La requisitoria di Spaemann
sul matrimonio fra chiesa e mondo
Il filosofo tedesco Robert Spaemann, sul mensile americano First Things ha scritto una potente requisitoria delle aperture alla concezione mondana del matrimonio che si stanno facendo largo anche all’interno della chiesa.
di Mattia Ferraresi
“Il matrimonio non è più visto come una realtà indipendente, nuova, che trascende l’individualità degli sposi, una realtà che, come minimo, non può essere sciolta dalla volontà di un solo partner. Ma può essere dissolta dal consenso di entrambe le parti, o dalla volontà di un sinodo o di un Papa? La risposta deve essere no”. Il filosofo tedesco Robert Spaemann, autorità nel mondo cattolico tenuta in altissima considerazione, fra gli altri, dal conterraneo Benedetto XVI, sul mensile americano First Things ha scritto una potente requisitoria delle aperture alla concezione mondana del matrimonio che si stanno facendo largo – e non da oggi – anche all’interno della chiesa, specialmente in vista del Sinodo straordinario sulla famiglia indetto da Francesco. Seconde nozze, nullità, accesso ai sacramenti per i risposati sono le appendici legali, le incarnazioni storiche del problema matrimoniale in un mondo dove i cattolici divorziano poco meno dei non cattolici, dicono le statistiche.
Il dilemma è se la chiesa debba curvarsi sul paradigma della contemporaneità in fatto di unioni affettive, fino al punto di vidimare religiosamente gli umori prevalenti, magari nel nome della misericordia. Spaemann legge in questo conflitto il riproporsi dell’eterna tensione fra la chiesa e il mondo, iniziata quando gli apostoli rimangono scioccati dalle parole del Maestro: “Non sarebbe meglio, allora, non sposarsi affatto? Il loro stupore sottolinea il contrasto fra il modo di vita cristiano e il modo di vita dominante nel mondo. Che lo voglia o no, la chiesa in occidente sta diventando una controcultura, e il suo futuro dipende eminentemente dalla sua capacità di mantenere il suo ‘sapore’ o di essere sottomessa dagli uomini”.
Si tratta della scelta fra rimanere il sale della terra o trasformarsi in uno zuccheroso stipulatore di compromessi con la logica mondana. Se la chiesa si trova di fronte a questo dilemma e tentata da più parti dall’opzione dell’annacquamento del suo insegnamento è anche colpa della chiesa stessa, dice Spaemann: “Invece di rinforzare la naturale, intuitiva attrattiva della stabilità matrimoniale, molti uomini di chiesa, inclusi vescovi e cardinali, preferiscono raccomandare, o almeno considerare, un’altra opzione, alternativa agli insegnamenti di Gesù, in pratica una capitolazione al mainstream secolarizzato. Il rimedio all’adulterio implicito nel ri-matrimonio, ci dicono, non è più la contrizione, la rinuncia, e il perdono, ma il passare del tempo e l’abitudine, come se l’accettazione sociale e il nostro personale senso di appagatezza con le nostre decisioni avesse un potere soprannaturale. Questa alchimia dovrebbe trasformare un concubinaggio adultero, il secondo matrimonio, in un’unione accettabile da benedire nel nome di Dio. Secondo questa logica, chiaramente, è come minimo giusto da parte della chiesa benedire le unioni omosessuali”.
Questa concezione discende da un errore nella concezione del tempo, scrive Spaemann, che “non è creativo”. Il tempo non aggiusta le cose, “il suo passaggio non restaura uno stato d’innocenza. La tendenza è sempre quella opposta, di accrescere l’entropia. Non dobbiamo confondere la graduale perdita del senso del peccato con la sua scomparsa e dunque sollevarci dalle nostre responsabilità”. Per Spaemann il secondo matrimonio è un tradimento dell’insegnamento cattolico, senza appello, accettato o considerato come ipoteticamente legittimo in nome del cambiamento delle abitudini che ha permeato il mondo e ora bussa con decisione alla porta della chiesa. Il matrimonio indissolubile è ormai percepito come “meta impossibile”, si legge nell’“Instrumentum Laboris” del Sinodo. Secondo Spaemann la chiesa ora è chiamata a decidere se vuole accarezzare o combattere questa percezione.
