Musings on "Synodality"

 THESE ARE INTERESTING TIMES!  SO FUN!

Sacrament of  Listening  

"We need to listen to each other. We are divided and distant! We just need to listen to each other." These heartfelt words came to me from Bishop Greg Studerus, of Newark. I have known him for many years: intelligent, competent, moderate, no culture warrior, a man of faith and kindness, a good priest. He was defending the "synod on synodality." I received the words quietly. I could not disagree. 

Good listening...attentive, receptive, affectionate, reverent, tender, and yet intelligent, even critical...is a holy encounter. Far more than the reception of words, thoughts, facts...it is a mystical welcoming of the person, the "Thou," in his or her depth, dignity, suffering, heroism, virtue, identity and destiny in God. 

About 50 years ago I attended a conference on listening by priest-author-psychologist-lecturer Charles Curran (not the moral theologian.) At the time the fashion was the non-directive listening of Carl Rogers, widely popularized in progressive circles my my nemesis, ex-Maryknoll-priest Eugene Kennedy. But Fr. Curran brought a Catholic and spiritual depth to this iconic act. He modeled it for us. I was deeply moved. From that day I ambitioned to be such a listener. As I recall that today I am determined to listen, deeply, to everyone who addresses me today. It that is "synodality" then I will drink to it!

Challenge to Pope Francis 

I double-dare you, Holy Father, to invite and really listen to Cardinal Zen (a hero, martyr, saint whom you refuse to met), a handful of young Latin Mass families, some participants in the  USA Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue, members of Courage, the support group for Catholics with same-sex attraction who seek a chaste life.

Better yet: Invite Archbishop Vigano for a good Italian meal, with abundant wine. Relax and enjoy him. Do not seek to debate or silence or discipline him. Contemplate him in all his worth as a successor of the Apostles, his lifelong service to the Church, his endowment with the Holy Spirit at baptism and confirmation. Set aside for a bit the disordered nature of his recent thinking.  Emulate your predecessor Pope Benedict in his magnanimity, generosity, serenity: one of his first acts as pontiff was to invite for dinner his theological antagonist Hans Kung (who described the pope then as "very sweet and very dangerous.") Maybe you could concelebrate mass and hear each others' confessions. If that is synodality, I am all for it.

The Perplexing Secrecy and Silence

There is a sacred value to secrecy and silence: in the inner forum of confession and spiritual direction, in a Eucharistic chapel or church, in the confidentiality of the attorney-doctor-psychologist-friend, on a silent retreat. The Holy Spirit does favor quiet and peace. There may be a valid spiritual intuition in this protection from publicity, social media and the mimetics of the herd.

But there is a stronger, dark side to the secrecy being impose on the synod. The absolute prohibition of all press coverage and public sharing recalls the diabolical control of Fr. Maciel over the Legionnaires: toxic secrecy, idolatrous loyalty to him, intolerance of dissent or open discussion. If I were asked to discern the spirit behind this secrecy, I would suspect it comes from the dark side.

It contrasts sharply with Vatican II which was an open, lively, transparent media bonanza. The participants, bishops and theological periti, became media stars. It became a major cultural event, far beyond the Church herself. There was something wholesome about it. Why does Francis go to the opposite extreme, cloaking it in secrecy. Is he afraid? It is not good.

Value in the Process

I wonder at the experience: a full month sitting at a table, sharing and listening, with a group of exceptionally gifted people, bishops and lay leaders. I would love to be there. It will not be without value. I imagine deep learning. I imagine new friendships. I imagine a refreshing, extraordinary ecclesial event. Like a really, really good retreat. I am jealous. If that is synodality I am in.

A Final Product: Futile at Best, Disordered at Worst

The process as described may be enriching for the participants, but it is systemically incapable of producing any clear, accurate statement of consent. Most of the activity is in small groups without any efficient method of synthesis. There are no protocols for proposals, open debate, voting, or minority reports. As a productive event it is entirely futile and sterile.

But it does lend itself to manipulation by the organizers. They control all flow of information and the final statement or "synthesis." They disallow any alternative narratives or arguments. The entire thing seems to come out of the communist handbook from the Kremlin or Peking.

A Sideshow

My friend Brother Ray mentioned that in the working-middle class parish he attends on Sunday there is no mention of synodality, by priests or parishioners. Life goes on, in the ordinary parish, indifferent to the culture/theological wars: with their priests, people engage God in prayer and sacrament, work, family life. Life goes on. No more than 1 % of Catholics participated. Perhaps another 1% are those of us who oppose the whole thing: the dubia Cardinals, Raymond Arroyo, Robert Royal, myself and a small group of us. For most lives, this is a sideshow. It is not nothing. I am myself mesmerized by it and think it is highly significant. But it is not the end of the world or the Church as we know them. It is not the birth of a new Church or a new world order.

Confidence in the Good, the True, the Beautiful

They may be well-intended...(I do not judge their will, their motives, their heart)...but it is clear that Francis and his "magic circle" are conspiring to birth a new "synodal Church" discontinuous with the one he received: 

- Destructive of the rigorous, firm, clear moral/dogmatic/practical foundations of Catholicism.

- Congenial to the sexual liberalism of the West and the totalitarianism of Chinese Communism.

- Fluid and responsive to the spirits of the age.

- Participant in a New World Order of environmentalism, open borders, sexual freedoms and the values of  Western liberal elites.

In the short run, Francis and his new synodal Church have the better hand...in the politics of coercion and manipulation. 

In the long game: not so! The True and the Good and the Beautiful have an efficacious, infallible, invincible appeal to the human conscience. God and his Kingdom cannot be overcome. The Lord is with us to the end. The gates of hell will not prevail. Come Holy Spirit! Come Lord Jesus!