No, no, no, possibly and it's hard to say
I liked this article on the Synod on the Family from CNN. It's short and to the point. Here's a cliff notes summary:
1. Will the church change its position on same-sex marriage?
No.
2. Will the church change its teaching on birth control or abortion?
No.
3. What about euthanasia?
No.
4. So will this meeting change anything at all?
Possibly.
5. If the synod does recommend any changes, when will they take effect?
It's hard to say.
Number four is the placeholder for the liberals hopey for changey. The strategy for "this meeting" is the same as always for liberals: to take some tossed-off lines from Pope Francis or from others that are written down into documents which can have interpretations read into them. Then they will base their actions on the agenda they inject. This is what they've done for years with Vatican II, so I highly doubt they will do anything different for this synod.
For example, notice this line: "Pope [Francis] has said the communion is 'medicine' and not a 'prize for the perfect.'" This is not a Pope Francis thing, this is basically the traditional Catholic response to the Jansenist heresy and there is nothing new or innovative about the statement at all. The priest who first gave me instruction went even further stating that "Holy Communion is medicine for your soul not a reward for being good". So forget perfect for a minute, you don't have to even be good to receive communion! All you need to be is in a state of grace and not in some persistent state of sin like being in an unlawful marriage.
Normal Catholics and people in general will note how much middle ground exists between perfection and a persistent state of sin. Most of my friends and acquaintances are somewhere in between. But liberals love to spend their time at the poles. So they will treat the whole thing like a binary either/or proposition. For example, many liberals give the impression that if you don't approve of and celebrate every immoral act of an active homosexual then you are no better than people who physically attack and kill homosexuals. And if you make distinctions — like the Church does — between valid and invalid marriages then you really don't think that those people in the latter love each other. Which of course has nothing to do with being either in a state of grace or a persistent state of sin.
I'm not worried that anything horrible is going to take place within the context of the synod. I do think that some people will take it as a green light to push a liberal agenda, and it is amusing to see them pretty much doing this already when this meeting is just getting underway. The worst I fear is that the Church might lose an opportunity to clarify its constant teaching in the interference of all the gay talk. But it wouldn't be the first of the last time that's happened. But I think that TFP and MBD are overly worried.
My only real concern is that people who have been conditioned to regard any change in practices relating to marriage, in effect anything that isn't a direct quote from an earlier papacy, as complete and utter apostasy will be lost in measurable numbers.
ReplyDeleteThe only people I know like that are cyber-wraiths. I know no one that skittish in Real Life.
DeleteSpeaking of which: I talked to our parish's deacon (who also happens to work at the same place I do) about the recent changes in praxis for the nullity process. Our deacon is an advocate for the diocesan tribunal; has been for years. He says the changes will have virtually no effect in our diocese. We already charge way less than the new maximum, and we already have a fairly expedited process (although not quite as expedited as 45 days max!). The archdiocese rarely challenges much less overturns a Charlotte Diocese tribunal decree; Deacon David said he's only seen one such case. Yet ours is a conservative diocese, and our judicial vicar (a very holy priest) takes his responsibilities super-seriously.
My deacon friend says there are some cases where you just look at the paperwork, and you know immediately, up-front, that the marriage is null (defect of form, disparity of cult, and that kind of thing).
Anyway, the bottom line is that the new rules will barely affect what we are doing now. I know that won't be the case in every diocese, but I do wonder whether some of the more hysterical online commentators were making much ado about relatively little.
Perhaps the same will be the case WRT reactions to the Synod.
I know no one that skittish in Real Life.
DeleteI don't either, although I do know some people on-line who used to be normal and are definitely skittish now -- like, elbow deep in their post-synod Plan B.
I think it would help if everyone who can't explain the difference between the Petrine Privilege and the Pauline Privilege without Google would stop typing for a month.
I used Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteI know there are "wild-eyed" folks out there who are always threatening to bolt when SHTF in the church. I'm always thinking "can't you just wait for the chastisement?" But it's all fake and they never follow through.
Tom's point is well taken because ignorance of Church history amplifies fears like nothing else in my experience. We've had six very wise and saintly popes in a row, maybe more. Catholics are pretty spoiled regardless of political persuasion.