In a presentation at the so-called "shadow council" at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University in May, Fr Alain Thomasset, SJ, described such labelling is one of the main problems in the pastoral care of families.

Understanding some acts as intrinsically evil, he said, "seems incomprehensible to many and seems pastorally counterproductive".

He wrote there is a just insistence "on points of reference as the targets of the moral life".

But this approach neglects the "biographical dimension of existence" and the "conditions of each personal journey".

He suggested that a "narrative and biographical perspective obliges one to believe that moral evaluation does not cover isolated acts".

Rather it covers "human acts included in a story".

Thus "one should not be too quick to qualify a sexual or contraceptive act as intrinsically evil!"

Fr Thomasset said that "the objective ethical references provided by the Church are just one item (essential, certainly, but not the only item) of moral discernment that must be operated within the personal conscience".

He called for increased listening to the experience and the sensus fidei of couples "who are seeking to best live out their call to holiness".

The priest, who is a professor of moral theology at Centre Sèvres-Facultés Jésuites de Paris, proposed an interpretation of human moral acts "remaining within the context of Catholic tradition, which would bear various consequences".

The first of these consequences, he said, is that "in certain cases, because of particular circumstances, the sexual acts of remarried couples would no longer be considered as morally guilty".

"This would open their access to the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist".

The other consequences, according to a Catholic News Agency article: the use of contraceptives would not be morally wrong, as long as the couple were married and "remain open" to welcoming life; and the "subjective moral responsibility" of sexual acts between homosexuals in a stable and faithful relationship would be "diminished or eliminated".

"It's about helping people live the humanly possible in a path of growth toward the desirable," Fr Thomasset wrote.

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Our Greater Destiny

Speaking to Die Tagespost on June 6, Cardinal Gerhard Müller rejected placing "any so-called lived realities" on the same level as Scripture and tradition.

This is "nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology", he said.

The cardinal's comments have been seen as a criticism of a "shadow council" held recently in Rome involving some bishops, theologians and priests.

This event, held at the Pontifical Gregorian University on May 25, discussed how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics.

German Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, who was at the event, reportedly said that the "lived realities" of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths.

But Cardinal Müller stressed that these "lived realities" can sometimes be very pagan.

The cardinal said the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle.

Speaking of the Gregorian meeting, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue.

But he added that one cannot organise the truth.

If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be "shaken to her foundations", he said.

The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught.

"She does not need anybody - as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is - to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved."

He added that Rome will strengthen bishops' freedom and responsibility, according to a National Catholic Register report.

But this will be threatened by "nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance", the cardinal said.

Sources

• National Catholic Register
• Image: Lifesitenews