Today I write to you in response to a video posted by Bishop Doherty, Bishop of Lafayette of Indiana, on Fiducia Supplicans.  In this brief 3 minute video, his Excellency makes three claims:
 

1. The document maintains the Catholic teachings on marriage
2. What a blessing is
3. The primary reason for the blessing is for God’s healing grace

In the video Bishop Doherty states “Every person doesn’t have to pass a test or quiz to get blessed … you just show up and we bless them at the end of Mass.  People come up individually at the time of need.  People come up to me and it could be at a restaurant or at a rest stop on the highway they have a need they want safe travel, they want some help with their family.  This document has to do with those spontaneous moments.“
 
The Evolution of Practices Over Time Destroys the Faith

“You just show up, we bless them at the end of Mass…People come to me at restaurant or at a restaurant …. It doesn’t change church teaching …”
[Bishop Doherty excerpt of comments on Fiducia Supplicans/Blessings]

This is what the target audience of the Bishop’s Fiducia Supplicans video think it means, right or wrong. This then becomes what they think WE NEED TO ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT IT MEANS.  It always turns out turns out this way.  This is the beginning of the process, and then it moves to phase 2.

Father James Martin: How same-sex couples have blessed me – Outreach

Let us not forget this is the way they convinced us for how receiving the Eucharist in the hand would be the exception not the norm.  Now in Phase 2, nearly everyone receives Communion in the hand and if you choose to receive Communion on the tongue while kneeling, you might receive strange looks because you are the rare one.  This practice of receiving in the hand, undermines the Real Presence.

Encouraging Fraternal Correction: A Call to Write to Bishop Doherty and Similar Bishops in Your Region
 

 
Dear Bishop Doherty,

I am deeply concerned about your response to Fiducia Supplicans because you mention that the Declaration pertains to blessing individuals in spontaneous moments. Although you also reiterate that the Catholic teachings on marriage are reinforced, I’d like to outline my concerns with your words as well as concerning elements of Fiducia Supplicans (FS).

1. If blessings are given spontaneously, as you claim have been done many times in the past, what is the purpose of issuing the Declaration?
2. FS was meant to bring about a new form of ‘Pastoral’ blessing.  FS was not unanimously agreed upon by Cardinal Fernandez’s colleagues or Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals. This move contradicts the pope’s own emphasis on being synodal and collaborative.
3. You state the blessing is for individuals, but the document clearly states blessings are for disordered relationships and same-sex couples.  Priests, like James Martin have already blessed COUPLES not individuals with media coverage in tow.
   • First, there is no possible way to bless a “couple” as two individuals.
   • It’s a circular argument to suggest that “we are not blessing unions, just the couple,” since a couple cannot exist without the union between them.
   • Cardinal Fernandez has expansively redefined the meaning of a couple as outlined by St. John Paul the Great, specifying only a man and a woman can be considered a couple.
4. FS suffers from doctrinal error.   An innovation was introduced in the FS Declaration which fails to distinguish between pastoral and liturgical blessings. This has resulted in a theological inconsistency, with no basis in traditional practices.
5. If a disordered gay couple, such as Charlie and Charlie, requests a blessing from the Church without any stipulation to “go and sin no more,” it will be interpreted as the Church condoning their behavior. This will lead to major scandal and have serious implications.
   • First and most importantly, GOD DOES NOT BLESS SIN – this is two gay men living in a homosexual relationship!  Therefore, Holy Mother Church cannot bless sin.
   • If performed in front of children all the greater sin because now little minds believe the Church blesses disordered homosexual relationships and thinks sodomy is acceptable, when we know this is one of four sins that calls down vengeance from heaven.
   • You and your priests have committed a grave sin by blessing this couple.  Instead of fraternal correction you have encouraged their disordered behavior.
   • There is no practical way to perform the blessing of the irregular couple without scandalizing the Faithful, who by virtue of their Baptism, ought not be the object of this scandalous thing.
6. Your language used seems to be an attempt to conceal and misrepresent the true intent of the FS text, which is to promote greater acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. This approach feels insulting and is seen as a way of masking the true intention of the Declaration.
7. I’m curious about your emphasis on Church Tradition while disregarding the traditional priests and forbidding the Traditional Latin Mass. Could you explain your reasoning?
8. FS is meant to keep pushing the homosexual progressive agenda and acceptance of their lifestyle using emotionally charged words such as “mercy” and “love”.  This is a grave distortion of mercy.  However, true mercy and love also require the presence of truth.  Unfortunately, it is a common tactic of progressives to appeal to emotions to distort the truth and persuade others to follow a path of confusion and sin. 
9. Consider this question: Why have top church leaders and many countries denounced this document, if it were meant for good? For instance:
   • Cardinal Muller – former head of the Doctrine of the Faith rejected it
   • Cardinal Sarah – former head of the Divine Worship and Sacraments said the document is heretical
   • The Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar will not implement FS
   • Cardinal Fernandez’ predecessor Aguer said FS should not be obeyed
   • Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Kazakhstan, Uruguay refuse to implement FS
   • The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy in the UK and USA say the blessings are impermissible
   • Archbishop Charles Chaput attested that FS is “a doubleminded exercise in simultaneously affirming and undercutting Catholic teaching on the nature of blessings and their application to ‘irregular’ relationships.”
   • Bishop Strickland – former U.S. Bishop of Tyler Texas said we should rethink the document and all priests should reject it
   • Dioceses of Rapid City and Sioux Falls – The bishops noted that “the ministers of the Church have no power to bless sin,” and that “any sort of blessing that would give the semblance of condoning sin is not to be granted.”

 
Never has a teaching been ignored or defied this way.

Rejecting Division and Embracing Unity: A Call to Action Against Divisive Actions

It’s important to remember that Satan thrives on division, and the FS Declaration has only served to further divide bishop against bishop, priest against priest, and nation against nation. It is not the work of God, and it’s time to reject it. We must cast it out and ask God to forgive the leaders and all who were misled under the guise of mercy and false wisdom. It’s time to come together and seek unity instead of division.

Where Things Are Heading

This document and your video make it incredibly difficult for priests who are faithful to God, Tradition, and Sacred Scripture to uphold the fullness of the faith and preserve natural law.  We can now look forward to the entourage of LGBTQ coalitions fighting for their ‘rights’ in the Church moving it one step closer to approving gay marriage in the Church, and there will be no one to defend the Deposit of the Faith remaining in the Curia or among the predominance of U.S. Bishops.  God help Catholic leadership and God help us.

Bishop Doherty, we implore you to retract your statement and defend the Deposit of the Faith. Please do not fall prey to the LGBTQ community’s latest tactics, which promote love and mercy but accept and bless this sinful behavior. You have the power and authority to correct this, and your decision should be a courageous one in defense of truth. Remember, you are accountable for your actions.

If not, the Faithful have limited options: either to leave your diocese or to stop funding all churches in your diocese. I pray that it does not come to either. May God guide you in your decision-making and bless the Catholic Church.

Ad Jesus per Mariam,