to realize that he’ll have a schism on his hands if he goes the Kasper route on this question.

    I’ll be patient, but why aren’t the five cardinals yet named?

  4. jhayes says:

    i hope we can get through this debate without building barriers to our eventual reconciliation with the Orthodox. I think the tone of this “they’re wrong and we’re right” comment from the publisher’s blurb is unfortunate.

    This book also examines the Eastern Orthodox practice of oikonomia (understood as “mercy” implying “toleration”) in cases of remarriage after divorce and in the context of the vexed question of Eucharistic communion. It traces the centuries long history of Catholic resistance to this convention, revealing serious theological and canonical difficulties inherent in past and current Orthodox Church practice.

    [Wait until you read the chapter and see who wrote it.]

  5. tcreek says:

    Rather than a book written by Cardinals, did the editors of the book take existing Church documents and essays and compile them for this book?

  6. Flash says:

    We’ll see – I am sure that maintaining the “status quo” is what people hoped for when the Ottaviani Intervention was published, too. [I have no idea what that meant.]

  7. JesusFreak84 says:

    It sounds like that’s in there, too.

  8. David in T.O. says:

    How bad has it become that a book such as this is even necessary? Why has the person in the Seat of Peter not slapped down the dissenting Cardinal, or is that yet to come?

  9. Arele says:

    Done.

    I was actually thinking about this very thing during the rosary before mass this morning. And lo, here’s the book.

    Gotta get it!

  10. I preordered it!

    [Wait until you read the chapter and see who wrote it.]

    His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk? That would be interesting…. or H.B. Gregory III Laham, which would be even more shocking.

    This really is a difficult, likely Church dividing issue between Catholics and the Orthodox.

  11. JesusFreak84 says:

    His Beatitude Sviatoslav DOES have a background in moral theology… That was part of why I was happy-dancing when I found out he’d been elected Patriarch :D (Yes, I know, technically Major-Archbishop…leave me be! <_<;;; )

  12. ChrisRawlings says:

    I don’t know about that, gracie. Cardinals Muller, Brandmuller, and Collins have been all over especially the Italian and German press articulating the Church’s teaching on the matter. The Spanish Episcopal Conference posted Card. Muller’s O.R. essay on its website. Other bishops and cardinals have made important contributions in the secular and Catholic press, too.

    I don’t understand the hand-wringing over the issue when so many prelates and theologians have clearly expressed the limits of what can be done with regards to the divorced and remarried. The tendency to contemplate the Pope on the wrong side of a coming schism is not a particularly faithful disposition and certainly seems to me absurdly unrealistic.

    Listen to Fr. Z and the host of cardinals and others who think about this issue realistically and soberly.

  13. jhayes says:

    Regarding not offending the Orthodox or other religions, this is from Francis:

    “Don’t proselytize; respect others’ beliefs. “We can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in communicating. But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyzes: ‘I am talking with you in order to persuade you,’ No. Each person dialogues, starting with his and her own identity. The church grows by attraction, not proselytizing,” the pope said.”

    HERE

    [This should be an interesting experience for you, the corrector of everyone.]

  14. jhayes says:

    Also from Francis:

    “Two years ago, a priest went to Argentina as a missionary. He was from the Diocese of Buenos Aires and he went to a diocese in the south, to an area where for years they had no priest, and evangelicals had arrived. He told me that he went to a woman who had been the teacher of the people and then the principle of the village school. This lady sat him down and began to insult him, not with bad words, but to insult him forcefully: ‘You abandoned us, you left us alone, and I, who need of God’s Word, had to go to Protestant worship and I became Protestant.’

    This young priest, who is meek, who is one who prays, when the woman finished her discourse, said: ‘Madam, just one word: forgiveness. Forgive us, forgive us. We abandoned the flock.’ And the tone of the woman changed. However, she remained Protestant and the priest did not go into the argument of which was the true religion. In that moment, you could not do this.

