Youth Synod: Pope Trashes Tradition
Vatican City, Oct 3, 2018 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis began the Synod on young people Oct. 3 with a homily calling for the Holy Spirit to renew hope and dynamism in the Church.
Hope can “broaden our horizons, expand our hearts and transform those frames of mind that today paralyze, separate and alienate us from young people,” said Pope Francis.
The Synod of Bishops commenced its fifteenth ordinary general session with Pope Francis asking to begin the assembly “anointed by hope.”
“Hope challenges us, moves us and shatters that conformism which says, ‘it’s always been done like this,’” he continued.
In a historic first, two bishops from mainland China are participating in the Synod of Bishops due to the Holy See’s provisional agreement with China on the appointment of bishops in September.
One of the bishops at the synod, Bishop Giuseppe Guo Jincai of Chengde, was among the seven bishops recognized by the Vatican on Sept. 22.
“The communion of the entire Episcopate with the Successor of Peter is yet more visible thanks to their presence,” the pope said as he welcomed the delegates from China.
The Synod of Bishops is taking place over three weeks from October 3-28 and will focus on the themes of young people, the faith, and vocational discernment.
“Hope asks us to get up and look directly into the eyes of young people and see their situations,” said Pope Francis, “This same hope asks us to make efforts to reverse situations of uncertainty, exclusion and violence, to which our young people are exposed.”
More than 300 participants are gathered in Rome, including clerics and religious, as well as 49 auditors, among them 36 young people from five continents.\
“May the Spirit give us the grace to be a memory that is diligent, living and effective, that does not allow itself from one generation to the next to be extinguished or crushed by the prophets of doom and misfortune, by our own shortcomings, mistakes and sins,” Pope Francis prayed.
“Rather may it be a memory capable of enkindling our hearts and of discerning the ways of the Spirit,” he continued. “With this attitude of docile listening to the voice of the Spirit, we have gathered from all parts of the world.”
“The Holy Spirit will be the first to preserve, to keep alive and relevant, the memory of the Lord in the heart of his disciples. It is the Spirit who ensures that the richness and beauty of the Gospel will be a source of constant joy and freshness,” he said. Source – Catholic News Agency
Comment:
“Hope challenges us, moves us and shatters that conformism which says, ‘it’s always been done like this,’” [said Pope Francis]
What’s that, if not trashing Tradition? Look at what happens when we STOP doing what has always been done… confusion, chaos and scandal by the bucketful.
I get the feeling that young people are going to be short-changed by this Synod, to put it mildly. What do you think? Will they come away from it, excited that they face the challenge of changing themselves, the challenge of holiness… or will they leave in a rebellious spirit, determined to change Christ’s Church, to fashion it in a way that allows them to live in conformity to the spirit of the world – totally opposed to the Holy Spirit, which Pope Francis invokes so freely to justify his calls to challenge Tradition, to, effectively, challenge Christ, Himself?
Comments (42)
This stick Pope Francis is holding (at the so-called Synod) is, according to some, a “Stang – the Ritual Staff of Witchcraft”:
https://www.barnhardt.biz/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/96759201-883C-46EE-B83D-E93076BDABA6.jpeg
RCA Victor,
I was so sceptical about your comment that I Googled and found that you are totally right – the link I got was “archetypical witchcraft files” – and this is the picture. Surely the Pope doesn’t realise the significance of that “cross”? I don’t know why I am even asking, after all I’ve learned about this man. It’s just so shocking.
https://archetypicalwitchcraft.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_0732.jpg
Apart from WOW! I can only say, as Lily has said, effectively, why am I surprised at this?
Also, surprising, is my return to my old avatar. Which came about only because I have managed to recover the CT email address. The two, of course, go together.
Now, I’m not sure what to do – whether to restore the Immaculate Heart, or leave well alone, now!
If you have an opinion, let’s hear it. NOBODY had an opinion about my change of avatar so I really don’t know why I’m bothering to ask! So ,you want to discuss the youth synod? I want to discuss ME!
Editor,
I suggest you consult the Pope’s swizzle stick. Or, alternatively, you could
https://www.fiktshun.com/fiktshun/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Ask-the-8-Ball.png
RCA Victor,
One of these days, I’ll remember to exclude you from being obliged to reply with your opinion to my opinion-seeking research work!
