Last week’s post examined granting Church funerals to those who belong to groups whose doctrines are irreconcilable with Catholic doctrine or plot against the Church. Today’s post focuses on administering sacraments to single mothers, unmarried or children of the unmarried. The 13 December 2023 letter from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to Bishop Ramón Alfredo de la Cruz Baldera of the Diocese of San Francisco de Macorís (Dominican Republic) regarding access to Eucharistic communion for single mothers begins thus:
“On 24 October 2023, this Dicastery received your email expressing concern about single mothers who “abstain from communion out of fear of the rigorism of the clergy and community leaders”. Several letters from lay people received by the Holy Father return to the same theme. It is noted that in some countries, both priests and some lay people prevent mothers who have had a child outside of marriage from accessing the sacraments and even baptizing their children.”
Do priests in Nigeria, supported by the lay faithful, not wish to administer the sacraments to children of single mothers or of unmarried parents or to single mothers and unmarried couples themselves? Although the reason for this reticence or discrimination is to prevent scandal and serve as deterrence for future possible offenders, is this always the morally right and just decision?
Our current attitude as Christians towards single mothers is the seeming discrepancy between our emphasis on the promotion of life and our reaction to these women.
The sexual act that leads to pregnancy is not done only by a woman. The biblical story of the adulterous woman in the gospel comes to mind. When the Jewish leaders brought the woman to Jesus, they asked: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery”. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say?” One quickly points out that Jewish leaders cherrypicked the dictates of the Mosaic law, which actually states: “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death” (Lev 20:10).
While not explicitly saying it, Jesus’ reaction of writing on the ground and asking any innocent person among them to cast the first stone raises concerns on why they chose to punish only the woman, without any reference to the man or the law requiring his own punishment too. In like manner, what do we do to the man who impregnated the woman whose ecclesial rights are restricted? Did the man not sin just as the woman?
This inevitably leads to the next question on what we are sanctioning: the sexual act, the pregnancy/baby, or both. If we are only frowning at the sexual act, it reinforces the question of the absence of external measures to the man who was an accomplice in the act.
Canon 1329 §1 states: “Where a number of persons conspire together to commit an offence, and accomplices are not expressly mentioned in the law or precept, if ferendae sententiae penalties were constituted for the principal offender, then the others are subject to the same penalties or to other penalties of the same or a lesser gravity.
§2 In the case of a latae sententiae penalty attached to an offence, accomplices, even though not mentioned in the law or precept, incur the same penalty if, without their assistance, the crime would not have been committed, and if the penalty is of such a nature as to be able to affect them; otherwise, they can be punished with ferendae sententiae penalties.”
Therefore, we need to reevaluate our attitude towards the pregnancy itself and the single mother and include male accomplices. Arguing that the man was not caught undermines natural justice and canonical equity. The reason is that pregnancy is an observable consequence of an action, sexual intercourse or IVF.
Here, one distinguishes between a sin (moral) and a delict (juridical). Sin is “an offence against reason, truth, and right conscience” (CCC, 1849) and can be in thoughts, words, deeds, or omissions. On the other hand, a delict is a violation of a law, and it must be externally observable (principle of materiality), morally imputable by negligence or malice (principle of imputability), and must have been previously established in law (principle of legality). This means that while evil thoughts are sinful, requiring sacramental confession, they do not constitute a delict because they are not externally observable. On the other hand, willful homicide is both a sin and a delict.
The sexual act, when not involving minors, vulnerable adults, and those to whom the law requires equal protection, is only a sin and not a delict. On the contrary, abortion is always a sin and a delict. It is a sin because it is intrinsically evil and a delict because it is externally observable, morally imputable, and a violation already established. Canon 1397 states: “§1 One who commits homicide, or who by force or by fraud abducts, imprisons, mutilates or gravely wounds a person, is to be punished, according to the gravity of the offence, with the penalties mentioned in can. 1336. §2 A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.”
Therefore, if the focus is only on the sexual act, and the lady has gone for sacramental confession, why do we still restrict her liberty because of the pregnancy or the baby? Why do we consider restricting the rights of innocent children?
In doing so, we counter-intuitively sanction a woman who preserved life while we extol those who decided to abort their babies – something against the Church’s emphasis on the promotion and safeguarding of human life connected to the inherent dignity of the human person.
In the letter cited above, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith continues:
“Women who, in this situation, have chosen life and who lead a very complex existence because of this choice should be encouraged to have access to the healing and consoling power of the sacraments.
The issue of single mothers and the difficulties that they and their children face in accessing the sacraments was already addressed by the Holy Father when he was the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires:
“There are priests who do not baptize the children of single mothers because [the children] were not conceived in the sanctity of marriage. They are the hypocrites of today.
They have clericalized the Church. They turn God’s people away from salvation. And that poor girl who could have sent her child back to the sender but had the courage to bring him into the world goes on pilgrimage from parish to parish to have him baptized”.
Subsequently, Pope Francis recognized the courage of these women in going ahead with their pregnancy: “I know that it is not easy to be a single mother. I know that people can sometimes look down on you. But I want to tell you something: you are a brave woman because you were able to bring these two daughters into the world. You could have killed them in your womb, yet you respected life: you respected the life you had inside you, and God will reward you for that, and he does reward you. Do not be ashamed; walk with your head held high: ‘I did not kill my daughters; I brought them into the world’. I congratulate you; I congratulate you, and may God bless you.”
In this sense, pastoral work should be done in the local Church to make people understand that being a single mother does not prevent that person from accessing the Eucharist. As for all other Christians, sacramental confession of sins allows the person to approach communion.
It can occur that one of these mothers, given the fragility of her situation, sometimes resorts to selling her body to support her family. The Christian community is called to do everything possible to help her avoid this very serious risk rather than judge her harshly. For this reason, “the Church’s pastors, in proposing to the faithful the full ideal of the Gospel and the Church’s teaching, must also help them to treat the weak with compassion, avoiding aggravation or unduly harsh or hasty judgements”.
Often, when commenting on the biblical episode of the adulterous woman (Jn. 8:1-11), the final phrase is emphasized: “sin no more”. Certainly, Jesus always invites us to change our lives, to respond more faithfully to God’s will, and to live with greater dignity. However, this phrase does not constitute the central message of this Gospel pericope, which is simply the invitation to recognize that no one can cast the first stone.
For this reason, Pope Francis, referring to mothers who must raise their children alone, reminds us that “in such difficult situations of need, the Church must be particularly concerned to offer understanding, comfort, and acceptance, rather than imposing straightaway a set of rules that only lead people to feel judged and abandoned by the very Mother called to show them God’s mercy.”
Finally, it is necessary to recall the words of the Holy Father in his message to the Synod. He emphasized the feminine and maternal face of the Church and denounced the “machismo and dictatorial attitudes” of those ministers who “go too far in their service and mistreat the people of God”. It is up to you to ensure that this type of behaviour does not occur in your local Church.”
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
