Archbishop Leonard P. Blair

Archbishop Leonard P. Blair

When I was about to be ordained a bishop in 1999, I was required to make a “Profession of Catholic Faith” and an “Oath of Fidelity.” I remember that this took place at a vesper service for the clergy of the diocese. I also remember afterward overhearing one priest say to another that he could never be a bishop if he had to agree with all these things. I was scandalized and saddened to overhear this, but not surprised, given the upheaval in the Church and the world that we had been experiencing for almost a half century.

In hindsight, I can say that at least that priest was a man of integrity for saying he would not take an oath that swore him to things he did not believe. In today’s climate of moral relativism, there are people who would not hesitate to swear to something or profess something falsely as being just a matter of mere words.Perhaps you have heard the term “cafeteria Catholic.” This refers to people who believe they can choose, define or interpret Church teaching to suit their own thinking. The last half-century has made it painfully clear that not all “cafeteria Catholics” are laity, as the priest mentioned above exemplifies. Any number of clergy and religious men and women over the years have dissented from Catholic faith and morals, either denying, falsifying or distorting the truths of faith and what is required for a holy and virtuous life in keeping with the Gospel.

Lately, it has come to pass that even certain cardinals and bishops, in Europe in particular, contrary to their Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity, are not only tolerating but also advocating things that are clearly contrary to Catholic faith and morals. Germany is a prime example. As scandalous as this is, it is not entirely surprising given the diminishment of Catholic life in certain countries and the perennial temptation to what Pope Francis calls “worldliness.”
A number of bishops from several continents have already appealed publicly to those cardinals and bishops who are making statements contrary to their oath, urging them to hold fast to the Church’s doctrine, to faithfully hand it on and explain it, and to avoid any teachings contrary to it.
Ultimately what is most important is that the Holy Father, the successor of St. Peter, intervenes at an appropriate moment, since as a bishop he too has made the same Profession of Catholic Faith and taken the same Oath of Fidelity as the rest of us.

At the opening of our Archdiocesan Synod, I said, “a Profession of Faith is not a dead letter. It is inspired and upheld by the Holy Spirit in faithful hearts. St. Boniface, an Englishman who brought Christianity to what is now Germany in the eighth century, and who was martyred there for the Faith, once wrote: ‘The truth can be wearied, but it cannot be overcome.’”

Today, we are being hounded, and even persecuted, in the name of love, to abandon some of the most fundamental truths that come from faith and reason. These include the equal dignity and rights of every person for a lifetime from conception until natural death; the creation of the human person in two distinct but complementary sexes; and marriage as an exclusive, lifelong union between one man and one woman, open to the procreation of children. These are just some of the God-given truths that are subject today either to oppressive, unjust and cynical violations, or to skepticism and scorn, radical questioning and rejection.

As members of the Church, we must hold fast to the truths that the Church believes and teaches, while at the same time seeking, in the words of Pope Francis, to “accompany” those whose situations are not in accord with that teaching. Love without truth, and truth without love, are both distortions that degenerate into ideologies. Love and truth are at the heart of the Profession of Faith, and they are inseparably the only way forward for the Church.