Daniel Quinan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Daniel Quinan

Roman Replies and CLSA Advisory Opinions, 2024

CANON 1170 ON BLESSINGS FOR COUPLES IN IRREGULAR UNIONS IN LIGHT OF FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS Following ... more CANON 1170 ON BLESSINGS FOR COUPLES IN IRREGULAR UNIONS IN LIGHT OF FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS Following the publication of Fiducia Supplicans, I am confused about how to faithfully and appropriately respond to requests for blessings from invalidly married opposite-sex couples, to say nothing of same-sex couples. I want to be generous where possible, but also avoid causing any scandal. How can I best respond to these requests? OPINION Before answering this question, we will briefly review the canonical and theological roots of blessings. We will then address some key elements that are essential to understand clearly, and then offer some practical guidelines, followed by reflections that may aid individual discernment and/or accompaniment in concrete cases. The 1983 Latin Code of Canon Law addresses blessings only briefly in Book IV, in two canons under the title of "Sacramentals". Canon 1169 § §2-3 outlines some restrictions on the blessings that priests and deacons can impart, 1 then canon 1170 provides simply: "Blessings, which are to be imparted first of all to Catholics, can also be given to catechumens and even to non-Catholics unless there is a prohibition of the Church to the contrary". 2 This provision is fundamentally identical to its predecessor in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which affirmed: "Blessings are principally given to Catholics, but they can be given to catechumens, and indeed, unless a prohibition of the Church obstructs, even to non-Catholics in order that they might obtain the light of faith or, along with it, health of body". 3 Considering the question on a more theological level, the Book of Blessings explicitly names blessings as liturgical actions, 4 and the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Thomas Aquinas College, 2010

The Catholic University of America, 2014

Roman Replies and CLSA Advisory Opinions, 2023

CANONS 1025 §1 AND 1029 REGARDING ADMITTANCE TO HOLY ORDERS FOR A HOMOSEXUAL MAN I am in communic... more CANONS 1025 §1 AND 1029 REGARDING ADMITTANCE TO HOLY ORDERS FOR A HOMOSEXUAL MAN I am in communication with a baptized Catholic male who feels called to serve the Church through holy orders. However, he identifies as a celibate gay man with a homosexual orientation, which he describes as a perduring inclination to experience same-sex sexual attraction. Is he permitted to discern the reception of holy orders? OPINION Canon 1025 §1 affirms that "In order lawfully to confer the orders of priesthood or diaconate, it must have been established [that] the candidate possesses the requisite qualities, that he is free of any irregularity or impediment, and that he has fulfilled the requirements set out in can. 1033-1039". This is complemented by the norm of canon 1029: "Only those are to be promoted to orders who, in the prudent judgment of the proper Bishop or the competent major Superior, all things considered, have sound faith, are motivated by the right intention, are endowed with the requisite knowledge, enjoy a good reputation, and have moral probity, proven virtue and the other physical and psychological qualities appropriate to the order to be received." In short, it could simply be said that a "homosexual orientation" is plainly neither an irregularity nor an impediment to ordination in the law, nor is such an "orientation" necessarily incompatible with the moral probity, proven virtue, and other psychological qualities that are required. Therefore: yes, this man should be freely permitted to discern. At the same time, he should be reminded that vocational discernment is not a unilateral action, but rather a bilateral process of discernment: taking place both on the part of the candidate seeking ordination, and on the part of the bishop responsible for conferring ordination. He should keep in mind that there is no right to receive holy orders (CCC 1578), and be careful not to confuse a call to holiness (which comes internally: from Christ, through baptism) with a call to holy orders (which must ultimately come externally: from Christ, through the bishop). Defending this answer, however, and understanding how a man with a "homosexual orientation" can meet these requirements, will require an extensive reflection on the rationale behind the consistent policies of the Church toward candidates with homosexual "tendencies"and how we can understand the modern notion of sexual "orientation", which should not be read as synonymous with sexual "tendencies". 1. Philosophical and Theological Roots How does the Church define "homosexuality"? Turning to the Catechism, we read: "Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex" (CCC 2357). Now, the term "relations" here obviously refers to sexual relations, not merely social relations; this becomes clear as the same paragraph continues, specifying that homosexual acts close the sexual act to the gift of life, and do not proceed from a genuine sexual complementarity. However, by making reference to the element of "an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction", the Catechism also seems to gesture toward something like a broader concept of an "orientation" defined as an experience of exclusive or predominant attraction. 1 But if this was the intent, the text does not develop this idea in any coherent way. The result is a confused definition, 2 which ultimately defines "homosexuality" as a form of sexual behavior (sexual relations between men, or between women), and limits itself to expressing definitive Catholic doctrine on sexual acts. There is no robust or coherent concept of "homosexual orientation" (nor, for that matter, of "heterosexual orientation") in the Catechism. 3 Accordingly, because the Church's moral tradition is fundamentally concerned with human action and behavior (especially vice and virtue), the virtue of chastity is the remedy that the Catechism proposes: not only as a calling for homosexual persons (CCC 2359), but for all baptized persons (CCC 2348). Here it is critical to note that chastity does not consist of the eradication of all sexual temptationmuch less in any radical change of sexual "orientation"but rather, in the self-mastery by which man chooses to govern his fallen passions (CCC 2339, 2395) through habitually

