Lake Huntington

To the editor:

In the Friday, January 12th edition of the Democrat, a letter from Steve White of Bethel was published under the heading, “Thank God for THIS Pope”. Mr. White “finds great comfort that the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, though not officially condoning same sex marriage has recently allowed for the ‘Blessing’ of same sex couples.” 

Just a point of clarification for those who haven’t read the document, “Fiducia supplicans.” The blessing of “couples in irregular situations and same sex couples” is set, in the document, in the context of the “pastoral meaning of blessing” which the Church draws from the meaning of the various blessings found in Scripture. Those meanings are discussed in depth in the document. The document is clear that in blessing the individuals in such relationships, the Church is not validating the relationship. Its aim is to help those individuals live more and more as God wants them to live on their journey to him. So the Church is not blessing same sex unions. There seems to have been a general misunderstanding on this point.