If you've been watching the reports on the Synod on Synodality, two things are obvious targets: marriage and the priesthood. First, it's clear that there will be discussions about blessing same-sex unions, a direct attack on marriage and its meaning. Second, women's ordination, an impossibility, is back on the table. It's a direct attack on the priesthood which means a direct attack on the Holy Eucharist, the central tenet of our faith.
Bishop Strickland has been very clear in recent letters about both the sacrament of marriage and the sacrament of ordination. In his letter of September 19, 2023, he specifically linked the discussion of marriage to the Synod which began yesterday:
As we approach the upcoming Synod on Synodality, we must continue to hold fast to Sacred Scripture, the Sacred Traditions of the Church, and the unchangeable Deposit of Faith which illumine and guide our faith regarding Matrimony. We must be aware of and reject any call for a change in the unchangeable reality of marriage, and we must also reject any call for recognition or blessings on reationships which attempt to simulate or redefine the sacrament of Matrimony. Any relationship that is not a true marriage but attempts to portray itself as a true marriage is a deception that would inevitabley lead souls away from Christ and into the hands of the deciever. As your spiritual faither, I must caution you in the strongest terms -- do not accept this deception.
Preceding this warning, the bishop discusses the nature of the sacrament of matrimony, and, while his letter is addressed to his flock in Tyler, it can benefit Catholic couples everywhere. He describes the "three major building blocks of marriage": 1) a relationship between one man and one woman, 2) "meant to be a lifetime commitment -- a perpetual and indissoluble union of two lives united together in a life-long covenant," and 3) "that it is to be open to children."
Bishop Strickland speaks with a clear and consistent voice in articulating Church teaching, unchangeable since God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Jesus said that Moses allowed divorce because of "the hardness of your hearts." But He gave a new emphasis to the permanence of marriage.
One of the most dangerous things about the synod in my opinion is opening the voting to the laity. We know how these things work from the Call to Action Conference in Detroit in 1976. The delegates were deliberately chosen to be radicals with their "action" focused on changing Church teaching -- particularly about marriage and the priesthood. Some things never change. Marriage and the priesthood! Kill marriage and the priesthood and you kill the faith.
There are many wolves at the Synod salivating at the opportunity to destroy the Faith. Catholics need to be as wise as serpents as they receive any news coming from the halls of what is lining up to be a witches' assembly. Pray and fast. Just as Pachamama ended up in the Tiber during the Amazonia Synod, this latest gab fest cannot destroy the Church.
In another letter to the flock on the eve of the Synod meeting, October 3rd, Bishop Strickland directly warned against accepting any morality that deviates from the truth that any sexual activity outside of true marriage is grievously sinful.
Is anyone surprised that this faithful shepherd has become a target of the Vatican wolves? His clear teaching on the faith is as welcome as St. Athanasius' preaching against the Arians. Please pray and fast for Bishop Strickland's protection! And may God give us more like him.
Church councils need an actual reason to be called; there is none here. So its invalid. The EO position that only a Roman Emperor can call an ecumenical council so there can't ever be one again looks pretty good now, doesn't it?
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