This was made by the office of the Synod (“walking together”) of Bishops.
If you are going to comment, phrase it in such a way that it will be more likely I will let through the moderation queue, if you get my drift.
Fr. Z’s Podcasts RSS Feed
About this blog…
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
YOUR RECENT COMMENTS
- on Wherein Fr. Z is amused.: ““No contest” for sure! In fact, “Nolo contendere!” When you look at some of the other people in the poll,…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 39 & 40 (-2 & -1): An ACTION ITEM!: “My (liberal Catholic) uncle recently gave a present to my son who will be ordained soon and my daughter who…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 4th Sunday after Easter (N.O. 5th of Easter) 2024: “Attending Holy Ghost FSSP church in Bethlehem PA again, Father gave an interesting homily on faith vs works, brought about…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 39 & 40 (-2 & -1): An ACTION ITEM!: “Hmm this masonic thing is something I should look into. My stepfathers father was very involved, a 32nd degree and…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 39 & 40 (-2 & -1): An ACTION ITEM!: “Q to H7 B to any diagonal Q to E4+ K to B8 Q to B7#”
- on Wherein Fr. Z is amused.: “This is a conundrum for me. Fr. Z. has deepened my faith, and his encouragements gotten me to confession more…”
- on Wherein Fr. Z is amused.: “After your recent excellent post, suddenly, playoffs remind me of chiasmus… maybe one should nickname X ‘Chiasmus’, or, thinking of…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 39 & 40 (-2 & -1): An ACTION ITEM!: “How providential you would decided to make that renunciation a day before one of the second highest “occult ritual” days…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 39 & 40 (-2 & -1): An ACTION ITEM!: “I just read the Prayer of Release. I had no idea how maleficent this organization is. My deceased aunt and…”
- on Your Sunday Sermon Notes: 4th Sunday after Easter (N.O. 5th of Easter) 2024: “We were advised to “go to confession” and that we should ask for the grace to long even more for…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 39 & 40 (-2 & -1): An ACTION ITEM!: “The only individual in my family I heard was a mason was my mother’s sister’s husband. Is that a connection…”
- on WDTPRS – 5th Sunday of Easter (Novus Ordo): The prayer’s very word order reveals God’s love: “That’s very interesting stuff. Formalism can help one be more expressive in writing, I think. Some masters of English prose…”
- on ROME 24/4– Day 39 & 40 (-2 & -1): An ACTION ITEM!: “Would a local priest be able to help us through the renunciation of Masonic ties? What about for family members…”
ABORTION PILL RESCUE NETWORK
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
Federated Computer… your safe and private alternative to big biz corporations that hate us while taking our money and mining our data. Have an online presence large or small? Catholic DIOCESE? Cottage industry? See what Federated has to offer. Save money and gain peace of mind.
Polls
Loading ...Use FATHERZ10 at checkout for 10% off
Donate using VENMO
GREAT BEER from Traditional Benedictine Monks in Italy
CLICK and say your daily offerings!
A Daily Prayer for Priests
NEW OPPORTUNITY – 10% off with code: FATHERZ10
Fr. Z’s VOICEMAIL
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
This REALLY helps! And it’s great coffee (and tea)
I use this when I travel both in these USA and abroad. Very useful. Fast enough for Zoom. I connect my DMR (ham radio) through it. If you use my link, they give me more data. A GREAT back up.
This blog has to earn its keep!
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
To donate monthly I prefer Zelle because it doesn't extract fees. Use
frz AT wdtprs DOT comBe a “Zed-Head”!
PLEASE RESPOND. Pretty pleeeease?
Loading ...This is really useful when travelling… and also when you aren’t and you need backup internet NOW! I use this for my DMR “Zednet” hotspot when I’m mobile. It’s a ham radio thing.
If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
WDTPRS POLL
Loading ...Fr. Z’s stuff is everywhere
Help support Fr. Z’s Gospel of Life work at no cost to you. Do you need a Real Estate Agent? Calling these people is the FIRST thing you should do!
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
GREAT causes to support
Help Monks in Wyoming (coffee – UPDATED LINK) and Norcia (beer) and the wonderful "Soap Sisters" of Summit, NJ!
Please follow me on Twitter!
Loading ...
It would seem that being “in motion” is the most important thing in the church according the minds of these folks. It’s not so much the speed that worries me it’s the sudden stop when one slams into an unmovable reality at the end of the path.
