{"id":95,"date":"2018-05-02T10:40:43","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T15:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/betweentwokingdoms\/?p=95"},"modified":"2018-05-02T10:42:56","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T15:42:56","slug":"pope-francis-nondenominationalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/betweentwokingdoms\/2018\/05\/pope-francis-nondenominationalist\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis, Nondenominationalist?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Image via Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Over at <\/span>Conciliar Post<\/span><\/i>, Jacob Prahlow has an <\/span>article<\/span><\/a> suggesting that the emergence of nondenominational churches represents the most significant shift in institutional Christianity since the Reformation. While I\u2019m a tad skeptical that all self-professed \u201cnondenominational\u201d churches are <\/span>reaaaaaally<\/span><\/i><\/a> nondenominational, I think he makes a very good point: within the Protestant fold, traditional denominational loyalties seem broadly to be dissolving, resulting in the proliferation of more individuated church bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n

But is the emergence of nondenominationalism really the most significant \u201creformational\u201d development in Christianity? Upon first reading Jacob\u2019s piece, I wondered particularly about the potential for a Catholic rupture stemming from disputes over Pope Francis\u2019s approach to certain social teachings.<\/span><\/p>\n

A brief explainer for those unfamiliar with the biggest current controversy (no, actually it has nothing to do with the doctrine of hell): Traditionally, the Catholic Church has taught that marriage is sacramental and indissoluble: if entered into properly, marriage is for life. As a result, Catholics who divorce their spouses and remarry (while that former spouse is still alive) are ineligible to receive Holy Communion. Unless they elect to live as \u201cbrother and sister\u201d with their new spouse (that is, abstaining from sexual relations), they may not commune. (However, there\u2019s a loophole: the annulment process. If a church tribunal decides that the marriage was initially invalid under church law\u2014taking a variety of considerations into account\u2014both spouses are free to remarry and subsequently receive Communion.)<\/span><\/p>\n

This teaching sounds severe to Western Protestants\u2014and indeed, to many Catholics. In 2016, Pope Francis released the encyclical <\/span>Amoris laetitia<\/span><\/i><\/a> (\u201cThe Joy of Love\u201d), which contained the following pronouncement: \u201c[I]t is possible that in an objective situation of sin\u2014which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such\u2014a person can be living in God\u2019s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church\u2019s help to this end.\u201d In context, this language clearly refers to those formally ineligible to receive the Eucharist based on their marital status. This sentence was followed by a footnote, which controversially stated that \u201c[i]n certain cases, this [help from the Church] can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, \u2018I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord\u2019s mercy.\u2019 . . . I would also point out that the Eucharist \u2018is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While Pope Francis\u2019s language is undeniably ambiguous, for many conservative Catholics this appeared to be a significant shift away from the Church\u2019s traditional teaching: that marriage is indissoluble, and that divorce and remarriage erects a barrier between congregant and Eucharist. The debate over the meaning of <\/span>Amoris<\/span><\/i>\u2014and, more broadly, over the direction and implications of Francis\u2019s papacy\u2014continues to roil Catholic intellectual circles (as ably chronicled by Ross Douthat in his recent book <\/span>\u201cTo Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism\u201d<\/span><\/a>). The consequences of a major split in the Catholic world would, obviously, be dramatic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not being Catholic myself, I\u2019m perhaps outside my wheelhouse in even commenting on this issue, but there\u2019s an important point in this debate that troubles me. Namely, characterizations of <\/span>Amoris <\/span><\/i>as <\/span>uniquely <\/span><\/i>disruptive to traditional teaching\u2014or, perhaps, uniquely damaging to the sacramental view of marriage\u2014seem (at least in my mind) difficult to square with the <\/span>laxity<\/span><\/a> of the existing annulment process (Douthat briefly touches on this point in a recent <\/span>podcast interview<\/span><\/a>). In order to obtain an annulment, a petitioner must show that one of five <\/span>requisite elements<\/span><\/a> of a Catholic marriage\u2014freedom, consent, intent to be faithful, intent of the other\u2019s good, and consent given in the presence of witnesses before a church official\u2014was not met. Married on a beach by a Presbyterian minister? Marriage invalid. Fully expected to cheat during the marriage at some point? Marriage invalid. \u201cIncapable of consenting\u201d due to poor judgment at the time? Marriage invalid.<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, the grounds for requesting annulment are so broad that they seem (at least to me) largely incompatible with the traditional \u201cindissolubility\u201d view of marriage. This \u201cloophole problem\u201d is reflected in the data: roughly 90% of annulment requests are <\/span>granted<\/span><\/a> (as of 2014). So, assuming both the sacramental view of marriage and that <\/span>Amoris<\/span><\/i> indeed represented a break from historic teaching, I\u2019m left that the actual theological difficulties commonly attributed to <\/span>Amoris <\/span><\/i>really aren\u2019t unique to that document. From the perspective of an <\/span>Amoris <\/span><\/i>critic, any pushback against <\/span>Amoris<\/span><\/i> really ought to be accompanied by pushback against a lenient annulment system.<\/span><\/p>\n

But perhaps there\u2019s a more fundamental conflict here.<\/span><\/p>\n

At least from a functional standpoint, I wonder if the <\/span>Amoris <\/span><\/i>debate is perhaps better characterized as a dispute over <\/span>process and authority <\/span><\/i>rather than over <\/span>indissolubility<\/span><\/i> itself. Statistically speaking, the median Catholic seeking to remarry and receive Communion may do so once they pursue an annulment of their first marriage: their petition will almost certainly be granted. But today, individuals simply aren\u2019t going to the trouble of requesting annulments (admittedly there is a financial cost associated with this process, but it\u2019s not hard to think of ways this could be offset).<\/span><\/p>\n

Amoris<\/span><\/i> (again assuming the \u201cdisruptive\u201d reading) outsources the process of \u201cmarital status adjudication,\u201d taking the matter outside church tribunals and apparently committing it to priests\u2019 pastoral discretion. The institutional church loses its jurisdiction over these questions (previously, annulment determinations <\/span>could be appealed<\/span><\/a> all the way to Rome through the Church\u2019s judicial hierarchy). The process, in other words, becomes individualized.<\/span><\/p>\n

And insofar as critics of <\/span>Amoris <\/span><\/i>are concerned by <\/span>this<\/span><\/i> shift, they are right to be worried. A similar individualist impulse seems to rest at the heart of Protestant nondenominationalism\u2014a resistance to process and authority, and the constraints associated with formal confessional strictures. In the context of Catholicism, that process and authority rests at the heart of the Church\u2019s universalizing claim.<\/span><\/p>\n

So at bottom, I find myself sharing Jacob\u2019s conclusion, even if somewhat indirectly. Deinstitutionalization\u2014whether it takes the form of ad-hoc annulment processes or the proliferation of nondenominational churches\u2014certainly does represent a sea change in the ecclesiastical landscape, with consequences that will be difficult to foresee. Time will tell.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over at Conciliar Post, Jacob Prahlow has an article suggesting that the emergence of nondenominational churches represents the most significant shift in institutional Christianity since the Reformation. While I\u2019m a tad skeptical that all self-professed \u201cnondenominational\u201d churches are reaaaaaally nondenominational, I think he makes a very good point: within the Protestant fold, traditional denominational loyalties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3470,"featured_media":98,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecclesiology"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Francis, Nondenominationalist?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over at Conciliar Post, Jacob Prahlow has an article suggesting that the emergence of nondenominational churches represents the most significant shift in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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