Archbishop Charles Chaput also stated that gay Catholics should also ‘live chastely’ in new rules issued after Pope Francis urged more acceptance of others 
 
 Catholics in Philadelphia who are divorced and civilly remarried will be welcome to accept Holy Communion – as long as they abstain from sex and live out their relationships like “brother and sister”. 
 
 New guidelines published by the conservative archbishop of Philadelphia this month also called on priests within the archdiocese to help Catholics who are attracted to people of the same sex and “find chastity very difficult”, saying such individuals should be advised to frequently seek penance. Because same-sex attraction takes “diverse forms”, the archdiocese also said that some people can still live out a vocation of heterosexual marriage with children, notwithstanding “some degree of same-sex attraction”. 
 
 Pope Francis urges compassion for all in landmark statement on family values Read more 
 
 The guidelines, which took effect on 1 July, come three months after Pope Francis urged bishops to be more accepting of Catholics who lived outside of the church’s social teaching and doctrine, including people who have divorced and remarried, and people in same-sex relationships. The pope’s views were published in April in a document titled Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love), which was hailed as potentially groundbreaking. Because the document called on bishops to show greater mercy and flexibility to bring Catholics back to the church, while also calling on bishops not to veer from church doctrine, it was seen as giving both traditional and more progressively minded bishops the chance to interpret the document as they saw fit. 
 
 The Philadelphia archbishop, Charles Chaput, is known as one of the staunchest conservative leaders in the US Catholic church, a view that is reflected in the rules the archdiocese published. 
 
 John Allen, a veteran Vatican journalist, said he believed Philadelphia was among the first archdiocese to publish such rules based on its interpretation of Amoris Laetitia. 
 
 “My suspicion is that those who are inclined to a more progressive reading [of Amoris Laetitia] are not going to put out documents to say so. It will quietly be made clear to priests that it is OK under certain circumstances, for example, to allow some people to quietly come back to communion,” Allen said. “My suspicion is that the more traditional line [adopted by some bishops] will be more public.” 
 
 Allen said that he did not think Pope Francis would be surprised by Chaput’s reading of the papal document, since he is likely aware of traditional interpretations of his document. 
 
 In its examination of homosexuality, the Philadelphia guidelines state that two people in an “active, public same-sex relationship, no matter how sincere, offer a serious counter-witness to Catholic belief, which can only produce moral confusion in the community. 
 
 “Those with predominant same-sex attractions are therefore called to struggle to live chastely for the kingdom of God. In this endeavor they have need of support, friendship and understanding if they fail,” the rules state. 
 
 But the greatest attention in the guidelines is focused on couples who are divorced and civilly remarried who have not obtained an annulment of their first marriage. 
 
 While divorced and remarried couples should be welcomed by the Catholic community, and not be seen as outside the church, the archdiocese said they are required by church teaching to refrain from all sexual intimacy. 
 
 “This applies even if they must (for the care of their children) continue to live under one roof. Undertaking to live as brother and sister is necessary for the divorced and civilly remarried to receive reconciliation in the Sacrament of Penance, which could then open the way to the Eucharist,” the archdiocese said. 
 
 Priests are also directed to consider Catholic couples who are living together but are not married, including whether the couple have had children born in these “irregular unions”. If a priest senses that one person in the couple is reluctant to take the plunge, the archdiocese recommended trying to break up the pair. 
 
 “Often cohabiting couples refrain from making final commitments because one or both persons is seriously lacking in maturity or has other significant obstacles to entering a valid union. Here, prudence plays a vital role. Where one or another person is not capable of, or is not willing to commit to, a marriage, the pastor should urge them to separate,” the guidelines state. 
 
 If the cohabitating couple seems ready to tie the knot but is just a bit slow, the priest should encourage them to practice chastity. 
 
 “They will find this challenging, but again, with the help of grace, mastering the self is possible – and this fasting from physical intimacy is a strong element of spiritual preparation for an enduring life together,” it said. ||||| Divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, as well as cohabitating unmarried couples, must "refrain from sexual intimacy" to receive Holy Communion in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has asserted in a new set of pastoral guidelines. 
 
