Fr. Ryan Erlenbush has an interesting argument

which partly addresses some remarks I made about the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, basically making the case that it should not be administered to women in danger of miscarriage or struggling with fertility issues. One reader wonder if I’m somehow offended by his argument.

Nope. Why should I be? Arguments are the lifeblood of theology. And besides, I’m no expert on anointing. My piece was basically written out of experience of concrete pastoral situations where I’ve seen Anointing done. All I know is what I’ve seen at our parish: women who had multiple miscarriages now walking around with brand new healthy babies. Hard to argue with experience for this layman. But I appreciate Fr. Erlenbush bringing his perspective. So no offense taken at all. I wonder if this might not be an opportunity for the Church to revisit the question of the applicability of the sacrament? I see no particular reason why the Church couldn’t have a wider range of health needs under the rubric of sickness, including chronic miscarriage. And I suspect that at the pastoral level, a lot of priests anoint for this anyway—with what does look for all the world like the blessing of God. Such pastoral forces do, in part, drive the development of doctrine. But ultimately that’s going to be the business of theologians and bishops to work out.