STOCKBRIDGE, Massachusetts (LifeSiteNews) – The superiors of the American Province of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception have prohibited all ordained members of their religious congregation from blessing couples in irregular unions and same-sex couples, saying that doing so would condone the relationships.
“We cannot in any way bestow blessings that may infer that we are condoning or blessing the sin of irregular unions,” the Marian Fathers declared.
Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, the Provincial Superior, and Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, the Vicar Provincial for the American Province of the Marian Fathers, signed a December 21 letter on the matter. In this letter they insist on the obligation to uphold the faith as it has been handed down.
“As Marians of the Immaculate Conception it is our moral duty and obligation to uphold the teaching of the Catholic Church as it has been handed down to us through Divine Revelation and the Deposit of Faith,” the Marian Fathers wrote.
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Citing Fiducia supplicans on the need to avoid validating or approving of irregular and same-sex unions, they said they could see “no situation” in which the granting of a blessing to the couples in question could be distinguished from approval. They therefore prohibited all such blessings for such couples anywhere by their priests and deacons, “regardless of diocesan policies.” They wrote:
The manifest purpose of this document of the Holy See is to allow “the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples (FS, 31).” The document states that such blessings are performed “without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.”
Therefore, to ensure this latter statement is properly adhered to, Marian clergy (ordained deacons and/or priests) are prohibited from blessing irregular relationships, union, or same-sex couples in the United States and Argentina, or while traveling abroad. This applies to all Marian clergy regardless of diocesan policies.
We see no situation in which such a blessing of a couple could be properly and adequately distinguished from some level of approval of the irregular relationship, leading to the scandal of the faithful. Such blessings (liturgical or spontaneous) would work against the legitimate care a priest or deacon owes his flock.
The Marian Fathers concluded by encouraging the blessing of individual sinners who are striving to overcome their sin and conform their life to Catholic morals:
It needs to be emphasized, however, that blessing individual persons struggling with sin, but striving to do the will of God and conform their lives to Church teaching, are not only allowed, but strongly encouraged. Marian clergy will continue to bless the individual sinner, but we cannot in any way bestow blessings that may infer that we are condoning or blessing the sin of irregular unions.
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