 Released Friday, the guidelines instruct clergy and other archdiocesan leaders on implementing Amoris Laetitia, a major document on family that Pope Francis issued in April. 
 
 His six-page instruction, which appears on the archdiocesan website, may be the first of its kind issued by the bishop of any American diocese in response to Amoris Laetitia, Latin for "the joy of love." 
 
 Acknowledging that it is a "hard teaching," Chaput goes on to say that Catholics in same-sex partnerships, those remarried without a church annulment, and cohabitating persons may not serve on parish councils, instruct the faithful, serve as lectors, or dispense Communion. 
 
 Allowing persons in such "irregular" relationships, "no matter how sincere," to hold positions of responsibility would "offer a serious counter-witness to Catholic belief, which can only produce moral confusion in the community," according to Chaput. 
 
 Known as an apostolic exhortation, it does not carry the weight of an encyclical but is viewed as a major teaching of the church. 
 
 Chaput served on the synod, or gathering of bishops, that advised Francis in 2015 on the creation of Amoris, and was elected by those bishops to advise Francis after the synod. In June, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops named him chairman of a five-bishop committee to help promote the teachings of Amoris Laetitia in this country. 
 
 The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University estimates that there are 4.5 million Catholics in this country who are divorced and remarried without an annulment. 
 
 In his pastoral guidelines, Chaput praises Amoris for its "sections of exceptional beauty," and notes that it will serve as "key resources in revising and upgrading our [archdiocesan] marriage preparation program." 
 
 Chaput was not available to discuss the guidelines, but the Rev. Dennis Gill, director of the archdiocesan Office for Liturgy, described them Tuesday as "much larger than Communion and irregular relationships." 
 
 It was issued, Gill said, "as a way of applying all of Amoris Laetitia," which he said urges pastors to "accompany married couples in every type of situation" and also to be "companions" to those who fall short of the church's teachings and to guide them toward holiness. 
 
 Just what message Pope Francis intended to send to his pastors in Amoris has been a topic of some dispute, however. 
 
 In an oft-cited line, Francis wrote that the church and clergy have wasted "pastoral energy on denouncing a decadent world without proactively proposing ways to finding true happiness." 
 
 He also wrote that "it can no longer simply be said that all those in any 'irregular' situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace." 
 
 But Gill was emphatic that the latter sentence does not permit Catholic clergy to decide on their own that an unmarried couple may receive Communion. 
 
 "There are people challenging the wisdom of that statement," said Gill, a professor at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. "A lot of teachers and theologians feel it may not have been as well expressed as it should have been." 
 
 Chaput also noted that in spite of Francis' exhortation that clergy be sympathetic to those whose sexual relationships seem to marginalize them, the pope "states clearly that neither Church teaching nor the canonical discipline concerning marriage has changed." 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Reese, former editor of the Jesuit magazine America and a columnist for the weekly National Catholic Reporter, said that in Amoris Laetitia, "Francis is clearly open to the possibility of divorced and remarried Catholics receiving Holy Communion. 
 
 "But I think he'd also leave this to the discretion of the local bishop," Reese said, "which means that Chaput can do what he wants in his diocese, but a neighboring bishop may take a much more open position." 
 
 What Francis did in Amoris, Reese said, "was articulate certain principles and allow local churches to interpret and implement them in the way they see best." 
 
 The Diocese of Camden did not return a request for comment. 
 
 Michael Rocks, president of the Philadelphia chapter of Dignity, a group for homosexual Catholics who believe it is permissible to be sexually active, said Tuesday he was not aware of Chaput's guidelines but that "they will not affect us, because we have a non-relationship with the archdiocese." 
 
 Pope John Paul II barred Dignity from meeting on any church property. 
 
 "But I wonder how they tell if straight people are following the sexual rules of the church," Rocks said. "How do they tell if the president of the parish council isn't into child pornography or having a sexual relationship?" 
 
 He said he was "not surprised" that Chaput would bar persons in unsanctioned relationships from holding positions of responsibility. "I can't imagine him saying anything else," Rocks said. 
 
