At Hell’s Bible we find an editorial:
Pope Francis Walks the Talk
Vatican Signals on Gays and Remarriage Are a Hopeful BeginningA half-century after the historic changes of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis is showing his intent to drive a comparably ambitious agenda for the Roman Catholic Church in the 21st century.
The current synod of bishops in Rome, called by Francis to encourage reform and modernization, [ahhh… that’s why he called it!] set a ringing tone of compassion this week with an opening call for a more welcoming attitude toward gay people, unmarried couples, divorced Catholics who remarry, and children in these unions. [See my earlier post about what the MSM was going to do next. HERE Did I call it?]
The bishops’ report on their first week of private discussions did not immediately change church doctrine. [Not immediately… but there’s hope! As long as Francis the Hopepful, the most wonderfullest Pope evhur, the first Pope ever to smile or kiss a baby can fend off those hate-filled, close-minded mouth-breathing conservatives!] But it signaled the pope’s determination to have the church look anew at the realities of the modern world, [How revolutionary. John Paul and Benedict never considered the modern world as it is. Nope. Never. What was that phrase, again? “Dictatorship of Relativism”?] including what the bishops [No! Archbp. Forte, not “the bishops”] were moved to call the “positive aspects of civil unions and cohabitation” — a formulation unthinkable in an era when the church denounced such Catholics as “living in sin.” [But doesn’t now. So, you would think that now the NYT is a fan of the Church. Right?]
The synod’s summary language about gays and lesbians was even more remarkable.
Blech.
Moderation is ON.
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Food for thought.
The secular culture is such that young people who hold views akin to the National Catholic Reporter or Nuns on the Bus will NOT be joining the Catholic Church. Or they will leave her if they are baptized Catholics.
Holy Mother Church, to this crowd, stands for all that is ugly, intolerant, repressive.
Meanwhile, those within the Church who work & campaign to change her teachings, the die-hards like Cardinal Kasper will, one day, kick off.
Can they replace themselves with younger, zealous priests (future bishops & cardinals) to carry their flags? No.
Being Catholic or converting to Catholicism will be considered the ultimate signal of being a hateful, bigoted person.
The very group “within the Church” today, who hold the ideas Cardinal Kasper and others are trying to push for, will, in the very near future, not tolerate “Catholics” among their ranks.
These “Catholics” will be forced by the secular culture itself to choose between it and the Church.
The Church will not change her doctrine. Whatever comes out from the Holy Father & the synod in a year will not be what the MSM & others have agitated for.
News reports may give a false impression. People may be confused. But even if that happens, and drags out for years, and the world at large thinks the Church has “gone soft” on certain issues, Cardinal Kasper, the Nuns on the Bus, etc., still will not find keepers of their flame.
In the end, the secular culture will demand the Church give complete, radical acceptance to all of its secular doctrines in order for the Church to receive its blessing. That secular culture will not, in 10-20 years time, have any forbearance with people like Cardinal Kasper who want to keep one foot in each door.
My impression is that the NCR and the MSM may have it essentially right. In that the “interim report” (apparently prepared before the Synod began) and the way the Synod was run–with notes back and forth between the pope and the presiding officer appointed by him–likely did indeed portray papal intent accurately.
The Gray Lady has been the source of lies, disinformation and propaganda for more than a century and a half. The NYT is emblematic of what’s wrong with this country and the ends the leftists will go to hurt us. I just don’t pay a whit of attention to her.
So some media would like all to believe that sin is no longer sin and that the bishop of Rome is on board with that agenda. Hmmm. We shall see about that.
But the awesome Cardinal Burke has asked the pope to please make some clarifying statements and that would be a good thing. Or will the pope allow the confusion and distortion to be ongoing; time will tell on that. And will those who opposed this pre-arranged agenda and summaries be demoted over the next year or allowed to attend the next synod? Lots of questions here. And it is a shame that we need to have them. The Church should be a rock for us to depend upon but right now I have little trust in what comes from Rome. Blue Thursday? Yes! Our Lady is our Refuge in these times and she will keep us close to her Son. The holy ones may be persecuted, demoted, deposed, or exiled—all this has happened before and it is the stuff and trial of saints.
Synod 2014: the Spirit of Vatican II defeated by the Spirit of Vatican I
Synod 2015: the rematch
Vatican Signals on Gays and Remarriage Are a Hopeful Beginning
For whom?
I’m disappointed in this papacy and in the “Francis effect” on display here. My advice is to know that you can not control Pope Francis, and know do much to support tradition, start an EF mass, and encourage others who are doing great work within the Church.
