Part 7: Modernism and the Synod on Synodality - The Beat Goes On! And It's Not Sacred Polyphony!

The Synod on Synodality's General Meeting in October is shaping up to be the equivalent of hard metal rock! You won't hear Gregorian Chant or Sacred Polyphany coming out of the latest blather confab. What you will hear is plenty of modernist jargon about "walking together" and "co-responsibility" with laity (especially women). You'll hear about climate change, ecumenism, dialogue, and inculturation. You'll learn about "discernment, in the wealth of meanings that this term takes on within the different spiritual traditions." You'll hear about "having conversations in the Spirit." What  you won't hear about is the salvation of souls, the obligation to preach the gospel in season and out, the spiritual work of mercy to "admonish the sinner," or any talk of salvation and the real problems facing the Church. If Jesus is mentioned even once, I have yet to find him buried in the blather.

When the Instrumentum Laboris (IL) for the synod was released at a press conference, the synod guru, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, a dedicated modernist, responded to a question from Vatican correspondent Diane Montagna concerning doctrine saying, "“We do not speak about the Church’s teaching. That is not our task and not our mission. We just speak to welcome everybody who wants to walk with us. That is something different.” Indeed it is, the same difference that finds bishops allowing pride Masses and giving the Body and Blood of Christ to public champions of grievous sins that cry to heaven for vengeance.

Different indeed!

Is this what Jesus told the Apostles before he ascended to heaven? "Hey guys, go out and walk together with all men. But remember, Church teaching is not your task and mission, so don't you dare proselytize or baptize anyone, especially the indigenous people who have so much to teach the Church after they rise from feasting on the bodies of their enemies."

The IL tells us that the synod “represents an opportunity to walk together as a Church capable of welcoming and accompanying, accepting the necessary changes in rules, structures and procedures."

Yup! Change is what it's always about. We need to be a progressive Church and catch up with the times. All those pesky past doctrines need to be updated so we can be a "welcoming" Church where no one feels guilty over killing babies in the womb or engaging in fornication, adultery, and sodomy. 

The work sheets are a huge flashing RED light. No mention of the problem of a growing culture of death or drug and sex trafficking and gender ideology that kills the bodies, minds, and souls of our children. No discussion of churches closing or collapse in belief in the Real Presence, or any of the real problems we face. No, the synod architects focus on the concerns of modernists who want to turn the Catholic Church into one more Protestant sect where every believer is a pope in the pew making up his own "doctrine" and absolving his own sins. (Oops, silly me, there are no sins anymore...except intolerance.) 

The first sentence of the document sounds like something from the sixties that could be accompanied by Peter, Paul, and Mary's song Blowin' in the Wind. 

The People of God have been on the move since Pope Francis convened the whole Church in Synod in October 2021.

Moving where? 

The theme continues throughout the document and includes calling the Third Person of the Trinity "the authentic protagonist" who's blowing our way to respond to our desires, presumably for a listening, encountering, journeying, etc. synodal Church:

...the desire of those conversing [with each other] tends towards listening to His [the "authentic protagonist] voice, which in prayer opens itself to the free action of the One who, like the wind, blows where He wills. 

Somehow, I doubt if the Holy Spirit is going to be stirring up much air at the synod 

As I read the document, I felt like I'd fallen down the rabbit hole and was meeting and walking with all the strange creatures in Alice's nonsensical Wonderland. I could almost hear the Mad Hatter proclaiming:

We ask that the Assembly be a time of outpouring of the Spirit, but even more that grace accompanies us when the time comes to put its fruits into action in the daily life of Christian communities throughout the world.

Ah, yes, the fruits. We've seen the modernist fruits of past synods, so this tolls the Wonderland warning bell. "Don't eat the fruit and don't walk with the "chefs" dishing up this poison." They are the Walrus and the Carpenter on the march wanting to accompany you oysters on the journey to...well...you don't want to know; or maybe you do so you can escape before it's too late!

O Oysters, come and walk with us!'
The Walrus did beseech.
A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each.'

Those who've read Through the Looking Glass know exactly what the villains had in mind for the unsuspecting oysters in their walking together and their "dialogue." Before their "pleasant talk" and walk was over, there were no oysters left. They were all in the belly of the beasts. 