I know, I know, that’s not very “inclusive”. I know… 😀
I do prefer this one , ie the old one. The picture of our lady is beautiful but as an avatar this kind of says what you are about. So that’s my twopennorth for what it’s worth.
Elizabeth,
I appreciate your twopennorth – which is worth tuppence! Seriously, very grateful for your input. Which coincides, I see, with those below you (in a manner of speaking!)
Keep the old avatar! It’s just YOU. I never did get used to yet another religious image amongst others and often, I’d read your comments and moved on, before I realized it WAS you!
Crofterlady,
So, this young gal, is “just ME”? You have made my day! Thank you!
I admit to having missed your old avatar suggesting your nimble fingers flying across the keyboard.
If Pope Francis is holding onto a Ritual Staff of Witchcraft, what is he implying? Attendance at a witches coven? Prayer and penance is needed for the Pope. Lily, as you say he doesn’t realise the significance of that “cross”.
Theresa Rose,
Thank you for helping cement my decision …
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT….
After due consultation with CT bloggers, I have decided that the old avatar stays.
Given some of my bad jokes, I doubt if Our Lady will mind! 😀
Editor,
I followed my own research advice and asked the 8-Ball whether you should keep your old avatar. Here is what it said:
“Outlook good, but may impede delivery of wages.”
Now that we’ve restored Editor’s avatorial self-esteem, let’s get back to the Pope’s demonic swizzle-stick synod. Here’s what Abp. Chaput (no traditionalist he; he’s even on the board of the infamous Theology of the Body Institute) had to say about the Instrumentum Laboris:
Brothers,
I was elected to the synod’s permanent council three years ago. At the time, I was asked, along with other members, to suggest themes for this synod. My counsel then was to focus on Psalm 8. We all know the text: “When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?”
Who we are as creatures, what it means to be human, why we should imagine we have any special dignity at all — these are the chronic questions behind all our anxieties and conflicts. And the answer to all of them will not be found in ideologies or the social sciences, but only in the person of Jesus Christ, redeemer of man. Which of course means we need to understand, at the deepest level, why we need to be redeemed in the first place.
If we lack the confidence to preach Jesus Christ without hesitation or excuses to every generation, especially to the young, then the Church is just another purveyor of ethical pieties the world doesn’t need.
In this light, I read Chapter IV of the instrumentum, grafs 51-63, with keen interest. The chapter does a good job of describing the anthropological and cultural challenges facing our young people. In fact, describing today’s problems, and noting the need to accompany young people as they face those problems, are strengths of the instrumentum overall. But I believe graf 51 is misleading when it speaks of young people as the “watchmen and seismographs of every age.” This is false flattery, and it masks a loss of adult trust in the continuing beauty and power of the beliefs we have received.
In reality, young people are too often products of the age, shaped in part by the words, the love, the confidence, and the witness of their parents and teachers, but more profoundly today by a culture that is both deeply appealing and essentially atheist.
The elders of the faith community have the task of passing the truth of the Gospel from age to age, undamaged by compromise or deformation. Yet too often my generation of leaders, in our families and in the Church, has abdicated that responsibility out of a combination of ignorance, cowardice and laziness in forming young people to carry the faith into the future. Shaping young lives is hard work in the face of a hostile culture. The clergy sexual abuse crisis is precisely a result of the self-indulgence and confusion introduced into the Church in my lifetime, even among those tasked with teaching and leading. And minors — our young people — have paid the price for it.
Finally, what the Church holds to be true about human sexuality is not a stumbling block. It is the only real path to joy and wholeness. There is no such thing as an “LGBTQ Catholic” or a “transgender Catholic” or a “heterosexual Catholic,” as if our sexual appetites defined who we are; as if these designations described discrete communities of differing but equal integrity within the real ecclesial community, the body of Jesus Christ. This has never been true in the life of the Church, and is not true now. It follows that “LGBTQ” and similar language should not be used in Church documents, because using it suggests that these are real, autonomous groups, and the Church simply doesn’t categorize people that way.
Explaining why Catholic teaching about human sexuality is true, and why it’s ennobling and merciful, seems crucial to any discussion of anthropological issues. Yet it’s regrettably missing from this chapter and this document. I hope revisions by the Synod Fathers can address that.
