Bishop of Malaga encourages religious brotherhoods to welcome 'gay couples and those who have divorced and remarried'

Satué set out a detailed overview of the role of the brotherhoods within the Catholic Church and highlighted their role in welcoming people from all walks of life.

"The priest fishes with a rod. The brotherhood, with a trawl net and a trawl net must be used to catch fish of all kinds and sizes. The Lord will then see to it that He examines what is in each person's heart. But that is not for us to do. Judgement is reserved for Him. We must create a space within the brotherhood for everyone, where everyone feels welcomed, respected and loved just as they are," Satué said.

"We must welcome with joy the gay couple and the married couple with several children, the university student and the sex worker, the divorcee who has remarried and that devout woman who prays the rosary before mass. Everyone, everyone, everyone is called to be, in brotherhood, living stones of the Church," the bishop stated.

"There are no social classes, no left or right, no traditionalists or liberals. There is devotion which is the only thing that unites hearts and lifts them above all differences created by injustice, hatred or selfishness," José Antonio Satué said.

As he stated, the mission of the brotherhoods is "to rediscover the roots of our faith in Jesus Christ". Satué also issued a warning: "Be very wary of the leaven of the Pharisees, of hypocrisy, because the temptation of rigour, of merit, of purity, may lead us to invite many to join us, only to then place heavy burdens upon their shoulders."

He stated that "a member of a brotherhood must have one foot inside the Church and the other outside". He said that he is not daunted by the "tensions" between parish priests and brotherhood members, because that means "both are fulfilling their mission".

"The priest demands procedures and the brotherhood member asks for space so that there is room for everyone. If there is no tension between welcoming people and setting standards, then it is because the priest has become a brotherhood member or the brotherhood member has become too clerical. As I said before: we need a sense of belonging to the Church and openness to all. These things are not mutually exclusive," the bishop stated.

"The brother's place within the Church is on the streets, in culture, within the family, in the community's problems, in the hardships workers face and in the concerns of young people. Their place is not the sacristy," Satué said.

He invited the brotherhoods to "open their arms to everyone". The bishop urged religious brotherhoods to carry out the threefold mission of "proclaiming, celebrating and serving" through education, worship and charity.

"Take the young people up to the bell tower and show them how Christianity has dotted Europe with crosses, spires and belfries, creating a vision of the world, of men and women, of progress, of creation, of freedom and democracy and of respect for the individual dignity of every person. Organise pilgrimages, video forums, debates on current affairs, religious photography competitions using mobile phones, moments of meditation before a sacred image, or explanations of the theology embodied in the altarpieces."

Satué also pointed out that the veneration of images must not remain superficial. "The brother who contemplates Christ crucified must be able to discover in that image something more than an extraordinary work of art or a family devotion. He must recognise Jesus' self-sacrifice and understand that this self-sacrifice is sacramentally made present in the Eucharist," he stated.

Satué also called for greater cohesion between parishes and religious brotherhoods: "Parishes cannot go one way and the brotherhoods another. If they do not look out for one another and complement each other, the Church is not being built: the egos of one group and the other are clashing. When this happens, it makes for a very sad spectacle."

Finally, he stressed the need for the brotherhoods to devote more attention and effort to their social and charitable work. "Let us imagine a brotherhood capable of staging an extraordinary penitential procession, with a magnificent heritage and services attended by huge crowds, yet indifferent to the needs of the people living just a few metres from its church (...). Without the poor, the brotherhood runs the risk of turning religion into an aesthetic and emotional refuge, a spirituality that moves the soul but does not transform reality."

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