An answer to Cardinal Farrell, from Pope John Paul II

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 13, 2018

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the prefect of the Vatican dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, fears that priests “have no credibility” when they attempt to prepare Catholic couples for marriage.

St. John Paul II disagrees. From the introduction to his book, Love and Responsibility:

Yet priests, as well as the religious, are often denied the competency to speak on sexual matters, precisely on the grounds that they do not personally encounter them the way that lay married people do, that they do not possess personal experience in that field. Due to that fact it must be underscored that it is precisely experience—the indirect experience provided by pastoral work—that is one of the two sources of this book. It is granted that this experience is not personal but “alien” instead, although at the same time it is more extensive than any exclusively personal experience.

But there’s a catch, I’m afraid. When he refers to “the indirect experience provided by pastoral work,” I have no doubt that the late Pontiff is referring to his hours spent in confessionals, hearing about the challenges of married life, from the lips of Catholics struggling—and failing—to meet the ideal.

So I propose an amendment to Cardinal Farrell’s observation. Priests will “have no credibility” to prepare couples for marriage unless they spend time hearing confessions.

h/t to @marcosolzi