Not that I would ever use the G-Y word nor never use the acronyms LGBTQ2WXYZ. at least he’s said that Homosexual Language as in the acronyms should not be spoken of course probably one of The First Young Ones to speak will say their G-Y . As for the Theology of The Body even a Protestant would know that it Should be The Theology of The Soul . Still it’s another Sinnod and a chance for a nice get together and am sure that myself as a Catholic ( and that should mean 2000 years from Christ there need be no change ) will no doubt learn from these youngsters and their ways . After all I served my Apprenticeship for 5 Years and was always telling Journey Men Tradesmen how they were doing things wrong. You never know they may go into great Readings from great Saints just to give The Communist Chinese something to take back to their great Leader Xi Jinping . I was going to say Our Lord Jesus Christ but God Forgive Me av really had Enough of all of this Garbage and Hypocritical gatherings in his name and of course I know am not alone . I myself am not worthy to attend such a gathering. I should of course take that back as it’s False Humility and we all have had too many dozes of that .
Bishop crispian hollis says pope francis is being attacked like jesus
http://www.portsmouthdiocese.org.uk/annual-mass-knights-of-st-gregory-2018.php
CDL,
Not remotely surprising. Bishop Hollis was about as Catholic as Pope Francis, long before we had Pope Francis… 😀
The Wiccan Stang used by Pope Francis was given to him by a young woman wearing a Wiccan red string bracelet:
https://www.barnhardt.biz/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/765E2562-37D7-42A7-B3F3-D0B4C11164AA.jpeg
RCA Victor et al,
I’ll read your posts carefully later, but right now, things to do, people to see…
I just could not resist noting the picture of the Pope receiving that Wiccan Stang, and point out that, while others have disagreed with me from time to time, arguing that the Pope is really highly intelligent, shrewd, the lot, I have long been convinced that, his faithlessness apart, he’s not the brightest button in the box.
The above photo confirms my view. I’m only pleased that I’m not working in the Vatican because, then I would have to be honest and say that…
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f8/d2/4d/f8d24d9fa08897c99773017e3cd25fed–text-quotes-work-quotes.jpg
I thought this was interesting – an Australian bishop apologising to young people about the abuse scandal but also apologising for the lack of proper teaching and spiritual formation
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/youth-synod-bishop-apologizes-to-young-people-on-behalf-of-church-leaders-68513
It looks like a step in the right direction.
Lily,
Yes, I thought that was a positive statement from the Archbishop of Sydney.
One of his auxiliary Bishops, Richard Umber, recently made a humorous but telling tweet, regarding how to select what liturgy is best suited to different groups.
His pastoral proposals, categorised by age, were as follows:
Under 30s – 1962 Missal
Over 50s – Youth Mass
Over 70s but with one child present – Children’s Liturgy
http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2018/10/sydney-bishop-assigns-immemorial-mass.html
No doubt this was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but making a serious point at the same time.
So it seems Sydney currently has a crop of Bishops with their heads screwed on!
This is from Christopher Ferrara, Fatima Center
https://fatima.org/news-views/fatima-perspectives-1239/
As he says at the end – “God rescue us”. Hear, hear.
Joe O’Connell (Ireland) has emailed us the first of the Fatima Center videos from the synod in Rome…
When Francis opened the Synod with a Stang,
About all I could do was to blurt out “Dang!”
Was he raised by wolves in the rain forest?
Was this a gift from a Wiccan florist?
Dear Cardinals, depose this man and his gang!
RCA Victor,
Who needs Rabbie Burns, with you around?!
My daughter is determined to contact the Vatican (the Pope even) with a complaint, which could be described as being straight from the horse`s mouth. I won`t go into too much detail but it was after she had spoken to an Italian friend who had been to Rome.
Could anyone help her with contact details?
Frankier,
The postal address for Pope Francis is:
His Holiness Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace
VATICAN CITY, 00120
Tell her to be careful NOT to write “Italy” on the envelope as it is unlikely to be delivered. [ignore my earlier sentence when I had a senior moment and wrote Rome instead of Italy)
Editor
Thanks!
Frankier
Here is the address for the Pope’s residence. Your daughter can use either the Italian version or the English version. I usually use the Italian.