Some many buzz words. Fellow travelers? New Prophecies? I thought prophecies came from God. The youth are now the new theologians?
Not my Church!
And most of the people filmed walking seemed to be quite alone, rather than ‘together’. Not surprised!
Note that the comments are turned off on YouTube.
The Church is the Body of Christ.
Why is it so hard for the video’s producers to say that?
It’s easier to comment on what’s “good, true, and beautiful” in the video.
…
OK so we now have a Church that is no longer a static institution, is now on the move, is now changing, I get it. So what does this have to do with what the Church’s mission in the world is, to save souls, to bring more people to know Christ and thereby be transformed ? In fact the words “God”, “Salvation” and “Jesus” are never mentioned.
Not one mention of Jesus. It is a big word salad of nothing.
My first thought was, as a designer, to be horribly offended by the font choice. I am reminded of a scene in the latter seasons of The Office where Dwight agrees to live under Taliban law because the document was written in a ridiculous font. Of course, this was a trick, as the person tricking him knew that no one takes documents written in ridiculous fonts seriously, and thus makes it easier to push through things they wouldn’t otherwise agree to. Yet again life imitates The Office.
My second thought was to hover over the YouTube player 15 seconds in to see how long this incredibly boring video would be. That’s a couple minutes I’ll never get back, but perhaps it will count as penance, so it’s not all bleak.
My third thought was “wow, I didn’t know synod meant journey. I thought it meant assembly or meeting.” So if synod means “journey,” then the synod on synodality is the “journey on journeying.” That definitely clears everything up.
My fourth thought was that Monsignor needs to find his collar; I really don’t need to see the upper chests of monsignors, as much as that might be indicative of a church on the move.
My fifth thought was confusion. It talks about a “plural” body of Christ, which is of course grammatical nonsense. Or is it a conjoined twins sort of reality? The lady at the end talks about the synod being a dynamic vision of “two people,” but then never defines who these two people are.
My final thought relates to my occupation. I am involved in video production, and have made many of these types of videos or been involved in campaigns where organizations are attempting a culture change or some kind of new organization-wide initiative. What struck me is that you could practically take all the footage, music (which doesn’t have a the right dynamics for a piece like this) and even most of the script, swap out some new talking heads and basically have the exact same video that would work for almost any secular corporate entity. The only spiritual reality mentioned is a brief invocation of the Holy Spirit, but even this is done as one mode of mutual listening among others.
My charitable takeaway is that there are a bunch of people who have no idea what to do to revitalize the church who are utilizing every word-salad-HR-speak-self-help-path-to-success bromide in order to pretend like it will do something. My less charitable (and, regrettably, likely more accurate) takeaway is that their vision of the Church has little to nothing to do with Christ and is more about being a chaplaincy for the zeitgeist.
1 Cor 15:58 Itaque fratres mei dilecti, STABILES estote, et immobiles.
.
Col 1:23 Si tamen permanetis in fide fundati, et STABILES, et immobiles.
.
2 Ptr 2:14 Hi vero oculos habentes plenos adulterii, pellicientes animas inSTABILES in corruaptione sua peribunt.
.
2Ptr 3:16 Sunt quaedam difficilia intellectu, quae indocti et inSTABILES depravant, sicut et ceteras Scripturas, ad suam ipsorum perditionem.
Utterly disquieting. Much is made of a bad Church (“static”, immobile, presumably dead) and a good Church (dynamic, in motion, living). In the context of this “pontificate”, we all know exactly what is meant – this is an exercise in changing the Church’s constant teachings to make the modern world feel good about its sins.
There is also much talk about “listening”, but I doubt that faithful Catholics who love the Church’s immemorial worship are the ones being listened to. On the contrary, those voices are to be rigorously excluded.
The whole thing is grossly tendentious hypocrisy and double-talk.
Ehrm, …..well….it sounded mostly like a rehash of ideas I heard 20-30 years ago. ..Just like the Pastoral Conference I participated in last weekend. I have been hearing this or that about how “the Church is changing” and is “on the move”. We’re “going out into the world” and “being missional”.
For my experience, …well, they’re not all bad ideas, ..yet they ARE rather too optimistic. I think they forget how being the “living people” of the Church…still requires living each day.
