The Argentinian Catholic magazine Criterio looks at the success of the country's same-sex marriage law and what it means for the church's approach to the culture:
We must therefore ask ourselves why is it that the Catholic doctrine, despite its depth and richness has ceased to be, in general terms, persuasive. We mustn’t presume beforehand that the problem lies only on the side of culture. It is true that the evangelical message has a core that is more important than the cultural differences and transformations, and precisely because of this, it is a critical instance, an appeal to not conform to the “pattern of the world” (cf. Rom 12,2). But on the other hand, our comprehension of the Gospel is always historical, and therefore, it must allow the influence brought by the cultural processes and the new situations that they generate.
How do we face up to this challenge? Above all, reflection about the recent events and forecasting the debates to come (for instance, abortion and euthanasia), must confirm us in the idea that we must stop “running after” the changes and start anticipating them. This supposes dedicating attention, people and resources in order to fully study the cultural dynamics of our times.
[snip]
Now, how should these answers in the field of behavior manifest themselves concretely? In the future, should the Church change its rules, or simply resign them and settle for presenting “ideals”? Obviously not. But in the field of rules, whose subject is variable and contingent by definition, it is always possible to give moral rules a formulation which adapts better to the peculiarities of the different situations, and alongside this, elaborate prudential criteria that can be a better guidance to the discernment of the faithful.
Also available in Spanish.
Tim Reidy