H.H. Pope Francis
Domus Sanctae Marthae
00120 Citta del Vaticano
Roma
Italia
St. Martha’s House
00120 Vatican City
Rome
Italy
Athanasius,
I believe we were told, when that new address of residence was announced, that the mail should still be addressed to the Apostolic Palace. And most websites giving out the papal contact details usually stress that it is important to avoid putting Italy on the envelope because the postal workers often don’t deliver – Vatican City is separate in postal business terms, from Italy, being an independent nation.
However, I could be wrong! Again!
I should add, though, that clergy living in Rome, and working in the Vatican, have also advised that we should not put Italy on the envelope, as it might either delay our correspondence or – much more likely – prevent it from reaching its destination.
However, maybe THOSE clergy were also wrong! I just tend to do what I’m telt!
Belated thanks for the information, Athanasius.
Editor
I didn’t know about the problem with the word Italy in the address. No wonder my letters haven’t been getting through!! I was also unaware that all correspondence to the Pope is to be sent to the Apostolic Palace, which, presumably, Pope Francis is using as a mail drop! Who would have thought the day would dawn when a Pope would use the Apostolic Palace as his mail room? You couldn’t make it up.
I would take a chance and send it to the Pope’s wee hoose next door. Who knows, it might just find its way to the breakfast table.
Athanasius,
I actually double-checked the Italy rule at the post office, when I was first told about it, and sure enough, it’s a mistake to put Italy on anything addressed to Vatican City.
As for the two addresses – we had to check way back in 2013 when we were still sending the newsletter to the Vatican and we were told to keep sending it to the Apostolic Palace – although, were I to write a private letter, I think I’d probably send a copy to the “humble” home as well! I know that not getting a reply x 2 would annoy me twice as much, but, hey, worth a try – who knows, it might level; if my letters (or yours) DID reach the Pope HE would be ANNOYED X 2! Maybe that’s what they mean by a “win-win” situation 😀
This is another bishop who say the synod should have addressed the abuse scandals or been postponed – what I was trying to find are some comments from young people at the synod, but no luck.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/10/05/caggiano-youth-synod-bishops-must-address-sexual-abuse-crisis/
Editor,
I found this on the Catholic Herald website and wondered if you knew about it – I could have added plenty of names to the list of young relatives, if I’d only known about it – and I’m sure other bloggers could have done, as well. The organisers should know that Catholic Truth is the first port of call for educated Catholics in Scotland
http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/10/03/young-scottish-catholics-praise-clergy-who-proclaim-orthodox-teaching/
MM,
No, I hadn’t heard about that but I do recognise some of the names listed. Some of them are relative newcomers to the traditional Mass, attending Summorum Pontificum parishes, and I always sensed a quiet disapproval of Catholic Truth – easy enough to detect through their gritted teeth smiles!
Good for them, though, for their enterprising letter ahead of the synod. Let’s hope it bears fruit.
Against the backdrop of fears this synod will attempt to undermine Church teaching on homosexuality, it is reported that Church authorities have “fired” (refused a nihil obstat) to the Rector of the Jesuit Theological College in Germany.
Fr Ansgar Wucherpfennig SJ had promoted and defended homosexual relationships and even carried out blessings of the same.
The action was taken by the Congregation for Catholic Education, in conjunction with the CDF. Recall the head of the CDF, Cardinal Ladaria, is also a Jesuit, appointed by Francis.
https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2018/10/news-rome-fires-pro-homosexual-union.html#more
I wonder if Francis is trying to appear more orthodox / responsible with this move, given he is under fire on various fronts?
This is the latest from the Remnant on the Synod of the Youth. It is sad really and almost sounds like the inmates are running the asylum.
https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/4133-synod-of-doom-an-underground-message-to-vigano
It’s official: Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl as the Archbishop of Washington.
https://zenit.org/articles/pope-francis-accepts-cardinal-wuerls-resignation-as-archbishop-of-washington/
Just received this video report from the Fatma Center at the (crime!) scene…
Gee, Editor, not exactly an update, more like a background analysis of inherent fatal flaws in the Synod approach.
An interesting youth intervention in the ‘Sin-nod’
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/australian-youth-to-synod-fathers-we-cant-help-shape-the-church-until-you-f
Westminster Fly,
That’s a great piece about the Australian youth. I hope the Pope gets the message.
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