    In the end, the lady began to smile and said: ‘Father, would you like some coffee?’ ‘Yes, let’s have a coffee.’ And when the priest was about to leave, she said: ‘Stop here, Father. Come.’ And she led him into the bedroom, opened the closet and there was the image of Our Lady: ‘You should know that I never abandoned her. I hid her because of the pastor, but she’s in the home.’ It is a story which teaches how proximity, meekness brought about this woman’s reconciliation with the Church, because she felt abandoned by the Church.

    And I asked a question that you should never ask: ‘And then, how things turn out? How did things finish?’ But the priest corrected me: ‘Oh, no, I did not ask anything: she continues to go to Protestant worship, but you can see that she is a woman who prays. She faces the Lord Jesus.‘ And it did not go beyond that. He did not invite her to return to the Catholic Church.”

    HERE

    [So… you ordered it?]

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  16. Rachel says:

    Just ordered it. :) Thanks Father!

  17. Giuseppe says:

    Which Cardinals?
    The Pope Emeritus is a former cardinal and a Bishop Emeritus. That would be a good chapter.
    Deceased Cardinals? Did Cardinal O’Connor have some essays lying around in Scranton or NYC?
    There’s also the former Albert Cardinal Pujols now in Los Angeles.
    Please not Cardinal Law, although his exile to Rome enabled the Sox to win 3 series. (Those could be 3 miracles, although Cardinal O’Malley will humbly take credit for each of them.)
    Finally, John Cardinal Zuhlsdorf: “Read the black; wear the red”

  18. robtbrown says:

    jhayes,

    Although I’m not enthusiastic about what the pope says, he’s actually adopting a common strategy of missionaries. Do you think that when the North American Jesuit Martyrs arrived at the Indian villages they immediately started arguing with the Indians?

    Karl Rahner is supposed to have said that during the Council he realized that the Latin culture has ended. If that is so, then a missionary strategy would seem a viable option in the West.

    Disclaimer: I disagree with Rahner about this and almost all of his thought. He was certainly right that things had changed, but he was wrong in identifying the end of Counter Reformation neo Scholasticism with the end of Latin culture.

    I think I’ve noted here before that no religious institute in history has been so intertwined with (thus dependent on) the culture of the era in which they flourished as the Jesuits were. Like that era the Jesuits reduced everything to method. Their seeming flexibility was actually based on seeing everything through the cipher of Jesuit method. It is a prime reason why I have never found them to be incisive about liturgy, the thought of St Thomas, or monasticism.

    IMHO, it is problematic whether the Jesuits have much of a future in the West.

  19. JesusFreak84 says:

    IMHO, it is problematic whether the Jesuits have much of a future period. The liberal orders aren’t getting many vocations.

  20. Pastor Bonus says:

    Who are the 5 Cardinals involved?

  21. robtbrown says:

    JesusFreak84 says:
    IMHO, it is problematic whether the Jesuits have much of a future period. The liberal orders aren’t getting many vocations.

    1. Even if they weren’t liberal, it is doubtful that their approach fits post modern man.

    2. And I said “in the West”. The Jesuits have vocations in India.

  22. Grateful to be Catholic says:

    Certainly that young priest was right to respond humbly to the woman who had become a Protestant. But he is a priest of Jesus Christ, Who came that we might have life, and have it to the full. Why would it be offensive to humbly invite her back to the Church? To the extent that she is actually facing the Lord Jesus and maintaining a true devotion to the Blessed Mother, wouldn’t she eventually welcome the invitation and, even if she didn’t accept immediately, not take it amiss?

    I worry about what seems to be an exaggerated concern for people’s feelings that prevents a gentle but clear presentation of what the Church proposes. Recently I had dinner with two friends who have abandoned Episcopalianism and Methodism and are now looking at Lutheranism and, “as a last resort,” Catholicism. I said that as an adult, I had had to work through a series of questions: Who was Jesus of Nazareth – a charlatan, a madman, or the Son of God? If he is the Son of God, did he establish a church to faithfully preserve his teaching and carry on his saving work through the ages? If he did, where is that church to be found today? Calm, but to the point. They will think about it.

