INVOKING THE HIDDEN RESILIENCE OF VULNERABLE LOVE

The Fundamental Aspects for an Ethics of Growth in the Light of Pope Francis’ “Logic of Pastoral Mercy and Discernment” in Amoris Laetitia

Authors

  • Roger Burggraeve Catholic University of Leuven

Keywords:

Amoris Laetitia, Casti Conubii, Divorce and Remarriage, Pope Francis, Growth-ethics, Informed Conscience, Law of Gradualness, Lesser Good (minus bonum), Logic of Pastoral Mercy

Abstract

Pope Francis has pointed out a definitive direction in his exhortation The Joy of Love (2016) after the double synod on marriage and the family in 2014 and 2015. With this, he brings a long process of evolution to a tentative ‘conclusion.’ The process began with Casti Connubii (1930) and continued on — not without difficulties, crooked twists and turns — through Gaudium et Spes (1965) of Vatican II, Humanae Vitae (1968), Familiaris Consortio (1981) and the ‘theology of the body’ of John Paul II (1979-1984). Much work, however, still needs to be done (with regard, among others, to sexual difference and homosexual commitments) and this process will also never end. The exhortation contains a double challenge. Firstly, to test and deepen our Christian thinking on marriage and the family. And secondly, to reflect on the problematic that is evoked by so-called “irregular” forms of relationships, for instance pre- and non-marital cohabitation, merely civil marriage, remarriage after divorce, or a new relationship without legal recognition (AL, 53, 78, 293). Both challenges are taken to heart in this article, namely to develop an ethics of growth and discernment as a concretisation of what Pope Francis calls the “logic of pastoral mercy” (AL, 307-312), first for marriage itself, but likewise and in particular, for the many forms of relationship and cohabitation that do not, or not yet, or no longer correspond to the bond of marriage.

Author Biography

Roger Burggraeve, Catholic University of Leuven

Roger Burggraeve, SDB (Passendale, Belgium, 1942) is professor emeritus of theological ethics at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), where he taught among others, the courses “Christian Ethics of Sexuality, Marriage and Family” and “An Ethics of Growth for Difficult Pastoral and Educational Situations.” For 37 years he was also part-time collaborator and team member of the Salesian youth pastoral Centre ‘Eigentijdse Jeugd’ (Youth Today’) in Dilbeek, Brussels. He is still visiting professor at the International Institute of Catechetics and Pastoral Theology ‘Lumen Vitae.’ He was the Co-founder (1987) and Chair, and is now the Honorary Chair of the Centre for Peace Ethics (KU Leuven). He is also an internationally-renowned Levinas Scholar. Recently he published the work An Ethics of Mercy. On the Way to Meaningful Living and Loving (Leuven, Peeters, 2016), developing and critically deepening Pope Francis’ “logic of mercy and discernment.” Email: roger.burggraeve@kuleuven.be

References

R. Burggraeve, An Ethics of Mercy. On the Way to Meaningful Living and Loving, Leuven: Peeters, 2016.

T. Knieps-Port Le Roi & A. Brenningmeijer-Wehrhahn, ed., Authentic Voices, Discerning Hearts. New Resources for Church on Marriage and Family, Zürich, LIT-Verlag, 2016.

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Published

2018-06-30

How to Cite

Burggraeve, R. (2018). INVOKING THE HIDDEN RESILIENCE OF VULNERABLE LOVE: The Fundamental Aspects for an Ethics of Growth in the Light of Pope Francis’ “Logic of Pastoral Mercy and Discernment” in Amoris Laetitia. Asian Horizons, 12(02), 247–261. Retrieved from https://dvkjournals.in/index.php/ah/article/view/2200

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 02 (2018): ASIAN HORIZONS

Section

Articles