Fonte: Il Foglio, 21.7.2014
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DIVORCE AND
DIVORCE AND
REMARRIAGE
by Robert Spaemann
August 2014
The divorce statistics for modern Western societies are catastrophic. They
show that marriage is no longer regarded as a new, independent reality
transcending the individuality of the spouses, a reality that, at the very
least, cannot be dissolved by the will of one partner alone. But can it be
dissolved by the consent of both parties, or by the will of a synod or a pope?
The answer must be no, for as Jesus himself explicitly declares, man cannot put
asunder what God himself has joined together. Such is the teaching of the
Catholic Church.
The
Christian understanding of the good life claims to be valid for all human
beings. Yet even Jesus’s disciples were shocked by their Master’s words:
Wouldn’t it be better, then, they replied, not to marry at all? The astonishment
of the disciples underscores the contrast between the Christian way of life and
the way of life dominant in the world. Whether it wants to or not, the Church
in the West is on its way to becoming a counterculture, and its future now
depends chiefly on whether it is able, as the salt of the earth, to keep its
savor and not be trampled underfoot by men.
The
beauty of the Church’s teaching can shine forth only when it’s not watered
down. The temptation to dilute doctrine is reinforced nowadays by an unsettling
fact: Catholics are divorcing almost as frequently as their secular
counterparts. Something has clearly gone wrong. It’s against all reason to
think that all civilly divorced and remarried Catholics began their first
marriages firmly convinced of its indissolubility and then fundamentally
reversed themselves along the way. It’s more reasonable to assume that they
entered into matrimony without clearly realizing what they were doing in the
first place: burning their bridges behind them for all time (which is to say
until death), so that the very idea of a second marriage simply did not exist
for them.
Sadly, the Catholic Church is not without blame. Christian marriage
preparation very often fails to give engaged couples a clear picture of the
implications of a Catholic wedding. Were that so, many couples would very
likely decide against being married in the Church. For others, of course, good
marriage preparation would provide a helpful impetus to conversion. There is an
immense appeal in the idea that the union of a man and a woman is “written in
the stars,” that it endures on high, and that nothing can destroy it, both “in
good times and in bad.” This conviction is a wonderful and exhilarating source
of strength and joy for spouses working through marital crises and seeking to
breathe new life into their old love.
Instead of reinforcing the natural, intuitive appeal of marital permanence, many churchmen, including bishops and cardinals, prefer to recommend, or at least to consider, another option, one that is an alternative to Jesus’s teaching and basically a capitulation to the secular mainstream. The remedy for the adultery entailed by remarriage of the divorced, we are told, is no longer to be contrition, renunciation, and forgiveness but the passage of time and habit, as if general social acceptance and our personal comfort with our decisions and lives have an almost supernatural power. This alchemy supposedly transforms an adulterous concubinage that we call a “second marriage” into an acceptable union to be blessed by the Church in God’s name. Given this logic, of course, it is only fair for the Church to bless homosexual partnerships as well.
Instead of reinforcing the natural, intuitive appeal of marital permanence, many churchmen, including bishops and cardinals, prefer to recommend, or at least to consider, another option, one that is an alternative to Jesus’s teaching and basically a capitulation to the secular mainstream. The remedy for the adultery entailed by remarriage of the divorced, we are told, is no longer to be contrition, renunciation, and forgiveness but the passage of time and habit, as if general social acceptance and our personal comfort with our decisions and lives have an almost supernatural power. This alchemy supposedly transforms an adulterous concubinage that we call a “second marriage” into an acceptable union to be blessed by the Church in God’s name. Given this logic, of course, it is only fair for the Church to bless homosexual partnerships as well.
But this way of thinking is based on a profound error. Time is not creative.
Its passage does not restore lost innocence. In fact, its tendency is always
just the opposite—namely, to increase entropy. Every instance of order in
nature is wrested from the grip of entropy and over time eventually falls under
its dominion once again. As Anaximander puts it, “From whence things arise, to
that they eventually return, according to the appointed time.” It would be wrong
to repackage the principle of decay and death as something good. We should not
confuse the gradual deadening of the sense of sin with its disappearance and
release from our ongoing responsibility for it.
