The email box of our editorial board was influenced by the letter sent by the Polish priest Beniamin Sęktas. This is an open letter that was addressed to Polish bishops. The author of the letter asked to print the letter without much comment, which we are doing here.
23 May 2024.
On the feast of Jesus Christ the Most advanced and Eternal Priest
The Most advanced Priests of Bishops
I, a Polish priest, want to express my disappointment with the attitude of the Bishops to the Declaration Fiducia supplicans announced by the Dicastery of the Doctrine of religion on December 18, 2023. I compose these words in May, a period dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who calls himself blessed by all generations (Lk 1:48). I remember painful days erstwhile in our homeland there was profaned her image by people who demanded the approval of the state, the nation, and possibly even the Church for breaking God's commandments. At the time erstwhile our religion was offended, there were those who justified the right to spiritual expression by painting the colours of LGBT ideology on her image. Anyone who loves God has not been deceived by a false argument that does not let the right to defend the worship of the Lord Jesus and His Blessed Mother.
While the dishonesty of those whose consciences are stifled by their persistence in sin is understandable, it is incomprehensible for those who are to form others in the spirit of the Gospel. The attitude of dishonesty on the part of the Shepherds of the Polish Church came to light on 21 December 2023, erstwhile by the mouth of the spokesperson of the Council of the Permanent Polish Episcopal Conference Fr Leszek Gęsiak was assured that the Declaration Fiducia supplicans It is the same in its February 22, 2021, issue of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as it says in the February 22, 2021, concerning the blessing of same-sex unions, even though the Note states: “An answer to the reported uncertainty does not preclude the blessing of individuals with homosexual tendencies who show a desire to live in faithfulness to revealed plans God, as taught by the Church, but considers any form of blessing to be unlawful, which would aim to admit their relationship." Unfortunately, the fact is different. Declaration Fiducia supplicans allows the blessing of couples in irregular situations and couples of the same sex. He says in paragraph 39: “In order to avoid any form of confusion or stumbling, erstwhile prayer of blessing, although expressed outside the rites provided for by the liturgical books, asks a couple in an irregular situation, this blessing will never be granted in the context of civilian rites of union or even in connection with them. And not in the clothes and gestures and words appropriate for marriage. The same applies erstwhile a same-sex couple asks for a blessing." Thus, this point besides speaks of couples formally recognized by secular institutions, not individuals taking the way of conversion.
In the dissatisfaction of the Permanent Council 1 can see the strategy of lulling the vigilance of Polish Catholics. In an interview with the channel “Come Faithful” cardinal. Grzegorz Ryś besides argued that the Declaration Fiducia supplicans He does not let the blessing of single-sex couples, claiming that he has read it 4 times. The Cardinal argued that the blessing that the Declaration speaks about concerns people, not couples, and the question of whether they could ask for them 2 persons, he disposed of the overbearing message that he only cites what is in the document.
In addition to the twisted discrimination between a couple and individuals, it is equally curiosible to separate in the blessings themselves, which, according to the Declaration, may be requested by irregular couples and homosexuals. It is simply a discrimination between a liturgical and a nonliturgical blessing. The declaration brings the liturgy of blessing to usage in his giving of garments and books, as the cardinals besides say. lynx in that interview. Until recently, he apologized to all who felt offended by the form of Eucharistic celebration at a gathering with the youth of the “Young Arena”. Despite breaking the liturgical rules, this celebration was an crucial Holy Mass. Similarly, it can be said that distinguishing between liturgical and non-liturgical blessings is like claiming that Holy Mass at the Łódź stadium by not respecting the boxes would be non-liturgical Mass. The blessing given by the priest, although not a sacrament, is simply a liturgical gesture. To ask for a blessing to the priest is always a request addressed to the 1 who serves in the Church. He is not simply a neighbour to pray for another. Furthermore, the intention of intercession prayer should always be in harmony with God’s will, not against it by asking for support in a common life in sin. The Christian blessing is connected with the summoning of the name of the Lord, the Holy Trinity, and the sign of the cross. The blessing of homosexual couples due to their being so sinful is simply a violation of God’s second commandment and a mockery of the Creator and Redeemer. There is besides an incentive in the Declaration to give specified blessings in sanctuaries and during pilgrimages, as paragraph 28 says. It is simply a call to sacrilege in places dedicated to God.
The practice proposed by Dycasteria by postulating spontaneous character can deepen the spiritual pathologies associated with the knowing of religion magically as a method of submission to God. The author of the Declaration, in order to defend himself from this charge, reflected in it on occasional and folk blessings. We're talking about them in points 28 and 30. If we show respect and a desire for a individual to mature into a better life, we will mention to the actual situation of irregular couples and homosexuals who are threatened with eternal condemnation, we will only realize the wickedness of pastoral prudence referred to in paragraph 30.