    It seems that we have allowed the word “apology” to migrate from its classical meaning of an explanation or even cogent defense to its popular meaning of an admission of guilt and expression of regret. So the very idea of “apologetics” has become distasteful, an offensive claim to truth that one simply does not make to others, who have a right to their own truth that must be respected. Piffle. We have no right NOT to let our Light be seen. How that can be done most effectively is always a matter of prudential judgment, but allowing a false humility or politically correct reticence to silence us is not an option.

    [So, how many did you order?]

  23. lizaanne says:

    Seriously folks – just stop asking who the Cardinals are. I think it’s quite clear that you are not going to know until the book is released. My goodness it is tiring.

    Order the book. Read the book. THEN have an opinion.

    I am continually amazed at how so many have the ability to have an opinion about something they have never experienced.

  24. teejay329 says:

    Voila! Done. Pre-ordered.
    Thanks, Father Z

  25. jhayes says:

    More from Francis on dialog vs. prosyletizing:

    “Dialogue is so important, but to dialogue two things are necessary: one’s identity as a starting point and empathy toward others. If I am not sure of my identity and I go to dialogue, I end up swapping my faith. You cannot dialogue without starting from your own identity, and empathy, that is not condemning a priori. Every man, every woman has something of their own to give us; every man, every woman has their own story, their own situation and we have to listen to it. Then the prudence of the Holy Spirit will tell us how to respond. Starting from one’s own identity for dialogue, but dialogue is not to do apologetics, although sometimes you have to do it, when we are asked questions that require explanation. Dialogue is a human thing. It is hearts and souls that dialogue, and this is so important! Do not be afraid to dialogue with anyone. It was said of a saint, joking somewhat – I do not remember, I think it was St. Philip Neri, but I’m not sure – that he was also able to dialogue even with the devil. Why? Because he had the freedom to listen all people, but starting from his own identity. He was so sure, but to be sure of one’s identity does not mean proselytizing. Proselytism is a trap, which even Jesus condemns a bit, en passant, when he speaks to the Pharisees and the Sadducees: “You who go around the world to find a proselyte and then you remember that …” But, it’s a trap. And Pope Benedict has a beautiful expression. He said it in Aparecida but I believe he repeated elsewhere: “The Church grows not by proselytism, but by attraction.” And what’s the attraction? It is this human empathy, which is then guided by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what will be the profile of the priest of this century, which is so secularized? A man of creativity, who follows the commandment of God – “create things”; a man of transcendence, both with God in prayer and with the others always; a man who is approachable and who is close to people. To distance people is not priestly and people are fed up of this attitude, and yet it happens all the same. But he who welcomes people and is close to them and dialogues with them does so because he feels certain of his identity, which leads him to have an heart open to empathy. This is what comes to me to say to you in response to your question.”

  26. tcreek says:

    This books does not seem to claim that it is written by “Five Cardinals and Four Scholars” but rather that the editor, Fr. Robert Dodaro, has compiled their previous words to reinforce the constant Catholic teaching on the subject. Cardinal Ratzinger, when at CDF, had lengthy articles refuting the Germans bishops statements that divorced and remarried Catholics could follow their conscience in deciding to receive communion. Probably 99% of Catholics (including priests and bishops?) never bothered to read any on it. Maybe this book will help.

  27. jhartne says:

    I think this is the work of the Holy Spirit working here to defend what is right

  28. Grateful to be Catholic says:

    [So, how many did you order?]

    Just one for me, but I have passed it on to family and friends.

  29. ofHippo says:

    Ordered! Maybe it’s just a marketing mind at play but with so much at stake for we poorly catechized souls (and possibly those involved in Synod?) Father might you be able to answer why this book is coming out in Oct…not coming now? So that we can form ourselves going into the Synod? Truth is a very attractive thing!