 The Rev. Philip Bochanski, associate director for Courage International, a chaplaincy for homosexual Catholics striving to abide by church teachings on chastity, found "nothing new in the teachings that the archbishop formulated in those guidelines. The notion that a person needs to be in a state of grace to receive [Communion] goes back to Paul's letter to the Corinthians. 
 
 "The gospel demands chastity," Bochanski said, "for everybody in their state in life." 
 
 doreilly@phillynews.com 
 
 856-779-3841 ||||| Copies of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation ' Amoris Laetitia ' (The Joy of Love) document are on display prior to the start of a press conference, at the Vatican, Friday, April 8, 2016. Pope Francis... (Associated Press) 
 
 Copies of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation ' Amoris Laetitia ' (The Joy of Love) document are on display prior to the start of a press conference, at the Vatican, Friday, April 8, 2016. Pope Francis has insisted that individual conscience be the guiding principle for Catholics negotiating the... (Associated Press) 
 
 VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis insisted that individual conscience be the guiding principle for Catholics negotiating the complexities of sex, marriage and family life in a major document released Friday that rejects the emphasis on black and white rules for the faithful. 
 
 In the 256-page document "The Joy of Love," Francis makes no change in church doctrine and strongly upholds that marriage is a lifelong commitment. 
 
 But in selectively citing his predecessors and emphasizing his own teachings, Francis makes clear that he wants nothing short of a revolution in the way priests accompany Catholics, saying the church must no longer sit in judgment and "throw stones" against those who fail to live up to the Gospel's ideals of marriage and family life. 
 
 "I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion," he wrote. "But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness." 
 
 On thorny issues such as contraception, Francis stressed that a couple's individual conscience — not dogmatic rules imposed across the board — must guide their decisions and the church's pastoral practice. 
 
 "We have been called to form consciences, not replace to them," he said. 
 
 He insisted the church's aim is to reintegrate and welcome all its members. He called for a new language to help Catholic families cope with today's problems. And he said pastors must take into account mitigating factors — fear, ignorance, habits and duress — in counseling Catholics who simply aren't perfect. 
 
 "It can no longer simply be said that all those in any irregular situations are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace," he wrote. Even those in an "objective situation of sin" can be in a state of grace, and can even be more pleasing to God by trying to improve, he said. 
 
 The document's release marks the culmination of a divisive two-year consultation of ordinary Catholics and the church hierarchy that Francis initiated in hopes of understanding the problems facing Catholic families today and providing them with better pastoral care. 
 
 The most divisive issue that arose during two meetings of bishops, or synods, was whether Francis would loosen the Vatican's strict position on whether Catholics who divorce and remarry can receive Communion. Church teaching holds that unless these Catholics receive an annulment, or a church decree that their first marriage was invalid, they are committing adultery and cannot receive Communion. 
 
 Conservatives had insisted that the rules were fixed and that there was no way around Christ's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage. Progressives had sought wiggle room to balance doctrine with mercy and look at each couple on a case-by-case basis, accompanying them on a path of reconciliation that could lead to them eventually receiving the sacraments. 
 
 Francis took a unilateral step last year in changing church law to make it easier to get an annulment. On Friday, he said the rigorous response proposed by the conservatives was inconsistent with Jesus' message of mercy. 
 
 "By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and of growth and discourage paths of sanctification which give glory to God," he said. "Let us remember that a small step in the midst of great human limitations can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties." 
 
 Francis didn't explicitly endorse the "penitential path" of bringing such civilly remarried Catholics to Communion that was advocated by leading progressives such as Cardinal Walter Kasper. But he repeated what the synod had endorsed of the need for pastors to help individual Catholics over the course of spiritual direction to ascertain what God is asking of them. 
 
 And he went further by explicitly linking such discussions of conscience with access to the sacraments. 
 
 In footnotes, Francis cited his previous document "The Joy of the Gospel" in saying that the Eucharist "is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak." 
 
 The Rev. James Bretzke, a Boston College theologian, said the document will give cover to and empower those priests and bishops who want to apply a broader understanding of the confidential discussions between a priest and divorced and civilly remarried Catholics — a concept known as the "internal forum solution." 
 