By the time the synodal process is over, will there be any Catholics left? Not if the modernists get their way. Modernists eat the faith and the upcoming synod is a banquet for them with its working papers listing 15 courses, i.e., questions, on the menu. It includes these invitations to indigestion:

B 1.1 How does the service of charity and commitment to justice and care for our common home nourish communion in a synodal Church? [Really? Do we have to be lectures again about climate change and preserving the rain forest which is more important in the modernist "synodal Church" than preserving the faith?]

B1.5 How can we recognise (sic) and gather the richness of cultures and develop dialogue amongst religions in the light of the Gospel? [Modernists never miss  an opportunity to put the focus on ecumenism and promote syncretism to move Catholics toward one world church.]

B 2.3 How can the Church of our time better fulfil (sic) its mission through greater recognition and promotion of the baptismal dignity of women? [Here we go again. We need more women in the sanctuary and carrying the monstrance in Eucharistic processions. Make 'em deacons and then priests!]

Woman carries monstrance in 2023 Corpus Christi procession in parish of St. Medardus
 in Lüdenscheid, Germany - Is this what synodality looks like? (Source)

B 3.2 How can we develop discernment practices and decision-making processes in an authentically synodal manner, that respects the protagonism of the Spirit?[Huh? Not sure what the "protagonism of the Spirit" even is. Anybody got a clue? And what spirit are we talking about? The same spirit of Vatican II that Bugnini cited when he replaced the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with a ritual meal acceptable to Protestants?]

The document is not without its moments of humor. Really, if it weren't so tragic, I would think it was written by the Babylon Bee. Here are a few real head-shakers:

...our identity and vocation is to become an increasingly synodal Church: walking together, that is, becoming synodal. [And I thought our vocation was described by the Great Commission to baptize all men in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Silly me!]

The questions that the IL poses are an expression of the richness of the process from which they were drawn. ["Richness of the process?" Really! Hmm...I'd say the questions for discussion show exactly how silly the entire "process" is.]

A synodal Church is called to practice the culture of encounter and dialogue with the believers of other religions and with the cultures and societies in which it is embedded.... The synodal process has been an opportunity to begin to learn what it means to live unity in diversity. [Synodal unity welcomes diversity with other religions, but not with those rigid, Pharisaical Traditional Latin Mass Catholics. No unity in diversity for them! Get out of the parish churches, lepers!]

The blather goes on for sixty pages. It reminds me of the government documents I had to read and write when I worked for the Department of Defense. It took me a year to be able to write normal English again after my four years there. These dissenters from the true faith seem to think that by the multiplication of words they can fool everybody into believing they have something useful to say. They don't! This synod is a disaster on the way to a catastrophe. Fr. Gerald Murray pegged it in an article at Crisis, The Synodal Church of ”Me, Myself, and I” 

National Catholic Register also carried an article (last February), one that revealed exactly what the Synod on Synodality is really all about. Quoting Cardinal Robert McElroy, one more modernist on steroids, the author, Fr. Raymon de Souza, wrote:

He [McElroy] argued that the Synod on Synodality was exactly the right time to approve the ordination of women deacons, reconsider the ordination of women priests, set aside St. Paul’s scriptural teaching on not receiving Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin, and, at least for certain favored sexual practices, abandon altogether the challenge of chastity.

Cardinal McElroy is by far the most intelligent, articulate and well-educated — Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, Gregorian — of the American cardinals that Pope Francis has created, so people took note.

Rather too much note, it seemed, as alarms were raised that the synodal process of “enlarging the tent” apparently included inviting the foxes into the doctrinal henhouse.

Fr. de Souza links to a long statement of Cardinal McElroy filled with synodal hogwash and illustrating his desire to remodel the Church in the world's image, one that corresponds to that of Pope Francis. His statement should give all Catholics pause, and fill our hearts with the desire to fall to our knees in repentance and pray for the restoration of the faith. Pray and fast, friends, that this modern Tower of Babel is disrupted by the Holy Spirit. And then dedicate yourself to studying the faith of the fathers that is unchanging and unchangeable. God will not be mocked by this monumental mockery! 

Oh...and one last point. What exactly is synodality? You'd be hard pressed to figure it out from this rambling and confusing modernist document. 

Pray for the Tower of Babel treatment for the synod and never forget that God "works all things together for good for those who love Him and serve according to His purpose." Lifting the rock and shining light on the creepy crawlies serves His purpose. It's always good to know what insects are attacking the foundations so you can get out the appropriate bug repellant.

May Jesus Christ be praised! Now and forever.