It Begins: Synod on the Family Opens in Rome

Today is a big day. First of all, my husband and I celebrate our 46th wedding anniversary. What an adventure rearing five children in a world of confusion (in the "spirit" of Vatican II and the dissent over Humanae Vitae)  and a growing culture of death. When Roe v. Wade came down in 1973, we had two little ones and I hugged them tighter as I mourned the untimely deaths of their spiritual brothers and sisters murdered silently amidst the cheers of the raging feminists. And then, with the support of my husband, I put on the armor of God and began fighting against abortion for the sake of our family and all the little endangered ones. The faithful Catholic family is the greatest bulwark against the relentless culture of death.

October 4, 1969

Ostensibly, the Synod is supposed to strengthen, renew, sanctify, and increase the number of faithful Catholic families. That, at least, should be its goal. But we all know from last year's Extraordinary Synod and machinations of the "progressive bishops" that many do not share that vision. Rather than build up the nuclear family, they want to transform the definition of "faithful Catholic family" to include adulterous unions and same-sex partnerships.

Was it an accident that the Synod opens on the day we hear readings from Genesis and St. Mark that affirm the family? Certainly not in God's providence. Genesis reminds us that "a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh." One man and one woman -- not a series of men or women like musical chairs and not two men or two women playing house together. It is the sacred union of Adam and Eve that God blesses when he gives them dominion over all creation, tells them to multiply and fill the earth, and looks at all he has made and finds it "very good."


The reading from St. Mark shows us Jesus POSITIVELY ruling out divorce. "What God has joined together, no human being must separate," and "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." Could Jesus be any clearer than that?

Dancing together at our 40th wedding anniversary

But it doesn't end there. Immediately following that passage the children are coming to Jesus and He rebukes the apostles for stopping them. Marriage and children go together. I see that rebuke about hindering children as Christ's subtle message against couples "hindering" children by the sins of abortion and contraception?

The Synod Fathers cannot (They also may not!) change Christ's doctrine on the idissolubility of marriage. As for the abomination of calling same-sex partnerships "marriage," how can that even be discussed at the Synod other than helping familes who struggle over the sinful choices of their children (any type of sin from rejecting the Church to various addictions to cohabiting to homosexual practice, etc.). Besides that context the issue should not even be on the agenda!

But it is.

Why? Because the smoke of Satan fills the sanctuary. How can one keep it from seeping into everything the Church does through those whose lives are committed, not to Christ, but to the enemy. Like the priest who "came out" a few days ago who worked at the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith. How diligent do you think he was in defending the faith?

Pray and do penance for the Synod. It's drizzling and chilly here in Woodstock, but my husband and I will go to the Life Chain in the rain (hoping it clears up) and offer that sacrifice for the Synod. With the little shepherds of Fatima we will pray, "It is for love you, Lord, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins against the Immaculate Heart Mary." Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

As you consider the issues surrounding the synod you may find these articles interesting:

"Gay" priest times his coming out for maximum impact on Synod  (He's been dismissed from his Vatican post at the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith, but otherwise his status is left to his ordinary. He is planning a book and it would be prudent that his bishop give him the boot imho. He rejects a teaching of the Church which makes him, by definition, a heretic.)

Pope Opens Synod Stressing True Marriage (I have not read the homily from the Mass, only excerpts. Here's one quote from this article:

Francis dedicated one third of his homily to the topic of love between man and woman and its role in procreation.
"This is God’s dream for his beloved creation: to see it fulfilled in the loving union between a man and a woman, rejoicing in their shared journey, fruitful in their mutual gift of self," he said.
He also spoke of the "true meaning of the couple and of human sexuality in God's plan," a clear reference to heterosexual marriage.

Relics of St. Therese and her parents to be displayed throughout the Synod Her parents, Louis and Zelie, will be canonized October 18th. Pray for the intercession of entire Martin family for the Synod