I learned the hard way over time how their “new” ideas…don’t serve me well. We learned as kids how prayer is simply talking to God, so we ought “be ourselves” and present our needs to God our own way. Be creative perhaps. I discovered over years that…when my life stinks… I’m not very creative or willing to be “moved by the Spirit”. I discovered that I needed a Rosary more than spontaneity. Offering a Rosary gives me something worthwhile to say to God. Otherwise, I’m liable to merely howl out “Waaaaaahhhhh!!!”.
I will hope that this synodal way will wind up better than the same old same old. Otherwise, ..we shall fail to learn from history; we shall be doomed to repeating mistakes.
I notice that the Sr. and Mgr. are not wearing clerics.
I also notice they seem to going back to the “we are church” movement language. So much for moving forward. But at least they admit the synod is a process “that is changing the church.”
Incredible to me how brazenly the synod is releasing this nonsense.
Where to begin?
Ever since Vatican 2 we’ve seen a neurotic element in the Church obsessed with itself – not the Church per se, but themselves. They are forever talking about themselves, inquiring after themselves, singing about themselves, making felt banners about themselves, and now holding synods about themselves.
One of the common features I’ve seen in the many mentally unsound people who come to me seeking help is an obsession with the self and an inability to assess one’s place in reality.
Listening to these improperly attired geriatrics speak about themselves as “young” – as if that were, of itself, a positive quality reveals something of this neurosis.
One of the persons interviewed for this propaganda video said the “Church is s listening Church, therefore the Holy Spirit is listening.” Does anyone question whether or not the Holy Spirit has auditory faculties? I don’t think it was meant in this way; rather it was meant in the sense of learning, changing, adapting.
So now, as these poor deluded old people who have spent their lives obsessing with themselves near their own demise, they tell us they have something to teach God.
I was struck this last Sunday by the Epistle and Gospel juxtaposition. Paul speaks about the Church, ekklesia, those who have been called out of the world by divine initiative, while the Jews “came together”. The verb used was a form of “synaxis”, coming together by human initiate in order to “test” Christ. Matthew uses the word “peiratzon” 6 times. It means to test, tempt, put on trial and always has a demonic use in his Gospel – the first of which is the testing of Christ in the desert. In other words, they formed a sort of anti-Church, coming together to test, tempt, and ultimately put God on trial.
Those who claim the Church has to learn from the world, the Holy Spirit has to learnt to listen and adapt – or else… – seem hellbent on coming together to form their own anti-church.
Something demonic is afoot.
The ubiquitous childlike script, the general focus on young adults and minorities so as to demonstrate their sufficient embrace of woke and the cult of youth, but most of all their complete dedication to listening to people as opposed to people listening to God. And all of it brushed with the hazy and wholesome veneer of nice.
It is all so tiresome.
If this is what they want for the Church, I am more concerned than I was when I first hear about the synod a few years ago.
These people just don’t understand what they Church is. We were given rules, that cannot be broke or changes just to get along with society.
And what is with that sister out of habit? Even if she is the undersecretary of the general secretary of the synod, if that is the kind of people we have on the synod, this is concerning. (I don’t actually know whose in the synod and all that. I try to stay out of it.)
If you want a revival in the Church, why not give Tradition another chance. It worked for a couple hundred years with the beautiful form of the Tridentine Mass!
Keep praying it all works out, specifically according to the will of God! If God is gonna let this synod stuff be implemented, he’s got a plan as to why, even if it doesn’t make sense right now!
This is a bunch of old people pretending they’re young and dynamic, and that they know what young people want. They know their time is coming to an end and it is their last gasp attempt to redeem what they know in their hearts has failed, although they have no idea why it has failed.
“My fellow travelers.” What is that, a true confession? Here is a dictionary definition: The meaning of FELLOW TRAVELER is a person who sympathizes with and often furthers the ideals and program of an organized group (such as the Communist party) without membership in the group or regular participation in its activities; broadly : a sympathetic supporter of another’s cause.
Please pass me a bottle of tums….this gives me an upset stomach. Leftist baloney plain and simple.
I suspect this video says more about the view of the Church of the people who made it than it does about the actual Church. Some of the comments my own bishop has given since the pandemic has really illustrated to me how isolated the typical bishop is. It’s not just bishops that seem to have a very limited view of life of the average laity, priests get swallowed up by their jobs as well.
My response: No disrespect, but y’all need to get out more.
I feel like those featured in the video were given a sheet of words that someone with a marketing degree came up with and told they had to include at least 4 of them in their comments.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Our Lord never mentioned. Fitting.
