discerning whether or not & how to extend pastoral accommodations

meet but don't leave people where they are

Regarding the tweet, above, I know this isn't an over-against Aquinas' "quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur," as akin to Nazianzen's practice of striving to convey the faith in the least inadequate way necessary to reach a particular audience.

Nor is it a wholesale rejection of the church's tradition of pastoral accommodations, for choices "not of the best, nor even truly of the good, but simply of the less bad, remain a true path of conscience." (Gustave Martele, L'existence humaine et l’amour, p. 139).

I suspect it's about the tension in discernment processes between the poles of condemning vs consecrating everything (Pope Francis) , which, when wrongly resolved, can meet people where they are only to, then, leave people where they are!

What ever one makes of his answers, my late friend, Jim Arraj, a Maritain scholar & exemplary Thomist, touches on all the relevant questions that come into play in discerning whether or not and how to extend pastoral accommodations.

If nothing else, here's an engaging historical narrative: Is There a Solution to the Catholic Debate on Contraception?

Note: I disagreed with the essentialist account of the morality of contraception, anyway, so wasn’t looking for Jim’s existential solution. But I did find this case study to be very instructive and our discussions very stimulating & think that it still has great heuristic value.