The Cardinals Blew Out the TLM Hope Candle!

The cardinals took discussion of the liturgy off the table as soon as the consistory opened. One of the most important issues facing the Church got deep-sixed in favor of, can you guess, SYNODALITY. AGAIN! AD INFINITEM AD NAUSEUM.

How many times, how many meetings, how many plane trips, how much money, how many cardinals dancing on the head of a pin does it take before we can send that dead synodal horse to the glue factory? And why am I not surprised that, like the Phoenix, it's risen again? 

Phil Lawler addressed the dashing of hope in his substack article, The Cardinals Dodge the Key Issue. Indeed! As Lawler points out:

Of all the topics that the cardinals might have chosen, as they seek to advise Pope Leo on his guidance of the universal Church, how could synodality top the list? Aren’t the cardinals concerned with the widespread defection of young people from the faith— or, if they take the “glass half full” attitude, anxious to understand the recent signs of a new interest in Catholicism among that same rising generation? Aren’t they worried about the breakdown of families, societies, and even nation-states? About the challenge of Islam? About drug abuse and suicide and nihilism and the revival of paganism? Most important of all, don’t they recognize the primary importance of the celebration of the Eucharist, the “source and summit of Christian life?”

One begins to wonder whether the pope and cardinals ever talk to any real people. Do they only interact with chancery bureaucrats and AI bots?  The pope in his address described the need not "to arrive at a text but continue a conversation.” 

I can't decide whether to laugh or cry. Are our shepherds all process guys who love to jabber on and on, but never come to a conclusion or solve a problem? Or even choose to address the real problems? And when they do address real problems they are almost always take the side of liberal politicians who hate the Church! 

Edward Pentin, Vatican correspondent, reported this morning:

....the decision not to make the liturgy a key theme was disappointing to some cardinals and traditional faithful.

The liturgy has long been a particularly sensitive issue, and especially to traditional-minded Catholics following recent sweeping restrictions on the older form of the Latin rite during Pope Francis’ pontificate. These faithful experienced the restrictions not as a mere disciplinary change but as a judgment on their fidelity, spirituality, and ecclesial belonging, which many have described as deeply wounding and divisive.

The popular Italian traditional website “Messa in Latino“ wrote Jan. 7 that it had contacted some anonymous but important cardinals who all said they were “discouraged and disappointed” about the relegation of the liturgy as a discussion topic.

Is any of this surprising? Pope Leo has already demonstrated over and over that he is walking in the synodal footsteps of Francis. The consistory itself seems to be aligned with Vatican II which the pope mentioned in his opening address and two of Pope Francis's documents. Could the writing on the wall be any more clear? The Church only began in the 1960s with Vatican II. The Council of Trent, the Council of Nicaea, anything that happened before the pontificate of John XXIII is irrelevant and out of date.

All hope in the Church these days is for the progressives left who want change in the liturgy, the sacraments, Catholic sexual ethics, etc. Faithful Catholics remain the second class citizens who deserve nothing but the hobnailed boot and the iron fists.

The same buzz words are coming out of this meeting that we've heard for the past decade: synod, synodality, dialogue, conversation, diversity, etc. It's all incredibly tiresome.

Back in July, canonist Fr. Gerald Murray wrote this about the "Jargon Filled Synodal Trajectory" which appears to remain on course with the current consistory:

The Church does not need to be reconfigured into a perpetual synodal discussion group led by Vatican officials, involving selected bishops and non-bishops, in which the tensions (naturally produced when heretical ideas are put forward as new and improved versions of the Catholic Faith) must be smoothed over because synodality demands the false notion of “reconciled diversity.”

Perpetual is right. Once again our shepherds join in a yammering confab with no apparent plan to address the real problems in the Church. I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm definitely disappointed to have my hopes dashed once again.

Pray for the Church. Lord Jesus, save us from our shepherds!