Aristotle taught that there is a greater evil in habitual sin than in a single lapse accompanied by the sting of remorse. Adultery is a case in point, especially when it leads to new, legally sanctioned arrangements—“remarriage”—that are almost impossible to undo without great pain and effort. Thomas Aquinas uses the term perplexitas to characterize cases like these. They are situations from which there is no escape that does not incur guilt of one sort or another. Even a single act of infidelity entangles the adulterer in perplexity: Should he confess his deed to his spouse or not? If he confesses, he might just save the marriage and, in any case, he avoids a lie that would eventually destroy mutual trust. On the other hand, a confession could pose an even greater threat to the marriage than the sin itself (which is why priests often counsel penitents against revealing infidelity to their spouses). Note, by the way, that St. Thomas teaches that we never stumble into perplexitaswithout some measure of personal guilt and that God allows this as a punishment for the sin that initially set us down the wrong path.
To stand by our fellow Christians in the midst of the perplexitas of remarriage, to show them empathy and assure them of the solidarity of the community, is a work of mercy. But to admit them to communion without contrition and to regularize their situation would be an offense against the Blessed Sacrament—one more among the many that are committed today. Paul’s instruction on the Eucharist in First Corinthians culminates in a warning against unworthy reception of Christ’s body: He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself. Why did the liturgical reformers strike these decisive verses from the second reading for Mass on Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi, of all feasts? When the entire congregation stands up to receive communion Sunday after Sunday, one has to wonder: Do Catholic parishes now consist exclusively of saints?
Aristotle taught that there is a greater evil in habitual sin than in a single lapse accompanied by the sting of remorse. Adultery is a case in point, especially when it leads to new, legally sanctioned arrangements—“remarriage”—that are almost impossible to undo without great pain and effort. Thomas Aquinas uses the term perplexitas to characterize cases like these. They are situations from which there is no escape that does not incur guilt of one sort or another. Even a single act of infidelity entangles the adulterer in perplexity: Should he confess his deed to his spouse or not? If he confesses, he might just save the marriage and, in any case, he avoids a lie that would eventually destroy mutual trust. On the other hand, a confession could pose an even greater threat to the marriage than the sin itself (which is why priests often counsel penitents against revealing infidelity to their spouses). Note, by the way, that St. Thomas teaches that we never stumble into perplexitaswithout some measure of personal guilt and that God allows this as a punishment for the sin that initially set us down the wrong path.
To stand by our fellow Christians in the midst of the perplexitas of remarriage, to show them empathy and assure them of the solidarity of the community, is a work of mercy. But to admit them to communion without contrition and to regularize their situation would be an offense against the Blessed Sacrament—one more among the many that are committed today. Paul’s instruction on the Eucharist in First Corinthians culminates in a warning against unworthy reception of Christ’s body: He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself. Why did the liturgical reformers strike these decisive verses from the second reading for Mass on Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi, of all feasts? When the entire congregation stands up to receive communion Sunday after Sunday, one has to wonder: Do Catholic parishes now consist exclusively of saints?
But there is still one last point, which by all rights ought to be the
first. The Church admits that it handled the sexual abuse of minors without
sufficient regard for the victims. The same pattern is repeating itself here.
Has anyone even mentioned the victims? Is anyone talking about the woman whose
husband has abandoned her and their four children? She might be willing to take
him back, if only to ensure that the children are provided for, but he has a
new family and has no intention of returning.
Meanwhile, time passes. The adulterer would like to receive communion again. He is ready to confess his guilt, but he is not willing to pay the price—namely, a life of continence. The abandoned woman is forced to watch while the Church accepts and blesses the new union. As if to add insult to injury, her abandonment receives an ecclesiastical stamp of approval. It would be more honest to replace “until death do you part” with “until the love of one of you grows cold”—a formula that is already being seriously recommended. To speak here of a “liturgy of blessing” rather than of a remarriage before the altar is a deceptive sleight of hand that merely throws dust in the eyes of the people.
Meanwhile, time passes. The adulterer would like to receive communion again. He is ready to confess his guilt, but he is not willing to pay the price—namely, a life of continence. The abandoned woman is forced to watch while the Church accepts and blesses the new union. As if to add insult to injury, her abandonment receives an ecclesiastical stamp of approval. It would be more honest to replace “until death do you part” with “until the love of one of you grows cold”—a formula that is already being seriously recommended. To speak here of a “liturgy of blessing” rather than of a remarriage before the altar is a deceptive sleight of hand that merely throws dust in the eyes of the people.
Robert
Spaemann is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Munich.
Fonte: First Things, August 2014
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