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| Does anyone else find this creepy? Are all those folks going up to St. Peter's to knock on the door and say, "Trick or Treat?" |
The Synod on Synodality seems to have gone low key over the past few months. Some of the most controversial issues were taken off the table and designated to study groups. Does that make you feel relieved? Not me. It takes them away from the public spotlight and lets the assigned committee members, dare I say change agents, work in the dark. The enemy sneaking up on you from behind is always more dangerous than the enemy you face directly. And there are many enemies within the walls of Holy Mother Church!
What's at stake? Plenty! As Jonathan Liedl wrote at the National Catholic Register:
The most controversial issues may be off the agenda of next month’s Synod on Synodality assembly in Rome. But make no mistake about it: The Oct. 2-27 gathering could still lead to several big changes that impact daily life in the Catholic Church.Delegates to the synod, which will conclude a four-year global synod process that’s focused on how to increase participation in the Catholic Church, will likely discuss and possibly approve proposals touching on everything from women in leadership positions to the ability of national bishops’ conferences to make doctrinal decisions.The potential for impactful changes remains even after Pope Francis decided to transfer contentious topics — such as the possibility of women deacons and the discernment of controversial doctrinal issues (including those related to sexuality) — to dedicated study groups and not the synod assembly as a whole.In fact, both concerned theologians and eager activists have speculated that by focusing on more foundational topics like decision-making in the life of the Church, the synod could actually “open the door” to efforts to change particular doctrines and disciplines.
And that's certainly been the hallmark of the Francis pontificate. Use the synodal process to change doctrine unofficially by allowing and affirming practices that violate the Sacred Tradition of the Church for millennia.
Let's face it. There are many Judases in the Church these days, often wearing miters and pectoral crosses. I thought of that when I read about St. Thomas of Villanova, Archbishop of Valencia, in Butler's Lives of the Saints this morning. 
St. Thomas of Villanova
St. Thomas didn't have an ounce of ambition. He embraced poverty and sacrifice as an Augustinian friar. Like St. John Neumann, he avoided all the rich trappings of his office preferring his old habit, which he mended himself and his old hat. He tried to avoid being named a bishop, but through an interesting circumstance, the Lord overturned his desires.
In the days when secular kings still influenced the selection of bishops, Charles V, knowing how reluctant Thomas was to accept a bishopric, selected another man for the post in Valencia. His secretary, however, thought he heard St. Thomas' name. When he asked the king if he should change the document, Charles responded, "By no means. This has happened by a particular providence of God. Let us therefore follow His will."
St. Thomas accepted the office reluctantly, and became a model bishop. During his lifetime he was described as "the pattern of bishops," "the almsgiver," and "father of the poor." Rather than reveling in his dignity, he often said, "I was never so much afraid of being excluded from the number of the elect as since I have been a bishop."
Would that our modern bishops had the same fear of the Lord. Pray for all the bishops attending the October synod and all the other participants as well. May God prevent further efforts to change and water down the doctrines of Holy Mother Church. God never rewards rebellion!
May God have mercy on us.
"Use the synodal process to change doctrine unofficially by allowing and affirming practices that violate the Sacred Tradition of the Church for millennia." ... already done eight years ago in Amoris chapter 8. That's the moment we knew this regime was invalid.
ReplyDeleteDamn straight. He, as Jim Mora might say, can’t do diddly-poo.
Delete“I urge my brothers in the episcopate, the priests and all the faithful to understand this fundamental aspect of the present apostasy, because we will not be able to do any good to convert civil society and restore the royal Crown to Christ as long as that Crown has been usurped by His enemies within the very womb of the Church.” - Archbishop Viganò .
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 9:57,
DeleteWhile I agree with this, I have a different perspective (alongside, not against).
We can’t control the “episcopate”, the “very womb of the Church”. We can’t “convert civil society”. We can convert our own soul. We can convert the souls of our family. We can convert our little Chapel or Parish.
IOW, I have come to the conclusion that to focus on the “episcopate” and “civil society” is to neglect to some extent, perhaps a large extent, or even to the exclusion of all else, the condition and advance of one’s inner soul. St John of the Cross’ Dark Night Of The Soul is about that advance and it is a lifetime effort with no guarantee of success.
Our “lane”, as cells in the Catholic Body, is interior and local. Our “lane” is not to elect the Pope or declare anathemas against him, against his Cardinals, the Bishops. Our “lane” is what it is, and that is what we will be judged on.
“Convert” ourselves, our family, our friends and neighbors. Don’t despair about the “episcopate” over which we have precisely zero control. Don’t waste our spiritual focus on that over which we have precisely zero responsibility. We have immense authority and responsibility within our personal “lane”, which is not the “episcopate”. We have everything we will ever need to advance toward God, both ourselves, family, friends, in the vast Treasury of the RCC. No living man can take it from us.
Focus on that which matters. That’s my point. So many have lost their way because their focus has been misapplied. God is usually in the whisper; the still, small voice (I Kings 19: 12,13). Pax!