Christ built His Church on a rock, Peter. A rock that is solid, firm, unyielding, and unchanging is good and can last forever. If it is not such, if it begins to move and change then whatever is built upon it falls and is destroyed. These synods are trying to turn the Rock into a Protestant landslide.
Sounds like the “ape of the Church” that Venerable Fulton J. Sheen wrote about.
After reading some of the synthesis docs, it’s quite apparent that youngtrads did not feel comfortable (or were unavailable due to having eight kids) attending the “listening sessions.”
Therefore, notes the synthesis documents, their email responses were ignored. It’s their fault they are marginalized and unheard, because they didn’t say things in person.
And here I thought the Church was supposed to actively listen to the peripheries, those with no voice, those who are marginalized.
I guess some people count as more marginalized as others . . . ?
Hmm, mentioning Jesus Christ would have been a nice touch. A recognition of sin and redemption (i. e. supernatural hope) perhaps a bridge too far for this Synod. Well-done, visually engaging, but utterly secular, horizontal, and nothing to do with the actual Church (which in reality has always been universal and dynamic.) The emphasis on “static” is clever, since the immutability of truth is seen as the enemy. My consolation remains that “the Cross of Christ is the still point in a turning world” (Carthusian motto).
Maybe it should be:
Walking together in order to walk together.
or
Pretending to walk together in order to pretend to walk together.
or
Pretending to walk together in order to storm Heaven.
About 1000 views in English, less in Spanish, etc… It’s a 70’s throwback… Priests/nuns: dressed like flowerpowerpots… Only thing “missing” is pizza/soda masses…
Dominus flevit!
Sister needs to comb her hair. Other than that, The End.
Last one out, turn out the lights.
I guess the clown Masses and loaves of freshly baked bread back in the 70s didn’t work and so here we are today still trying to be relevant to the world.
Substitute the word “club”, “company” or “organization ” when they say “church” and this video could be used for any group. Visually it’s not religious looking at all. I suppose then it won’t offend the target group.
It reminds me of the advocates of more spending on education. We’ve done that since the 70s and schools have gotten worse. Or the new socialist/communist– we just need to do it harder and then it’ll work. These Catholics have been claiming for 50 years they need to be relevant to people of “today”. Now it’s called walking together. Fewer people are going to church. These self- made Catholics are bound & determined to be validated & vindicated in their vision even if they have to drive out every last person. Then they can look around and say we were right!
Don’t they ever get tired of beating that drum of “we need to make the church relevant”?
“The sin-nod is an exercise in hope”: as “we hope sin will be approved”. God is the same yesterday, today, and always. Truth does NOT change. Dogma does NOT change. Some want to be as protestants and vote on what they like. Is Our Lord, Jesus Christ, even part of the “synodal” way? It would seem NOT!
Habits and collars not welcome!
At the end of the video (2:15) the… *older* gentleman says:
“It is a young church, a church, a Church that has set itself in motion.”
A “young” church? 2000 years young, I suppose. One set in motion at Pentecost via the Holy Ghost. However, where I live it is a rather old and graying church (Most of whom look a tad aged like this gentleman.).
One where there are way more souls being put into the ground than souls being baptized and confirmed in the Faith. [Yes, I did say this very thing at one of those diocesan synodal listening sessions. No one disagreed.]
No, we are not blessed with one of those TLM parishes nearby where one could possibly witness what this fellow is speaking about – though he apparently doesn’t realize it. (Wonder if he would be encouraged by one of those?)
I *do* know many of the young in our diocese are driving the extra miles to assist at said TLM parish. (Static young fogeys that have set themselves in motion to assist at the Mass of the Ages!)
No images of Our Lord, Our Lady,or the saints. No images of liturgy or prayer, not even in the forms and styles favored by the people featured in this video. And the same tired bromides I heard at the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Synod 35 years ago, with the same process and the same pre-determined conclusions.
The youth. Brings to mind when Obama recounted how his 14 year olf daughter sat him down and convinced him that two dudes cound be ‘married’. A 14 year olf and a grown man. Those in charge in the vatican… they are grown…
In British English motion is an evacuation of the bowels. Enough said!
Protracted adolescent “reasoning” or just plain psychosis? Stuck in the sixties, unaware of anything which has transpired since “68. Long past referring to it as tragic, it is simply mortifying.
I see an awful lot of walking away in that video. Coincidence?
