"Conversion" traditionally means the confession of sin, turning to Christ for mercy, forgiveness and the grace to sin no more. All of us are sinners...Mary as the only exception. The Church is make of sinners and therefore sinful in her corporate humanity. But the Church is also the continued incarnation of Christ; His Body and Bride. In her heart, her inner form, her essence...the Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. She is (...get ready for this!...) a perfect society! Yes...in her Marian heart, her efficacious sacramental system, her infallible magisterium, her communion of the saints...she is Perfect. As sinners, our conversion is to "lean into" this Communion of Holiness; to continually turn from sin to the fount of Mercy and Holiness, Jesus our Crucified and Resurrected Lord.
An example: imagine a young man tormented by urgent same-sex attactions. As a traditional Catholic he will accept: intercourse is a sacred language of love reserved for the spousal bond as man-woman, exclusive, permanent, fruitful. He will accept his suffering as a wound in the flesh, a cross to be borne. His is a garden-variety form of concupiscence, neither better nor worse than those that afflict heteroseuxals. He will maintain his dignity as a child of God nothwithstanding his limitations. He will gratefully receive pardon for any impurity and confidently ask for the grace of chastity. He will seek support in the sacraments, fraternity, and therapy as needed.
However, that same young man might take another path. Indulging his narcicisstic inclinations, he might assert his Imperial Self; renounce the moral logic of conjugality; and proclaim his Pride (especially in June: Pride Month and also month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus...thanks to my pastor for instructing me on that!). He will self-identify as "gay" and insist that this decision be approved, especially by the Church.He will demand that the Church change its teaching, that it "convert" from homophobia to "love."
So here we see the underlying logic of "synodality as conversion." Cardinal Tobin is not calling homosexuals (along with heterosexuals) to turn from sin to chastity and fidelity. He, along with Fr. James Martin and much of the posse of Pope Francis, is calling for the Church to convert and change. So we see the underlying ecclesiology of the progressive mind: they do not see a Marian, perfect, efficacious, infallible Communion in holiness. Rather they see an institution that is reactionary, homophobic, moralistic, legalistic, arrogant, exclusive, white-privileged and pathetically un-woke. They see an institution that desperately needs to be enlightened by they themselves who are superior in all those respects. They intend, not to be themselves remade in the image of the Marian Church, but to remake the Church in the image of their own selves.
Cardinal Tobin is euphoric about synodality because he imagines that through this endless series of conversations the Church will "evolve" or ""progress" to his own views. I understand his thought because like him I am a boomer who came of age in the 60s. That was the age of encounter and sensitivity groups, Maslovian self-actualization, Rogerian self-acceptance, endless dialogue and narcissism on steroids. It was a "romanticism of the self" with absolute confidence in the innate goodness of ones own passions and desires. No doctrine of original sin here! With Rousseau the problem is "systemic"...all the retrograde traditions and dogmas. Fr. James Martin SJ is the most shrewd, clever and convincing of persuaders: he flawlessly disguises his agenda. Tobin is indeliberately more transparent. Pope Francis is a different kind of fish. He doesn't have a clear, coherent agenda so he is a scourge for serious conservatives and liberals both. He is confused and incapable of coming out on either side of this blatantly binary question: sterile sex...good or bad? So he throws the question into the process of synodality, implicitly hoping that the Tobin-boomer trust in dialogue and progress will save us. It will not!
Let's hope Tobin, Francis and Martin get back on the confession line with the rest of us and leave the "conversion of the Church" to Christ!
No comments:
Post a Comment