Roman Catholic Family synod: the full text of the mid-term report
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Is it me or do they ramble a bit in this document? By ramble, I mean are they using more words than necessary and as a result appearing to waver from the Catholic faith? The final document may demonstrate more clarity, but whenever a bunch of bishops come up with something that is needlessly wordy, that usually means that they are weakening in their resistance to the pressures of societal change.
I understand this is a translation from the Italian. Reading it, I cannot help but feel that I am reading the term paper of a college student. Maybe that is just me
To Nos 1 & 2, the language of Vaticanese is well-established. If you look carefully, though, I think you can distinguish different hands and voices.
I was glad to read the emphasis on cultivating a more pastoral approach from clergy, this emphasis linked to the beautiful passage about following the loving gaze of Jesus towards suffering humanity.
The affirmation of the gifts of gay people will be controversial, and rather skates over the controversial question of whether there is such a thing as a gay identity, but the approach here too is pastoral and gently defuses part of our culture wars.
The section on divorced and remarried people seems to point to the following developments:
(1) greater accessibility to annulments; and
(2) what it calls a penitential path, in which divorced and remarried renew their access to the sacraments, although it is stressed that this ‘would not be a general possibility, but the fruit of a discernment applied on a case-by-case basis …’ . If this latter is the way forward, it will be interesting to see who is entrusted with the discernment. The Holy See? Diocesan bishops? Parish clergy? If the latter, then probably the way forward opens up for many more people to renew their sacramental life in good conscience. However, I would guess that there would almost certainly be opposition to this from the more conservative synod members.
RE: “and gently defuses part of our culture wars.”
If the Vatican thinks it’s going to “defuse” a part of the gay march they have another think coming and are spectacularly naive. No amount of “gentle defusing” will accomplish anything at all other than a signal of weakness and further fascism on the part of gay activists.
They’re not out for “gentle defusing” — they want complete power to *force* individuals, groups, institutions, and every single person to pretend as if they fully accept gay sex as normal, holy, and blessed.
There isn’t going to be a compromise or “gentle defusing” on that one.
sarah, you are exactly right about that. i guess no one learned a lesson from our debacle.
Let’s be a bit more precise about these things:
[blockquote] The question of homosexuality leads to a serious reflection on how to elaborate realistic paths of affective growth and human and evangelical maturity integrating the sexual dimension: it appears therefore as an important educative challenge.[/blockquote]
Sorry folks, a need for “affective growth” is merely a euphemism for “disorder”. Note homosexuality is still problematized as a “question”. It is characterized as a lack of maturity in the sexual dimension.
[blockquote]The Church furthermore affirms that unions between people of the same sex cannot be considered on the same footing as matrimony between man and woman. [/blockquote]
Here I would like to see the original Italian. What is the ontological status of “union”? The American ear hears ‘gay marriage’. It is likely the Italian may be something more like ‘de facto domestic partnership’. Again, merely a recognition of the facts on the ground.
[blockquote]Nor is it acceptable that pressure be brought to bear on pastors or that international bodies make financial aid dependent on the introduction of regulations inspired by gender ideology.[/blockquote]
Sarah- the above item goes straight to your point. Far from whistling in the dark, I think this is a bombshell. This IS a direct reference to the Gay March Through the Institutions per Gramsci. If the Captive Media ignores this, we have only ourselves to blame. This is the 21st Century, people. Bring this up in every social media forum you can.
The real mischief shows up in the goofy paragraph before. It reads like someone transcribed directly from the brainstorming flipchart in one of the little language-based indaba groups they seem to have broken into. This is some of the text some are saying was inserted by Apb Forte over the objections of rapporteur Cd Erdo. There are reports that it caused a furor among the non ideological bishops from the South:
[blockquote]Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community [Yes. That is straight from the Catechism] : are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space [Ugh. Here is the pen of someone from the 70s] in our communities? [Clue #2- the question format is the tell of a camel’s nose.] Often they wish to encounter [ugh- Clue #3] a Church that offers them a welcoming [Clue #4] home. Are our communities [Clue #5] capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their [b]sexual orientation[/b] [not [i]them[/i]– their [i]”orientation”[/i], without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?[/blockquote]
I am told by my RC friends that these interim documents are consultative in nature. Besides, if we can believe Bishop Venables testimony regarding Pope Francis (and I do) the RCC is in good hands. However, if you believe he is a “disaster” there is every reason to be concerned.
no. 8 i don’t know what to think. pope francis seems to be very emotional and it APPEARS to override biblical doctrine. i like him, he’s very personable however after being deceived by my own denomination i don’t quite trust him. i consider catholicism to be the last great hope of Christendom so i pray hard that he won’t be following TEC’s path to hell.