The Church shouldn’t be “on the move.” The Church is the pillar and bulwark of the Truth. It is founded and built upon St. Peter the Rock. Pillars, bulwarks, foundations, are steadfast, unmoving, steady, and strong. If you want to build a Church “on the move” then you will be putting it on shifting sands. We know what Our Lord calls the man who builds his house on sand: a fool.
This synod is attempting to rebuild Christ’s Church on the shifting sands of the modern world instead of the rock of St. Peter.
I’m only a few seconds in and I am wondering what the heck is this “continental stage” the document is being prepared for?
(I think I know…)
These people have far too much time on their hands.
Let’s have them try raising 4 kids under 10 years old for a few months and then let’s see how they talk.
Amazing.
1) Not a single mention of “God,” “Christ,” our creator.
2) The only mention of the Holy Spirit made it sound like he was listening to us, not the other way around.
3) The most garbled gobble-d-gook word salad I’ve ever heard
4) Imagery that aligned perfectly with the materialistic, humanistic voice overs
5) The font used for the titles, names, etc, were they intentionally going with the 3rd grade handwriting look? It really fit nicely with the depth of intellectual commentary.
6) In case anyone missed it, the church of old has absolutely nothing to offer us today, so the further we can get away from THAT old thing, the better!
If I were lost in life and searching for truth, then stumbled across this video as representative of where the Catholic Church was going . . . I’d run the other way!
1.) The complete absence of any members of the religious life under the age of fifty. What this tells me is the new generation of those entering the religious life want nothing to do with the Synod, or maybe more accurately the “Synod” wants nothing to do with them and their “radical orthodox” [read sarcasm] views.
2.) The lack of; a church, people in a church, young people or anyone attending mass, families or families attending mass, people praying, the Eucharist, a Crucifix, a rosary, a priest in black and clerics, a priest saying mass, really anything that has to do with being Catholic. If I had just watched this without knowing the context I’m not sure I would really understand this even had anything to do with Catholicism let alone any Christian religion.
3.) The desperateness of trying to attract young people and make the Church look “new, hip, and cool” and completely abandoning tradition. Basically all the worst things that were a result of the “spirit of Vatican II”. This reminded me of a last ditch effort of trying to make the “spirit of Vatican II” catch on and have some kind of lasting impact, while at the same time refusing to change anything about it that no one really likes.
4.) The lack of awareness among those that are pushing this agenda, as to what the upcoming generation of Catholics actually wants, as demonstrated by simply showing young people “hanging out” in a context that has absolutely nothing to do with being Catholic.
5.) The blatant–while at the same time trying to be subtle, “slam” on tradition by calling it “static”.
So Fr. Z., how much do you think the Holy See paid some Rome-based Public Relations firm for that over wrought, cliché ridden, pabulum? Asking for friend…
I fully endorse the comments made by Unfinished at 8.22 a.m. above.
There was nothing distinctively Catholic in that video. No mention of sacraments, scripture, salvation or holiness. It could have been made by any one of many Protestant sects. Dreadful.
Remind me someone, where in the New Testament can I read about The Synod on the Mount?
If these people want to “be church” in a new, dynamic, young organisation, they are free to leave the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church if they wish, and set up an alternative “church” that suits their tastes. They can leave us, the faithful, committed and traditional Catholics to continue in the 2,000 year-old tradition that has come down to us directly from the apostles.
Come on! You can’t start talking about the new “youthful, dynamic, universal Church,” and then a couple scenes later, have a video of a bunch of white boomers talking at a conference table.
What is seen can not be unseen. Now, where did I put that eye bleach…???
Pray hard…that they will repent before the demographic sinkhole opens up under the feet of those who would use the youth to further their misguided attempts to subvert the faith to be a mirror of this disordered world than a beacon of what it should strive to be.
Reply to the creators of this, is that UK phrase registering one’s acknowledgment of issue and subsequent non-interest in partaking:
Jog on
Introibo ad altare Dei
While my diocese has had listening sessions that have been advertised I haven’t had much interest in going.
After watching this video, one question comes to mind is “why do 70% of those who attend weekly Mass rush out to the parking lot within 10 minutes of Mass being concluded?” To me this shows that many Catholics are “clock in clock out”. Is faith secondary in their lives? The homily from last Sunday the priest highlighted belief and practice of our Catholic faith and is it 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in our lives.