Defenders of the blessing of a homosexual couple sometimes separate its persistence in sin from another aspects of its relationship. They claim that everything that is affirmative in a sinful relationship, despite its sinfulness, should be blessed. This is apparent relativism. It is besides unacceptable to associate sin against nature with couples in an irregular situation. So far, the Church has accompanied concubines and civilian unions in the hope that after the obstacles have ceased they can become sacramental marriages. In addition, non-sacramental relationships carry out human parental vocation in accordance with nature and are families. That cannot be said in any way about homosexual couples. The proposed practice of blessing homosexuals contradicts the teaching of Saint John Paul II. The Polish Pope pointed out the deficiency of deep interpersonal bond in homosexual couples, in which it is not possible to complement each another at the intellectual level (Speech to employees and attorneys of Rota Rome on the Christian imagination of matrimony and matrimony love, 21 January 1999, No 5). The Church's blessing of monosexual couples is simply a negation of healthy anthropology. If as stated in the Declaration Fiducia supplicans gay couples can and are to be blessed for being homosexual couples, so not due to what is true, good and humanly crucial in the lives and relationships of those who admit their indecentness and the request for God's help, this point 31 contains contradiction in itself, making it impossible to grant specified a blessing.
In addition to relativising concepts in the text, there is simply a conflict with what the Church believes. The blessing in the Old Testament referred to the rebirth of offspring and inheritance (Gen 27:1-45). The fresh Testament calls blessed heirs of God’s Kingdom (Mt 5:3-11). St. Paul in his teaching clearly and emphatically defines the perpetrators of homosexual acts as those who will not inherit God’s Kingdom (1 Cor 6: 9-11). 3rd Chapter of the Declaration Fiducia supplicans is contrary to God’s Revelation. Prayer given during the blessing of a homosexual couple is unbelief. Persevering in a state of dense sin until death brings eternal condemnation. Thus, it is not possible to bless a couple in sin due to their very existence in sin. The desire to bless homosexuals as cohabitants breaks the essential bond that unites the truths of faith, prayer and the life of the Church. Declaration Fiducia supplicans it contains adequate controversial teaching that it makes questionable the unity of believers who reject its content, with those who accept and preach it. The Declaration makes the Church a community of many beliefs and practices contradictory. This state of the Church does not let unity to be realized in it, for which our Savior prayed (John 17:20-24). It is besides outrageous to see a trend in theological and magisterial reflection, which equates, in dignity, the unborn kid killed with discriminated homosexuals. I see elements of this trend in a fresh declaration Dignitas infinita. This perception of reality leads to a dictatorship of subjectivism in religion and morality. Comparing everything at the expense of doing nothing to invalids is absurd and opposed to the welfare of souls. Therefore, the Declaration Fiducia supplicans and any false justification for it cannot be accepted by the believers as binding in their conscience.
The Polish Church has a rich heritage of discernment. Thanks to the participation of Poles at the Council in Constance, the wickedness of the Teutonic Order was condemned. Fr. Paweł Włodkowice defended the rights of all nations, including pagans, to self-government and to surviving in peace on the lands that they own. The Polish spirit, despite its weaknesses, can admit pseudo-Christianity, which turns Christ's cross into a sword, or whatever, in the name of hidden interests and pleasing to the world. In history, man has frequently succumbed to the temptation to bless sins, wickedness and crime. And that's what we're dealing with here. Fiducia supplicans. The blessing of homosexual couples seems to be a form of fresh crucifixion, which, as erstwhile supported by the blessing of ecclesiastical power, has committed force against Gentiles, present is to be an assist in leading a life contrary to God’s purpose.
The minute I found out about the Declaration, I got scared. I immediately translated the text in the translator to see for myself what it truly says. After reading it like something's broken inside me. I had a number of conversations with another priests, whose amazement mixed with sadness, outrage and mockery of the spirit and content of this document. I besides talked about my doubts with Bishop Drohichinsky. This gathering did not dispel them, but on the contrary I found that this subject was not applicable to him. erstwhile I was a cleric, I was given the chance to watch 2 priestly sutannas, the sutanna of St.John Paul II stained with blood after the assassination exposed in Krakow and the martyr's sutanna of Father George Popiełuszko in Warsaw. I have always been moved by the words of Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, who, while becoming martyred, introduced himself to the words “I am a Polish priest”. Just as I and the Bishops are the spiritual offspring of priests who, starting with St. Stanislaus, have testified that we must obey God more than men (Acts 5:27).
The Blessed Mother, who in the Jasna Góra Image accompanies your deliberations, wishes to see in you the beloved disciples of her Son, who will stand up for the work of the Creator, matrimony and family, and Christ's Bride. That is why I appeal to you to reject the Declaration as another episcopals do. Fiducia supplicans and joined the interior church dispute with her too, defending the revealed fact of God and honor of the Polish sutanna.
Fr Beniamin Spektas
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