  30. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    Recommendation noted, for which, thanks – the blurb makes it sound interesting – but why the (effective) mysteriousness, as to exact contents (as in “Table of…”) and authors?

  31. CradleRevert says:

    I just knew that Cardinal Burke was going to be on that list of five cardinals. What a tremendous prince of the Church and guardian of Truth he is!

  32. Joseph-Mary says:

    Glad to see two Jesuits contributed; perhaps that will also speak to the Holy Father.

  33. Bea says:

    I had heard about it and was planning on pre-ordering some for our Parish Bookstore but was unsure as I did not know who the cardinals were who wrote it.

    Thanks for listing them, Father. Especially with Cardinal Burke I will definitely order some.

  34. Elizabeth D says:

    I was also 99.5% certain Cdl Burke was one of them! Muller also seemed more than likely. Brandmuller, not a surprise. I want it but I have to watch my money.

  35. jhayes says:

    Are the Cardinals writing new material specifically for this book or is the book simply reprinting previously published articles and interviews by the Cardinals together with analysis and commentary by the four non-cardinal authors?

  36. nola catholic says:

    Is this Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J. the same as wrote Diogenes for the old Catholic World News’ (now Catholic Culture) “Off the Record” column?

  37. HyacinthClare says:

    Pre-ordered. We’re starting a reading and discussion group at our church, mostly made up of young, male teachers in our congregation. (They let ol’ ladies come, too!) We’ve read Josef Pieper and this should be another good discussion book.

  38. Joan A. says:

    It’s stunning, maybe a miracle, this book could come out, and has come out just in time. What went on behind the scenes in preparation of this book, the mind reels. What Fr. Lombardi will be asked, one wonders. If certain outspoken cardinals of “differing” views will jump in front of conferences and cameras, one anticipates with glee. If the Pope will find it relaxing bedtime reading, one sincerely hopes so.

    Friends, NOTE THE PUBLICATION DATE: October 7, The Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, and Commemoration of Lepanto.

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  40. Gretchen says:

    I ordered one. I want to know the Church’s teaching on this like the back of my hand.

  41. LeeF says:

    Another excellent analysis that can be had for free, is Recent Proposals for the Pastoral Care of the Divorced and Remarried: A Theological Assessment, by the faculty of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., from the Nova et Vetera journal, available in pdf form here:

    http://nvjournal.net/

  42. truthfinder says:

    Will this become available on amazon.ca?

  43. benedetta says:

    I cannot afford to purchase the book, however all who have been distracted by parade discussions this past week ought to take note that this is the Trojan horse of the dissenting homosexual establishment within the Church. The real attempt at a power grab right now is right here.

  44. PaterAugustinus says:

    I’m a monk of the Orthodox Church converting to Catholicism. I have decided to do this on many grounds, pretty much all of them dogmatic. But though my realization of the Truth of Catholic dogmatic theology was a gradually increasing thing, there were two things from the get-go, that made me realize Catholicism’s doctrinal witness had to be taken seriously.

    Having read the Fathers on how to discern a vocation either to married or religious life, it was clear that the Fathers had a very definite understanding of marriage and sexuality; this specific understanding led them to recommend the celibate life to all who could embrace it, and to insist that if a Christian did want to keep one foot in the world, his or her sexuality was to be exclusively reserved for marriage, marriage itself being directed to a particular end: the raising of godly offspring in a committed unit that formed the basis of society and mirrored the indissoluble bond between Christ and the Church. In the whole context of their views on marriage and sex, two things were inescapable: first, contraception is incomprehensible for the Christian marriage, since they tended to view marriage itself as a good, albeit as still a sub-optimal concession to worldly desires that was only justifiable on the grounds of producing children and raising them in the Faith; second, marriage is necessarily permanent so long as both spouses live, both because of its duties and obligations under natural law, and also because of its sacramental character. Orthodox may attempt to pride themselves on greater fidelity to the Apostolic Tradition in some external custom or other (ancient calendars, fasts, seasons of kneeling vs. not, etc.), but it was absolutely clear to me that she has come adrift from basic Christian doctrine on marriage and sexuality. This is a matter of doctrine, not mere practice, and this should give many Orthodox pause, as it gave me: I reckoned to myself, “If Catholicism is false and Orthodoxy is true, why is it that Catholicism still teaches the truth about marriage and contraception, while we have abandoned it?” The doctrinal vagaries surrounding the Filioque and Papal Infallibility can be debated until one is blue in the face; the crystal-clear Patristic and Apostolic (and Scriptural) teaching that marriage is forever and excludes contraception, cannot (at least, not by honest, above-board people). I think it would be tragic, to see Catholicism even flirt with this “oikonomia” idea, when her doctrinal fidelity was, for me, a very clear witness to her real claim to be the Church.

    And as one who was in the Orthodox Church, allow me to tell you that this “oikonomia” concept has been utterly abused within Orthodoxy to justify any and every breach of canonical discipline. This is nothing that Catholicism should want to introduce. The proper use of “oikonomia” is “good management of an household” (which is what the word means). That means that often stricture is just as much a part of “oikonomia” as indulgence. The proper way to use economy is found in the Latin term “dispensatio,” which is how the Greek term was always translated. The Latin term means “to weigh out,” “to measure out,” “to pay out.” The idea, is that a dispensation tries to attain the same good as the law was intended to attain, by weighing all the variables in particular circumstances. One does not simply “do away with” the law; one tries to achieve the Law’s intent by another means. Sometimes this may result in relaxing the discipline of the law, when circumstances indicate that enforcing the full brunt of the law would actually do harm to a particular person in particular circumstances. But obviously, this power of attaining the law’s good intent through selecting a different approach after the prudent weighing of all factors, does not extend to violating truth or corrupting morality, since this is never the law’s intent. It would be the opposite of the law’s good intent. Catholics! Take it from an ex-Orthodox monk: flee this spurious “economy” that flouts the authentic understanding of that term! So distorted has Orthodox theology become, that they regard non-Orthodox sacraments as always invalid, but still believe they may be considered valid “by oikonomia.” How does a principle that allows for making prudent judgments in the administration of canon law, have anything to do with making sacraments valid or invalid retroactively? What good is such a befuddled concept of oikonomia? I knew an Orthodox priest, married, who worked as a psychiatrist; he had an affair with one of his patients, which even secular folk regard as crime that merits losing one’s right to practice medicine, yet his bishop allowed him to divorce his wife, “re-marry” with the patient, and *return to priestly service,* all in the name of “oikonomia.” Mercy my foot! Where was mercy for the man’s wife? For their kids? For the community that would rather not have a lying, fornicating adulterer for their parish priest? For the other women the man may victimize, now that he knows there are no consequences for his action? This is where such an idea of “oikonomia” naturally tends, and to this understanding of “okonomia,” I say: anathema sit! It should be a great shame to the Orthodox that they tolerate this mealy-mouthed treason against the faith; Catholics should pride themselves on having none of it. It is one of the reasons I took Catholicism seriously, and eventually came to confess her as holding the true faith.

    Fr. Z's Gold Star Award

  45. Uxixu says:

    I have to get this.

    May God bless you and strengthen you on your journey, PaterAugustinus.

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  47. Thorfinn says:

    Catholic News Service covers Cardinal Pell’s foreward to the upcoming book:

    “Doctrine and pastoral practice cannot be contradictory,” writes Cardinal Pell, a former archbishop of Sydney who now serves as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy. “One cannot maintain the indissolubility of marriage by allowing the ‘remarried’ to receive Communion.”
    http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1403846.htm

  48. Thorfinn says:

    Sorry, to clarify, the Cardinal Pell forward is for a separate upcoming book:

    The Gospel of the Family: Going Beyond Cardinal Kasper’s Proposal in the Debate on Marriage, Civil Re-Marriage and Communion in the Church

  49. tcreek says:

    Rorate Caeli reports from a source that :
    ” Pope Francis is greatly irritated with this book, and specifically told Cardinal Müller not to promote it.”

  50. Speravi says:

    Rorate has finally stirred me out of my lethargy. I just pre-ordered my copy. However, in all charity, even if the Holy Father were annoyed, it would seem rash judgment to assume that this annoyance proceeds from any intention of justifying practices contrary to divine law. If the pope is annoyed, and that is still very much an “if,” it is quite plausible that it is from a practical viewpoint of wanting the matter to be handled in the context of the synod where all views can be expressed and analyzed in a systematic and collegial manner and in an environment with minimal a priori assumptions concerning which bishops hold which views. In any case, I look forward to the book.

  51. kpoterack says:

    “If the pope is annoyed, and that is still very much an “if,” it is quite plausible that it is from a practical viewpoint of wanting the matter to be handled in the context of the synod . . .”

    Correct. Also, remember that when the pope was asked the question about communion for remarried divorcees on the plane trip back from Jerusalem, he seemed a touch annoyed at the extent to which the synod was being turned into being exclusively about this topic. I contend that rumors often have a grain of truth to them and that this is the “grain of truth” (if there is any truth to it).

  52. mysticalrose says:

    Hmmmm…is Pope Francis also “annoyed” with Cardinal Kaspar? Just sayin’.

  53. aviva meriam says:

    Weird Question: would it be arrogant/offensive/presumptuous to purchase a couple copies of this book as a gift for the priests in the area? The locals here are wannabe protestants and any the priests are regularly under siege. My INTENT is to give them a stronger foundation to withstand the coming upheaval but I’m afraid it would be misconstrued.

  54. McCall1981 says:

    For those worried that the Pope is annoyed with this book:

    Vatican sources deny that Pope is upset over cardinals’ marriage book

    http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-sources-deny-that-pope-is-upset-over-cardinals-marriage-book-13772/

  55. JPManning says:

    Bought it through your link. Thank you for defending marriage and for encouraging me to buy that book.

  56. Marianna says:

    Just ordered a copy on Amazon UK, and apparently will get it at the end of… November.

  57. JBS says:

    I’ll order a copy when and if it becomes available for the Kindle.

  58. Antonin says:

    “still a sub-optimal concession to worldly desires that was only justifiable on the grounds of producing children and raising them in the Faith”

    Very Platonic and gnostic notion that totally erases eros. Benedict XVI is Deus Caritas Est discusses eros extensively. This is the very real sexual love between a man and a woman that is celebrated and not just a perfunctory ritual to produce a child. It is a means of discovery of the other – an intimacy beyond words. We are composite beings and our body is not just some unnecessary appendage – this was the error of the neo-Platonists and even if some Church Fathers leaned in this direction, there was always a corrective. As Benedict so wisely describes:

    Man is truly himself when his body and soul are intimately united; the challenge of eros can be said to be truly overcome when this unification is achieved. Should he aspire to be pure spirit and to reject the flesh as pertaining to his animal nature alone, then spirit and body would both lose their dignity. On the other hand, should he deny the spirit and consider matter, the body, as the only reality, he would likewise lose his greatness. The epicure Gassendi used to offer Descartes the humorous greeting: “O Soul!” And Descartes would reply: “O Flesh!”.[3] Yet it is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves: it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves. Only when both dimensions are truly united, does man attain his full stature. Only thus is love —eros—able to mature and attain its authentic grandeur.

    Sexual love is a wonderful form of love!

  59. JesusFreak84 says:

    Amazon is telling me it doesn’t release until Oct. 7th…

  60. HeatherPA says:

    Thanks for the link, Father. Ordered a copy also for our parish priest.

  61. memoryman says:

    Ordered my copy about three weeks ago for delivery here in the UK.Was surprised to hear that it will not arrive until 25th November.

  62. RAve says:

    This is very sad. The cardinal is teaching gross and obvious error. When I am sinning, it is not an act of love to tell me I am not sinning. So, so, very sad. This is what his synod is all about. http://youtu.be/9N879uaq9-8

  63. Valentin T. E. says:

    PaterAugustinus Thank you so much for that post. It clarifies so much that is wrong with the vague, mealy mouth attitude of oikonomia in the orthodox church and as well as the same exact attitude of unfaithful catholic priests in the west. I remember a ‘missionary’ priest from Chicago came to our parish and tried to claim that Christ didn’t label anyone even though in the readings that day, Christ compared a certain woman to a dog, but the priest brushed it off and said that Jesus was just cranky that day. To all those that say we shouldn’t be bold about the Church’s teaching I say look at the Church in America and the way the ‘missionary’ priests act, where they don’t bring the faith to people as much as nod their head, and accept people’s horrible lifestyles and sins.

  64. Dennis Martin says:

    Amazon just sent me an email asking me to confirm that I still want the book. They say they don’t know when the book will be available for shipping.

  65. skip67 says:

    Dennis,
    I just received the same email….. Of course I still want it!!

  66. Papabile says:

    Preordered this on 29 July.

    Amazon says they will not have it until November 18th.

  67. BenFischer says:

    I don’t know when the physical book will be out, but the Kindle version is available. I am reading it now.

  68. Grateful to be Catholic says:

    I also received the email from Amazon, asking me to confirm that I still want the book. I have to respond by Nov. 18 or they will cancel the order. So Nov. 18 is not necessarily a shipping date, just six weeks from today when the order will be dropped. Of course I confirmed.

    I did notice last night that the Kindle edition is available and I bought that. So I now have the book! Eat your hearts out!

  69. Pingback: Good News and Bad News about Ignatius Press and the "Five Cardinals Book" | Fr. Z's BlogFr. Z's Blog

  70. Dennis Martin says:

    Dear Grateful,

    As a lugubrious and superannuated curmudgeon who lives happily in the Mid Evil Ages (of which truth my students would gladly assure you, had they the vocabulary to do so, and if they could be persuaded to put aside their Twittering gadgets long enough to launch actual words on air), I am able to approach Kindling only with a lit match. Nothing against Kindles, to be sure, and I congratulate the Kindle-friendly quite readily, “tendoque manus ripae ulterioris amore”. Senescent canines, however, tolerate little or no reprogramming and thus I shall have to await dolorously the arrival of the cellulose edition. That this is my own loss, I am, sadly, certain.

  71. Grateful to be Catholic says:

    Dear Dennis Martin,

    You remind me of my husband. He is also a curmudgeon and eschews gadgets. But I bought him a Kindle for Christmas, the simplest version I could find. It sat in the box for six months until I put it on my account and started using it instead of my tablet for reading in bed. He noticed it was light and easy to hold in one hand. I bought some books he wanted and he tried it. Now they are good friends and he regularly asks me to get new titles. He never fails to breathe a wondering “Amazing!” when the book appears 30 seconds later.

  72. Grateful to be Catholic says:

    I meant to add: Don’t wait to be buried before reaching for the farther shore.

  73. Aspie says:

    There are only 2 reviews on Amazon right now and one of them is against Cardinal Burke….I think that those of us who got the book should start reviewing it there soon so that the negative review it’s so prominent.

  74. Aspie says:

    I meant so that the negative review ISN’T so prominant.

  75. Pingback: VIDEO: Card. Burke's clear, articulate, blunt answers about divorce, remarriage, Card. Kasper | Fr. Z's BlogFr. Z's Blog

  76. Pingback: VIDEO: Card. Burke's clear, articulate, blunt answers about divorce, remarriage, Card. Kasper | Fr. Z's BlogFr. Z's Blog

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