My fear is this whole synodal "listening" thing is a way to make the Church a democracy...What does everyone want to do? New modern sexuality ideas, inclusiveness of any/all lifestyle choices, revamping of priesthood to make it more inclusive, acceptance of any/all religions as a way to heaven, dropping this whole "real presence" thing, drop mandatory church attendance, make the church more fun and less restrictive and rigid, etc. etc. etc.
if its any consolation, I teach 7th and 8th grade religion classes in a parochial school, and in spite of the fact that (at a guess) 30% or fewer of my students are regularly attending Sunday Mass, when the 8th Grade participated in a listening session, the biggest concerns they brought up had to do with feeling like the church talks past them, not to them. They also brought up a desire for greater clarity on what the church actually teaches on various issues and for more seriously applying various church teachings in their lives.
I know that they were, to an extent, influenced by me, but their contributions were less about demanding the church conform to their ideas and more about asking the church to communicate her teaching clearly and help Christians carry out these teachings seriously.
I had a similar experience at my Diocese's listening session for Young Adults: no one was asking for changes to Catholic teaching or for the Church to become more like a democracy. We instead asked for more widespread traditional practices and a greater emphasis on Catholic teaching and the Sacraments: more confession times, more Adoration opportunities, daily Masses, etc. It went way better than I expected.
I participated in a Synodal meeting at our parish and it was very confusing. The parish representatives did their best, but acknowledged it being dis-jointed. The questions and workbook reminded me of religion class/CCD in the 1970’s, rather aimless with a lot of emphasis on feeling and experience (maybe that was the point?). At times everyone in the room struggled to understand exactly what the questions were asking. Other comments were that it wasn’t well thought out and seemed put together at the last minute.
I was a parish representative, I have to agree with you. To be honest I am sick of the word synodality, nobody knows what it means other than as an excuse to mount their own hobby horses and ride off. Despite this I think that the submissions by parishes were actually rather good and I trust my Archbishop, so the worst may be averted.
I am very fearful that this process will result in mass confusion, with various national conferences of bishops moving in different directions, as witnessed in Germany. Perhaps in the end we will see a 3rd Vatican Council to make sense of it all!
In Newman's "Arians of the Fourth Century" there appears this comment on synods from Saint Gregory of Nazianzus:"If I must speak the truth, I feel disposed to shun every conference of bishops; because I never saw a Synod brought to a happy issue, nor remedying, but rather increasing, existing evils. For ever is there rivalry and ambition, and these have the mastery of reason." Mary Ann Glendon
My observation of the synodal way has revealed to me the total lack of spiritual depth of we catholics....there is much superficiality in people....no deep conviction of the truths in the Bible (sacred scripture) and the knowledge of our catechism...a lack of deep relationship with Jesus our lord and therefore seduced by our culture ..not many strong leaders amongst ou r bishops hence the confusion....the synod is to listen to the voice of the holy spirit first and discern what the lord is saying to the church then listen to each other....I suspect many catholics don.t know how to do that...therefore we get the German path very sinister at its core....thankfully others are listening to the holy spirit and the German bishops will go it alone and end up in heresy and then schism...pope Francis needs to be more forthcoming.. we all need to pray and fast this listen season...
Should have been 12 Catholic schools. Bellarmine in Louisville won its league tournament but could not go to the NCAA tourney because it had only moved up from division 2 two years ago. They won the Div 2 championship a few years ago.
I would give quite a lot to be allowed to eat meat on Friday 18th - it's my 70th birthday...
Happy birthday!
Thank you!
My fear is this whole synodal "listening" thing is a way to make the Church a democracy...What does everyone want to do? New modern sexuality ideas, inclusiveness of any/all lifestyle choices, revamping of priesthood to make it more inclusive, acceptance of any/all religions as a way to heaven, dropping this whole "real presence" thing, drop mandatory church attendance, make the church more fun and less restrictive and rigid, etc. etc. etc.
if its any consolation, I teach 7th and 8th grade religion classes in a parochial school, and in spite of the fact that (at a guess) 30% or fewer of my students are regularly attending Sunday Mass, when the 8th Grade participated in a listening session, the biggest concerns they brought up had to do with feeling like the church talks past them, not to them. They also brought up a desire for greater clarity on what the church actually teaches on various issues and for more seriously applying various church teachings in their lives.
I know that they were, to an extent, influenced by me, but their contributions were less about demanding the church conform to their ideas and more about asking the church to communicate her teaching clearly and help Christians carry out these teachings seriously.
I had a similar experience at my Diocese's listening session for Young Adults: no one was asking for changes to Catholic teaching or for the Church to become more like a democracy. We instead asked for more widespread traditional practices and a greater emphasis on Catholic teaching and the Sacraments: more confession times, more Adoration opportunities, daily Masses, etc. It went way better than I expected.
I participated in a Synodal meeting at our parish and it was very confusing. The parish representatives did their best, but acknowledged it being dis-jointed. The questions and workbook reminded me of religion class/CCD in the 1970’s, rather aimless with a lot of emphasis on feeling and experience (maybe that was the point?). At times everyone in the room struggled to understand exactly what the questions were asking. Other comments were that it wasn’t well thought out and seemed put together at the last minute.
I was a parish representative, I have to agree with you. To be honest I am sick of the word synodality, nobody knows what it means other than as an excuse to mount their own hobby horses and ride off. Despite this I think that the submissions by parishes were actually rather good and I trust my Archbishop, so the worst may be averted.
I am very fearful that this process will result in mass confusion, with various national conferences of bishops moving in different directions, as witnessed in Germany. Perhaps in the end we will see a 3rd Vatican Council to make sense of it all!
In Newman's "Arians of the Fourth Century" there appears this comment on synods from Saint Gregory of Nazianzus:"If I must speak the truth, I feel disposed to shun every conference of bishops; because I never saw a Synod brought to a happy issue, nor remedying, but rather increasing, existing evils. For ever is there rivalry and ambition, and these have the mastery of reason." Mary Ann Glendon
My observation of the synodal way has revealed to me the total lack of spiritual depth of we catholics....there is much superficiality in people....no deep conviction of the truths in the Bible (sacred scripture) and the knowledge of our catechism...a lack of deep relationship with Jesus our lord and therefore seduced by our culture ..not many strong leaders amongst ou r bishops hence the confusion....the synod is to listen to the voice of the holy spirit first and discern what the lord is saying to the church then listen to each other....I suspect many catholics don.t know how to do that...therefore we get the German path very sinister at its core....thankfully others are listening to the holy spirit and the German bishops will go it alone and end up in heresy and then schism...pope Francis needs to be more forthcoming.. we all need to pray and fast this listen season...
Should have been 12 Catholic schools. Bellarmine in Louisville won its league tournament but could not go to the NCAA tourney because it had only moved up from division 2 two years ago. They won the Div 2 championship a few years ago.