A muddying clarification

A muddying clarification

After Barbara Kralis published the reply from Cardinal Francis Arinze earlier this week that said he did not tell Archbishop Harry Flynn of Minneapolis that it was okay to give Communion to members of the Rainbow Sash Movement, the archbishop rushed out a clarification. Unfortunately, it clarifies nothing.

Flynn originally said that he got “no sense that the Vatican was pushing for a single policy” among bishops on how to deal with the Sash-ayers. But now Flynn says that Cardinal Arinze “did clearly indicate this situation merits further study and that ideally all of the bishops who have pastoral care for the members of this movement should seek to adopt a uniform approach.” So which is it? Did the cardinal say there should be a “single policy”/“uniform approach” or not?

For his part, Cardinal Arinze is very clear in the letter from his secretary:

Rainbow Sash wearers, the Cardinal says, are showing their opposition to Church teaching on a major issue of natural law and so disqualify themselves from being given Holy Communion.

It doesn’t sound like he’s calling for further study. That sounds like a definitive answer.

So from Archbishop Flynn comes a “clarification” that clarifies nothing, but from Cardinal Arinze comes a clarification that is definitive. Which one should I listen to?

Share:FacebookX

Archives

Categories