I will say one thing I did like about the video: I didn’t notice a heavy emphasis on social justice. Social justice was the bulk of my parish formation growing up in the 70s and 80s. We didn’t learn alot about praying from a Catholic perspective, devotions, lives of the Saints, and reconciliation was like “oh you can go to a guidance counselor instead.”
I was glad I did the Ad Altare Dei program in Boy Scouts – learned more there.
This idea of the Church on the move evokes Rev Dr Teilhard de Chardin SJ to my understanding.
@ Simon_GNR: I laughed out loud at “Synod on the Mount.”
It just struck me that this view of “church” is like those diet ads that promise to let you eat all you want and shed pounds while you sleep. People keep trying to be holy (“spiritual”) without penance, self-denial, works of charity, or engaging in the long slog of showing up to prayer.
Thanks to several commenters who noted that the Holy Spirit is the one Who’d better start listening. Can’t get any more ridiculous than that.
A few scattered thoughts.
My thanks to those who commented here about the time warp feel of this. While I tend to worry about these things, the fact that this is a redux of stuff that plagued us in the 70’s and 80’s is somehow comforting. There is nothing new in this so there is no strong reason to believe it will not dissipate again. Where I tend to get concerned, the comments here provide some reassurance. Other than the passing reference to the Holy Spirit they make no mention of God so their efforts are ultimately for naught.
The lack of any real substance packaged into a feel-good PR piece or HR video identifies this as something not meant to inform or engage anyone but to somehow make those who are on board feel like something is happening when it may yet yield nothing more consequential than previous synods. This blog’s audience is obviously not even an afterthought to the producers.
Was anyone else struck by the (obviously unintentional) juxtaposition of 2 on camera geriatric speakers with a shot of 4 young people happily walking away? Somebody wasn’t thinking when they did that.
What’s up with the tendency toward fonts that look like crayon is the appropriate writing instrument?
I was struck by the “Pope Francis has opened up a new way of life in the Church” statement. Wow. That’s a bold statement, attributing to him nearly divine power. He is a competent guy, for weal or woe, but he’s not quite that good. I dislike the cult of personality that has developed around him. (In writing that, I do not imply he is responsible for cultivating it. There was a strong cult of personality around John Paul II which he was certainly aware of but did not cultivate.) Pope Benedict XVI was a wise and competent man, which makes him a welcome respite between the almost mythic John Paul II and the soccer star image engulfed Francis. Benedict is just a man, not a fantasy.
You were forewarned. A few scattered thoughts. No assertion of importance.
I’m going to wait until I see the original Latin version of this before I comment.
Basic summary:
We want to be just like the liberal Episcopal church because God’s really cool and has mellowed out with age. That’s why we’re changing his rules! And I wrote he instead of He because he’s that cool!!!!!!
I can honestly say this video would bring a huge smile to Luther’s face, because he wanted the Church to become a great Protestant force in the world.
One silver lining: it completely demolishes the attitudes of people like Voris and Lofton. Their hours of anti-SSPX tirades are debunked with simple words from these Protestants.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 “Hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.”
1 Corinthians 11:2 “I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you.”
2 Thessalonians 3:6 “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.”
That’s all I got to say.
No speaker in the video is under the age of 70. And their vision for the church suffers from all the symptoms of the ocular diseases of old age.
Macular Degeneration: Fuzzy vision in the center
Diabetic Retinopathy: Dark or empty areas in your vision
Glaucoma: Halos where there are none, blind spots
Detached Retina: Flashes of light that don’t exist, curtain-like shadow over your field of vision
Cataracts: Clouded, blurred, or dim vision
gas bags, nothing but gas.
bunch of b as in b an s as in s
MOOOOO
I don’t have a speaker on my PC, thank goodness, so I had to read the subtitles.
I noticed only once is the word “church” capitalized. It kind of gave me a funny image of “church on the move” and “living church.”
Also Rich Leonardi,
They did mention that “the living church(small c again)…is a plural Body of Christ.” I have no idea what that means but it sounds heretical.
Corpora?
Feel good gobbledygook
Walking and listening together? I wonder if they will be walking and listening to those of us devoted to the Tridentine Latin Mass? As a cradle Catholic, I feel abandoned by most of our church leaders. I thank God every day for the priests of the FSSP and our local bishop who invited them to serve in our diocese.
The last phrase of the production is “…it is a Church in motion,” just as the wave swallows up the surfer.
Apparently some of the faithful young Pittsburgh Catholic students have been turned into poster children for unchastity and Islam, via the Synod “artworks”. Also their race was changed, and even their club affiliations.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252474/philly-synod-artwork-misrepresented-our-views-catholic-students-say
And yes, it was all the same artist. Some chick named Becky McIntyre, aka Bex. She copies the style of Nicaraguan murals on US walls, for grant money, so they hired her for this.
So yup, the young, more traditionally-minded Catholics did show up, and were magically transformed into fictional people.
CasaSanBruno has a mic drop comment at 8:24. In a single word narcissism. Using two words, homosexual narcissism. Yes, something demonic is afoot. As I recall, the swine were all walking together as they strode off the cliff in Luke 8:33.
Even if an angel from heaven should preach to you gospel other than the one you received, let him be accursed!
Looks like the Office of Repetition in the Division of Duplication in the Department of Redundancy Department has struck again…
Madame Undersecretary of the Synod, Sr. Nathalie Bequart, makes a profoundly disturbing statement near the beginning of the video, regarding the Church as “the People of God.”
She contrasts “the People of God” with the idea that the Church is an “old, static institution.” Does she have no idea what the People of God is, and where it originated?
The Church is “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16), and it is as old as Abraham. Isaac and Jacob. It is the same institution that received the Ten Commandments at Sinai, and that followed Moses and the pillar of fire through the desert.
She should reflect on the fact that those who rebelled against Moses and who worshiped the golden calf, quickly lost their place among the ancient People of God, and that they were “mowed down by the sword” wielded by Moses and the People of God.
I could be wrong…but I’m pretty sure I didn’t hear the words God, Jesus, Christ, Faith, Salvation, or Evangelization mentioned even ONCE. These folks are walking-talking caricatures. Rebels without a cause….of the bourgeois variety.
The video looks just like any fundraising promotional video I have ever seen, with the same annoying, tuneless piano music in the background.
The essence of the video was captured by two images in particular: a young man walking, alone, down a a long, desolate highway; and a toddler, wandering aimlessly, lost and alone, through the tall grass, with no guidance or support from her family.
My preference is Monty Python’s version of “walking together”
https://youtu.be/eCLp7zodUiI
One of you unregistered readers sent me a note – look, folks, register and comment – with something both curiously engaging and disturbing.
The video has a kind of Orwellian “Two Minutes Hate” quality to it, no?
I don’t know which video is worse.
Hard to know which of these is its strongest characteristic:
Stupid
Boring
Incomprehensible
Silly
Banal
Empty
Whatever this video was, it was not in service to the Catholic Church, but some other (mostly imaginary) thing or idea.
I would swear this was an Episcopalian or Unitarian video the Synod is recycling* after purchasing it on discount following the denomination’s latest round of church closings.
*For environmental reasons
Blech! Sorry but that’s all I’ve got. And that’s quite a bit more than they deserve.
Larry Chapp wrote a pointed rebuke of the Synod’s clear manipulations:
https://gaudiumetspes22.com/blog/orwellian-synodality
As well as an article on its obviously preordained conclusions.
https://gaudiumetspes22.com/blog/so-called-synodality-and-the-myth-of-hyper-papalism
They are both worth reading.
They are trying to create hype. Trying hard to make the synod a mini Vatican II moment.
“The Church is an old static institution”. I always saw the Church as the only thing stable in stressful times that will always be there regardless of where I am. That When life seems chaotic, regardless of where I am, I can walk into a Catholic Church and our Lord will be there waiting for me. There’s something very therapeutic about walking into a church that smells and sounds like church and not like chaos.
The synodality people seem to me to be seriously bored individuals & genuinely want to use their imaginations. Therefore, they should take up something like serious music study or farming if they won’t take up serious religion.
This reminds me how fortunate we are that Pope (E) Benedict remains with us, in Rome.
Keep hope alive.
Pingback: Card. Müller: “we must resist” the hostile takeover of the Church | Fr. Z's Blog
It seems as many posters have said that the outcome of the Synod has been predetermined. What we are going to see from this point on is a full court press of positive PR that will focus on reinforcing/brainwashing the laity to follow this new narrative. There will likely be a stream of similar “reinforcement” videos and releases in the near future. I believe that those of us faithful to the Church have seriously underestimated our opponent.
The speakers keep talking about a Church “in motion”, as if being in motion were the goal. Maybe they were thinking of Brownian motion, the random movement of particles suspended in a fluid, constant but without intent. Synods over and over = Church in Brownian motion.