I’ll wager that in the readership there are people who are experts on how to hold meetings, how to control the message and direction of meetings, changing minds, creating consensus, etc. I’ve only read a little about it. However, I did grow up in Minnesota which has a caucus system for elections. You learn early that breaking people into small groups into which you have inserted a committed leader who can wear down opposition is key. There have to be full-koolaid-slaked agents on deck who can – let’s mix the metaphors even more – nip things in the bud.
Why do I bring this up? This popped into my head as I saw a few picture which have emerged from the Synod on Synodality (“Walking Together on Walking Togetherity”).
A closer view…
Questions come to mind.
First, how much did all that tech cost?!? That array is at every table? Isn’t this somehow, along with all the hot air, harmful to the environment? How much fossil fuel is used to run this stuff?
Next, what sort of massively ponderous process is involved here? Actually, it doesn’t matter, does it. It’s all worked out.
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Small groups aren’t a vehicle for gelassenheit & Gemeinschaft, but instead Gesellschaft?
Divide and conquer. Divide and multiply.
I would say each table has about $15-20,000 of tech on it. Not to mention the back end tech needed to run it which is considerably more.
Additionally given the Pope’s recent comments on how the world is not doing enough to stop climate change you would think they would have used paper documents.
the deforestation and strip mining of large parts or Africa, particularly the Congo in search of the rare minerals needed for those tablets probably is one of the biggest contributors to man influence of climate.
They could have probably printed all the material for $200 with the pulp of one tree and it would have been 100% biodegradable.
All that tech only gives the illusion of going paperless to support the climate but gives the benefit of preventing the printing leaking or note taking on the documents being prepared. It is about control.
I learned about this 37 years ago, when I participated in the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Synod under Rembert Weakland. Same methods.
Welcome to the Delphi Technique where small groups are fooled into believing they are part of a predetermined process. If you are not familiar with the Delphi Technique which was developed for the Cold War, you should read this short explanation and see if it reminds you of the last Mega church, school board, planning commission, ect. meeting. The technique can be used with small groups or without as it is designed to manipulate ANY meeting to a predetermined outcome.
http://www.vlrc.org/articles/110.html
One of the most bizarre experiences of my life was going to the 2016 Republican Caucus in Crystal, MN. The room spent a half hour talking about how awful Donald Trump was – not a single person spoke in his defense. Then we took the vote (done secretly), and it came out 75% for Trump.
Am I the only one wondering if the purpose is a soft purge of a certain kind of Catholic to achieve a more manageable Catholic Church in keeping with the spirit of the age, and it really has little to do with the merits of any of the more controversial issues? That’s pretty cynical even for me.
I am told that is how the “synod” of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was orchestrated decades ago — sans technology. Five nuns walked out when they realized what was happening. One of those is still teaching Latin.
I see nothing good coming of this – but plenty of devious mischief, confusion, and diabolical ambiguity. And that’s the positive view. From the negative view, we’re talking heresy and schism.
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“Walking Together on Walking Togetherity” aka “W-T on W-T-F”
HAH!!!
They look bored already.
Maybe they’ll just bag it and go sight seeing.
And that serpent’s eye…
Looks gay.
It’s all of a piece. The agenda was all set before the first move was made. The diocesan “synods” used the same small-group techniques. The outcomes of those were known in advance, and where one parish, or one diocese, came to different results, those different results were buried in the summaries done for the higher level (e.g. national documents). The people appointed for the Rome synod were hand-picked for the outcome desired. The committees and the questions to be addressed were selected by the ultimate goal intended.
The whole thing is a farce, with nary a pinhead of room left for the Holy Spirit to push a different result than the one designed from the outset. Unless something changes dramatically, Catholics the world over should give this sin-nod the cold shoulder and denounce it’s validity in stiff terms.
The image says it all.
They are in a circle facing each other.
The hall Is filled with potted plants
And there are also the palm trees along the back wall there….
Divide, conquer and subjugate the conquered so that the conquest will continue until there are no more to conquer…Sadly our world and even more sadly the church today.
Lord have mercy
I bet that conference center they’re meeting in is air conditioned.
I don’t understand all the gloom. Grotesque? Sure. But these people couldn’t build a birdhouse together, let alone a new “church.” They’ll only ruin the old one if we let them.
So don’t.
MitisVis posted what I was going to say but said it better and included a link!
I attended several meetings in a secular context that used the Delphi Technique. It was used in the SF Bay Area by regional entities trying to gain control in the days of Agenda 21.
The Technique can be used in a non evil way to form a consensus I suppose. As long as an Expert with an Agenda isn’t planted at each table. The local diocesan Walkimg Togetherity session I attended was formed into tables as pictured (without the technocrxx) but it did not seem anyone was “planted”. However one person at each table volunteered to be “scribe” and write down all the various “thoughts”. And they had complete control over what was passed on at the end.
It looks like a giant exercise in groupthink. I suspect few would have the fortitude to differ with the preordained position on anything. I suggested an opening round of vino to loosen them up.
If the hours spent not only at this thing, but the hours at parishes, the hours doing the planning and even the hours spent by crews setting it up had been spent at Masses, saying rosaries and at Eucharistic Adoration I can only imagine how the Church would’ve been blessed.