Trying to follow the 'secret' Synod through Vatican press releases is not too easy but it strikes me that those Bishops from failing Churches want change or rupture, those Bishops from strong vigorous Churches want continuity.
Could it perhaps be that the Bishops themselves are the fault, and rather like young students of the 1970s many of them once were they are blaming the 'system' rather than themselves for their failure to teach the faith.
The German Bishops, the leaders of the putsch and those who seem to be following them to change pastoral practice are hardly shining beacons of evangelical zeal, whereas the African Bishops and those from Easter Europe, the Middle and Far East are often are.
...and if you haven't watched Cardinal Burke's recent interview you can do so now.
18 comments:
I attended the mains Sunday Mass at the Catholic cathedral in Hamburg during the summer. It struck me as a fine example of a dying church - only one morning Mass, 1/3 full, bookshop shut, no coffee afterwards and you would never have known it was a Catholic Mass - the sound was pure Lutheran.
Depressing.
Correct Physiocrat!
I visit my native Netherlands regularly and am saddenend by what has happened to the Church in what was Catholic heartland. Parish consolidations, an evaporation of faith and a complete disinterest in matters of faith underscore the decline in spiritual matters over many years. Holland was the provider of thousands of missionaries to all parts of the world and sadly that movement needs to be reversed to re-evangelise the Dutch people.
Father, there's much more at stake here than a ''change in pastoral practice"
If this goes through, as it will, given the "secrecy" and the clear ecclesiastic gerrymandering involved, the Church will be in error - period. The Church that cannot fail will be publicly stating that sin is excusable.
Of course, we are all sinners; but the difference is between 'repentant sinners' and those that believe that sin is acceptable.
If the devil had the opportunity to attack the Church where would he first strike? I think he would be torn between the Eucharist (the Mass) and Marriage (the family). Allowing divorced and remarried individuals to receive the Eucharist kills two birds with one stone.
2Father Blake,
May I timidly raise a small technical point ? The yellow font on a background is somewhat difficult for my worn-out eyes to understand. Is there something you might be able to do about it please ?
Well, I frankly do not know what to make of all this. As someone who has suffered from homosexual feelings for most of my life, has been conflicted by them, but has nevertheless, despite occasional lapses (which I regard as sin, and have confessed) striven to live by 'the Church's teaching', I wonder what the point is. I guess a lot of people in irregular relationships who do not receive communion must think the same. And if the Church can change its teaching on something we have always been told is very important, can we trust it on anything?
The more I read the more it seems as if there will soon be two Churches each one calling itself Catholic. Is a split really inevitable? Perhaps we will end up with two Popes. (I do wish Cardinal Burke had been elected Pope.)
If the Pope actually contradicts anything Christ said are we still to follow the Pope? I fear there are more and more confused Catholics these days trying to do what is right but increasingly confused as to what IS right and moral. And we don't even have a Bishop now to guide us in these unsettled times.
The misleading? headlines have started in the secular press. The Daily Mail website has 'Catholic Bishops go liberal on sex.'
"....those Bishops from strong vigorous Churches want continuity".
Dear father, where (country, region) do you consider we have a "strong vigorous Church"?
Surely everyone ought to calm down a bit. Nothing has happened yet, and nothing is "inevitable". We worry about those in high places who might deny Our Lord's plain teaching, but in the same breath we seem willing to believe that His solemn promise to the Church is about to be proved false. But if Jesus is deluded or a liar, then nothing whatever is true, so why worry? Yes, times are troubled and none of us know how it will work out, but Jesus is the ultimate head of the Church, and he is not dead and gone but very much alive and active. Pray, pray, pray!
When B16 resigned my first thought was to declare the see of Peter as sede vacante and leave it that way until Benedict's natural death. There is no point to a papacy at the moment as the Church is ungovernable.
I am not sure what to make of this Papacy or the Synod. I am praying the Chaplet of the Holy Face as Cardinal Burke requested to all. May God help us and may He protect the Church.
@ Sadie,
One thing I do perhaps accept, I think, is that the Church is probably ungovernable at present.
So, let’s hope there is someone in the wings, a papal Charlemagne, or La Vallette, or Don John, or Sobiesky - or another St Pius V .
Now Father, cheer up. I’m sure there is!
From the mid-term report, Part III:-
"Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home. Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?"
What's all the pathos and over-sensitivity about being 'these people' being made to feel 'welcome'? It has never occurred to me in decades of massgoing to feel welcome or unwelcome. Are we all Catholics or aren't we? We are in church to worship Christ at Holy Mass, not to have a cappuccino and a chat about the theatre.
If - as I suspect - this is about celebrating somebody's sexual orientation, I'm as uninterested in all that - in church - as I am in their vegetarianism or taste in literature. 'Sexuality' (however defined) is a matter between the individual and his/her confessor. Let us all keep blessedly silent on the subject in church and around it. Not change the rules to accommodate the chatterati and the Gospel of Cool.
The bishops have been so easily captured by 'defined through sexuality' modernism, and 'the beat of these times'.
But of course the beat will be different tomorrow. We may need weekly synods then...
I think the whole mess boils down to the old adage: "follow the money", Many European dioceses are hurting for their share of the tax money as the "faithful" (sic) depart for warmer Protestant climes. When these "faithful" (sic) cross over they take their allocative direction with them. It then becomes difficult for the local ordinary to maintain the physical plant of the diocese and make ends meet.
The answer is simple, pander to the "faithful" (sic) and whatever their chosen deviation from the Gospel may be; resulting in salvation for His Eminence's worldly trappings. All one can do is wish His Eminence good luck when "the day" comes, he's gonna need it!
Lucas 22
31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
"et cauda ejus (draco) trahebat tertiam partem stellarum cæli, et misit eas in terram..." Rev. 12:4
Charley Larkyns Nails it!
" And if the Church can change its teaching on something we have always been told is very important, can we trust it on anything?"
They all make me sick. Burke is so weak in his defence like some bumbling old fool. Absolutely no fire in his belly.
Church has been handing out annulments like confetti for the last, 30 years. If it is all about "defending the truth" then what of all those marriages?
Are we really to believe that tens of thousands of people who were married for years and had children, were then retroactively not married because they testified they were not mature enough or did not have a full enough understanding?
Most people don't fully understand compound interest. Should they be released from their mortgage?
The Roman Catholic Church is presided over by an overwhelming number of cowardly, weak willed effeminates.
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