Roman Replies and CLSA Advisory Opinions, 2022

CANONS 843 §1 AND 915 REGARDING RECEPTION OF HOLY COMMUNION BY TRANSGENDER AND NON-BINARY INDIVID... more CANONS 843 §1 AND 915 REGARDING RECEPTION OF HOLY COMMUNION BY TRANSGENDER AND NON-BINARY INDIVIDUALS One of my male parishioners has "come out" as a trans-woman, and begun presenting socially "as a woman" in accord with their professed gender identity. Another female parishioner was encouraged by this, and now publicly discloses their own identity as "non-binary". Should I bar them from Communion? OPINION Canon 915 affirms that "those who [are] obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion". This legal prohibition complements the norm of canon 843 §1, which says: "Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them." But before beginning to entertain this questionwhich hinges absolutely upon the premise of some materially grave sinwe must first address several individual components of practical morality on questions including: clothing and external appearance, truth and falsehood in language, and medical ethics. 1 See The Responses of Pope Nicholas I to the Questions of the Bulgars A.D. 866 (Letter 99), Chapter LIX: "We consider what you asked about pants to be irrelevant; for we do not wish the exterior style of your clothing to be changed, but rather the behavior of the inner man within you, nor do we desire to know what you are wearing except Christfor however many of you have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ [Gal. 3:27]but rather how you are progressing

Roman Replies and CLSA Advisory Opinions, 2022

CANONS 843 §1 AND 915 REGARDING RECEPTION OF HOLY COMMUNION BY INDIVIDUALS IN A SAME-SEX CIVIL MA... more CANONS 843 §1 AND 915 REGARDING RECEPTION OF HOLY COMMUNION BY INDIVIDUALS IN A SAME-SEX CIVIL MARRIAGE Among my weekly parishioners are two Catholic men who were civilly "married" to one another many years ago. Should I bar them from Communion? OPINION Canon 915 affirms that "those who [are] obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion". This legal prohibition complements the norm of canon 843 §1, which says: "Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them." At the outset, it must be conceded that any person who falsely holds themselves out to the community as marriedwhile publicly living in a manifestly-invalid (in this case, same-sex) "marriage"could very easily become subject to the prohibition of canon 915. Nevertheless, the philosophical and theological principles underlying the so-called "brother-sister solution" 1 for admittance to holy communion logically suggest the validity of an equivalent "brother-brother" or "sister-sister" solution for same-sex partners in a canonically null "marriage"and therefore the existence of this potential pathway for resolving irregular unions requires us to proceed with caution, prudence, and pastoral solicitude. For indeed, as the United States National Conference of Catholic Bishops rightly observed in 1973: