The massive, glaring, screaming lacuna in #Synod2018

Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput, a participant in the 2018 Synod (“walking together”), has been interviewed by CatholicPhilly.com.

This quote struck me:

Q: What might the synod change in Church doctrine or in the interpretation of the doctrine?

CHAPUT: No synod has the authority to change core Christian teachings; nor does any Pope. In matters of interpretation, the unstated struggle in the 2018 synod revolves around Catholic sexual morality. As one young female youth minister put it: Underneath all its social science data and verbiage, the instrumentum laboris is finally, very quietly, about sex. It’s especially odd that the word “chastity” appears almost nowhere in the IL text. Humanae Vitae and the [JP2] theology of the body are completely absent.

It is indeed “odd” in the sense of “bizarre”.  On the other hand, it is not odd at all, given that there seems to be a strong effort from the writers of the documents emanating since 2013 to attenuate and even eliminate the magisterium of John Paul II.  This has been both by frontal assault (Amoris 8) and by the Fabian strategy of avoidance (Five Dubia).

For the organizers of the Synod (“walking together”) it seems to be all about sex.

How condescending to young people

THAT, my friends, is clericalism of the worst sort.  And I’ll wager it’s also strong tinged in not a few cases with #sodoclericalism.   Hence, they focus on what they want to deal with.

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17 Comments

  1. SemperServusDei says:

    “It must be observed, however, that if the faith were endangered, a subject ought to rebuke his prelate even publicly.” – St. Thomas Aquinas

    “More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason.” – Our Lady of Fatima

  2. Man-o-words says:

    “More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason.” – Our Lady of Fatima

    I believe the latest data would suggest an overwhelmingly high concentration of bishops in that number recently. But maybe that’s just rumor . . .

  3. Reginamater says:

    We need a new LBGT(Q) movement in the Church: Let God Be Triumphant (Quickly)

  4. WmHesch says:

    Never understood why “Theology of the Body” is the end-all, be-all among JPII votaries.

    If we’re going to call a series of general audiences part of JPII’s “magisterium”- why not Francis’ airplane interviews?

    Certainly the intended “docens” audience of the latter is greater than what JPII would have ever anticipated in 1979.

  5. TonyO says:

    Can we start a strategy to control the topic for the NEXT Synod: the most pressing crisis in the Church today – Pope Francis, most of the Vatican functionaries, and a majority of the world’s bishops who don’t care to ever clearly teach (or rule for) the Church’s position on God’s plan for sexuality? Who will never declare a heretic priest or teacher to be heretic. Who will never punish a malefactor who obstinately rejects God’s doctrines. Who could not even if they tried identify modernism in their own clergy or diocese. Who will never use common sense in rejecting from seminaries men who are not fit for the priesthood, nor in closing down seminaries that have been destroyed by heresy and homosexualism. And who would rather see their seminaries close down than to even permit, much less promote an obedient posture toward Summorum Pontificum. And, finally, a system of promotion of clergy that is clearly broken.

  6. WmHesch says:

    For “docens”, read “discens”. My bad

  7. LeeGilbert says:

    Wow, Reginamater, that is a keeper: “We need a new LGBT(Q) movement in the Church: Let God Be Triumphant (Quickly).”

    Have not the “queers” ( their term for themselves among themselves) in taking the colors of the rainbow as their banner been guilty of cultural appropriation? It was after all, the sign of a covenant given by God to His people, that He would not again destroy the world with water.

    If only someone, someone I say, would respond in kind with rainbow enhanced swag with that motto, “LGBTQ: Let God Be Triumphant Quickly.” Would it not be magnificent on bumperstickers, as well?

    Moreover, it has the added virtue of hoisting the queers on their own petard, and getting a laugh for it as well. Rhetorically, this is genius.

    Hmmmm, the downside might be that it may appear to some that we were praying for the triumph of the LGBTQ (queer) movement. Maybe striking the rainbow from the potential swag and replacing it with the cross would work better. Surely there are graphic artists out there who could put motto and image together in a super effective way, for the swag, if anyone knows how to create and market such . . . .

  8. Benedict Joseph says:

    While mournful to observe the abandonment of Christian comportment it is a good thing that the aberrant element unmask itself in order that it ultimately be found completely erroneous and at odds with authentic faith in Jesus Christ and the perennial Magisterium of the Church.
    I urge the Romper Room Synod to be quite bold in its pronouncements.
    We are hungry to hear its true principle.

  9. defenderofTruth says:

    The Theology of the Body, at least to me, was not considered “magisterial”, but essential to explaining the WHY of the Church’s consistent teaching on sex, sexuality, and marriage. It helps underscore the beauty of God’s Creation, as opposed to the debased understandings of the world.

  10. Kathleen10 says:

    Absolutely nobody should be surprised by this. Most of us were predicting this a year ago, or whenever the synod plot was revealed. Naturally they have the end goal in mind and whatever that is, will be done, we were all betting on LGBT advances or deaconesses. JPII is a hero when they laud VII, but not for anything else.
    Of course today we see Francis wearing the rainbow cross. I’m gonna shut up now.

  11. OldProfK says:

    Keep the faith (I know I’m preaching to the choir here)…all that is happening at the Synod is man-proposed, and ultimately, well, Proverbs 19:21.

  12. fmsb78 says:

    This Church of synods and water down doctrine is sooooo boring…

  13. Johann says:

    I don’t see why this Synod is so important. Christians are being martyred in Africa, the Middle East, China ,etc. Secularism is persecuting Christians in the West and threatening religious liberty. Shouldn’t these have priority over the LGBT agenda to please peop who hate everything we believe in and stand for?

  14. Nathan says:

    “Humanae Vitae and the [JP2] theology of the body are completely absent.” And that, IMO, is an important reason why, in historical perspective, this synod is likely to be ephemeral. If you want to establish something lasting, you have to have the intellectual and moral honesty to deal openly with the concepts you’d like to supersede or discredit.

    That doesn’t mean, of course, that there isn’t significant potential for this synod to inflict serious damage to the Church and the souls of the Faithful in the short run.

    In Christ,

  15. Bellarmino Vianney says:

    At minimum, these evil people have achieved one of their goals in that they have desensitized both laity and clergy.

    This is evidenced by the weak response from prelates and the fact that only a few, if any, prelates are actually responding to the very clear evils being pushed in 2018 “walking together”.

    It seems to me that not a few bishops and priests could end up in hell for refusing to oppose, or or only weakly opposing, the evils that are currently being forced upon those Authentic Catholics within the Church.

  16. KateD says:

    *SAINT Pope John Paul II

  17. Sonshine135 says:

    “Walking together” indeed….over a cliff.

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