Prepping the battle space for the lowfo readers.
Or, to summarize what GAK said, as I usually say, in any endeavor, only the orthodox survive. The heterodox eventually get blended away and become irrelevant.
When John Paul II died, and Terry Schiavo was starved and dehydrated to death in Florida, my wife and I “look(ed) anew at the realities of the modern world”. These many years later the Church still has no competition from the modern world.
Shall we start an alternative “petition”? http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2014/10/16/petition-supporting-pope-francis-circulating-in-the-us/
Don’t miss Jamie Manson’s lament over at Fishwrap on how nobody is concerned about the Synod’s reaffirmation of the ban on artificial contraception, the reversal of which she says is needed so that the poor can feed their (then smaller) families. She blames the lack of interest on American privilege in being able to afford contraception, i.e. not being concerned about what doesn’t affect oneself. But why isn’t she blaming the gays and the divorced and remarried for hogging all the attention?
I just returned from Rome yesterday, and if it wasn’t for the American outlets: Fr. Z, Church Millitant, Cardinal Newman and The Catholic Register, there would be no english information on the Synod there. Two of our diocesan secular representatives, who were on the pilgrimage with us, happened to have a personal audience with Cardinal Burke. They told him that American Catholics are very concerned about the potential of schism between the progressives and conservatives and prayed that he would be on the side of orthodoxy and voice the concerns of Catholics who do not wish to be a touchy-feely church based on a perverted definition of “inclusiveness.” Cardinal Burke assured them that he would be on the line blocking any change(s) in Catholic Orthodoxy.
I am quite concerned about the initial position statement of the Synod and so was Cardinal Burke. I would suggest that, if you can, send support to the good Cardinal. If Fr. Z could give everyone his public email, that would be a first step.
If you could explain what all this means (you probably read it in Rorate) in terms of being rejected and still publishing these points (that reflect Kasper’s positions?):
Important note: Paragraphs 52, 53 and 55 were rejected*, having not reached 2/3 of the Fathers for required approval (123 votes).
* Supposedly: as for the rejected paragraphs, however, there is every indication that they will still be sent out (!) as part of the entire text to dioceses around the world for “discussion” in preparation for next year’s assembly. Yes, even though they were rejected… Well, at least the dioceses will still be able to see the vote count…
You realize, of course, Father, that nobody reads or respects the New York Times editorial page — not even New York Times reporters!
The media is building theimpression that change is imminent. The tone of even the dissenting bishops has been calamitously-restrained. All of the rejected language won majority support, and now Francis knows which bishops to exclude next year such that they pass. It’s a trainwreck; confessedly, there was no outcome that I would have accepted—short of a unanimous resolution of the Synod for Francis to resign—as likely to undo the damage done by the existence of the synod, but even by that standard it’s a trainwreck. The damage is done. Those who have worried about this synod and this pontificate are amply-vindicated.
We have found out where they stand. Maybe that is the gift we were given in all this. The world is spinning out of control, maybe we are to know who stands in the truth and who thinks God is changeable.
I follow(ed) a lot of Priests on Facebook ect… I have been in shock at a few of them suggesting that if they fight harder next year the CC will become more ‘open’. What is happening to people?
What worries me about the Pope’s summation of the Synod was the heartfelt declaration that : “the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists””. I am one of those tempted by the TLM today. We joyfully drive an hour each way just to get to get to one. When we go to the Novus Ordo it is three minutes away but always return home mad as hell for some small thing or other, e.g., tambourines and bongos. Traditional Catholics are not of much use to Pope Francisco but we are the ones who will be still there after the homosexuals have moved on to more to more exciting pastures after having devastated our Catholic Church even more. It is OK to take traditional Catholics for granted because we believe we are making a tremendous difference to the future of the Church. Papal pejoratives will not affect us because we believe we are saving the Church though our silly Latin, incense, respectful masses and Gregorian chant. We could be wrong, but I do not think so.
I would like also to thank the Una Voce lay organization and Pope Benedict XVI, who made the mass of the ages available for our salvation. Thanks also to Cardinal Pell and Cardinal Burke for their valiant fight on behalf of our small group of sheep.
“Hell’s bible” is my new nickname for the NYTimes – sums up that sorry, elitist rag perfectly. Thanks Father Z!
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This is but the first shot in a long battle.
The Lambeth Conference didn’t agree to contraception after the first vote.
I’m sad that the link to Fr Longenecker’s great article didn’t make it.