 "He does not outlaw that, whereas John Paul II specifically outlawed (it)," he said. 
 
 But Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, a major English-language publisher of the writings of retired Pope Benedict XVI, said Francis' emphasis on conscience "doesn't mean this is a free pass to do whatever you want." 
 
 He said the document tries to navigate the difficult path of upholding church teaching while allowing the civilly remarried to participate in the life of the church. 
 
 "It's a very tricky thing," Brumley said. 
 
 In many ways the document is significant for what it doesn't say. 
 
 While Francis frequently cited John Paul, whose papacy was characterized by a hardline insistence on doctrine and sexual morals, he did so selectively. Francis referenced certain parts of John Paul's 1981 "Familius Consortio," the guiding Vatican document on family life until Friday, but he omitted any reference to its most divisive paragraph 83, which explicitly forbids the sacraments for the divorced and civilly remarried. 
 
 In fact, Francis went further than mere omission and effectively rejected John Paul's call in that document for people in civil second marriages to live as brother and sister, abstaining from sex so they can still receive the sacraments. In a footnote, Francis said that many people offered such a solution by the church "point out that if certain expressions of intimacy are lacking it often happens that faithfulness is endangered and the good of children suffer." 
 
 Similarly, in discussing the need for "responsible parenthood" and regulating the number of children, Francis made no mention of the church's opposition to artificial contraception. He squarely rejected abortion as "horrendous" and he cited the 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae," which deals with the issue. 
 
 But Francis made no mention of the "unlawful birth control methods" rejected in "Humanae Vitae." Instead he focused on the need for couples in their conscience to make decisions about their family size. 
 
 Citing the Vatican II document "Gaudium et Spes" Francis said: "Let them thoughtfully take into account both their own welfare and that of their children, those already born and those which the future may bring. ... The parents themselves and no one else should ultimately make this judgment in the sight of God." 
 
 Francis made a single reference to church-sanctioned family planning method of abstaining from sex during a woman's fertile time. He said only that such practices are to be "promoted" — not that other methods are forbidden — and he insisted on the need for children to receive sex education, albeit without focusing on "safe sex." 
 
 Gays will likely be disappointed by the documents' failure to offer anything significant beyond existing church teaching that gays are not to be discriminated against and are to be welcomed into the church with respect and dignity. It resoundingly rejects gay marriage and repeats the church's position that same-sex unions can in no way be equivalent to marriage between man and wife. 
 
 But women will find much to appreciate in the document. Francis condemns at length the "verbal, physical and sexual violence" many women endure in marriages, rejects "sexual submission" and the "reprehensible" practice of genital mutilation. And he says the belief that feminism is to blame for the crisis in families today is completely invalid. 
 
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 Zoll reported from New York. 
 
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 Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter/nwinfield and Rachel Zoll at www.twitter/rzollAP
– It just got a whole lot less fun to be a Catholic in Philadelphia. New guidelines released by Archbishop Charles Chaput last Friday say divorced couples who have remarried must permanently abstain from sex, instead living like "brother and sister," the Guardian reports. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, there are about 4.5 million US Catholics who have been remarried without getting their first marriage annulled by the church. But divorcees aren't the only ones Chaput wants to see living without sex. People in same-sex relationships and straight couples who aren't married must also go sexless. Fortunately, the new guidelines explain that anyone can be in a successful heterosexual marriage with kids even with "some degree of same-sex attraction." The guidelines, which come from one of the most conservative Catholic leaders in the US, also recommend priests try to break up couples who aren't interested in getting married, which shows they're "lacking in maturity," and claims same-sex relationships will "produce moral confusion in the community." Anyone going against the guidelines should not receive Holy Communion and should be barred from positions of responsibility within the church. The six pages of guidelines are a direct response to Pope Francis' Joy of Love document, which many saw as instructing bishops to be more accepting of "irregular" relationships. But one official with the Philadelphia archdiocese says that document "may not have been as well expressed as it should have been." Chaput's guidelines are meant to clarify it.