Bruno Forte is evidently the front man for the revolutionary faction, but the orthodox counter-offensive weighed in on Thursday: "such a day had never happened before, not even at Vatican II" (RC, October 17, 2014).
What is noteworthy here is not that orthodox voices will prevail, but that they should meet with such opposition within their own ranks. One can hardly say this is unprecedented, given the long sweep of Church history, but it is certainly noteworthy, to put it mildly.
Related:
- A measured response to the Interim Report of the synod by one of my colleagues at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Eduardo Echeverria, "The Synod’s Interim Report: Ambiguity and Misinterpretation" (Crisis Magazine, October 17, 2014).
- In what might seem a brassy title, here's another interesting read by Rev. Dwight Longenecker, "Advice for the Pope in Light of the Synod" (Crisis Magazine, October 14, 2014).
- Artur Rosman, "Synod14: It’s Déjà vu All Over Again!" (Patheos, October 16, 2014):
Even Damon Linker, the usually level-headed religion reporter for The Week and appreciative critic of the truly Machiavellian Catholic Neo-Cons, speculates about the Machiavellian (yes, that’s precisely his phrasing) intentions of Pope Francis to liberalize the Church:
Francis would like to liberalize church doctrine on marriage, the family, and homosexuality, but he knows that he lacks the support and institutional power to do it. So he’s decided on a course of stealth reform that involves sowing seeds of future doctrinal change by undermining the enforcement of doctrine today. The hope would be that a generation or two from now, the gap between official doctrine and the behavior that’s informally accepted in Catholic parishes across the world would grow so vast that a global grassroots movement in favor of liberalizing change would rise up at long last to sweep aside the old, musty, already-ignored rules.
If this is what Pope Francis is going for, I don’t blame conservatives for beginning to express serious misgivings. It’s a brilliant, clever, supremely Machiavellian strategy — one that promises to produce far-reaching reforms down the road while permitting the present pope both to claim plausible deniability (“I haven’t changed church doctrine!”) and to enjoy nearly constant effusive coverage in the secular press.
What’s happening in Rome isn’t yet “revolutionary change.” But it just may be what eventually prepares the way for exactly that. - Sandro Magister, "The True Story of This Synod. Director, Performers, Assistants" (www.chiesa, October 17 2014).
- And, yes, Jimmy Akin, whose title I just love: "Good news from the Synod of Bishops! 12 things to know and share" (Jimmy Akin, October 15, 2014).
- Dale Price, "The whole world groaned and was amazed to find itself Episcopalian." (Dyspeptic Mutterings, October 13, 2014).
- Dale Price, "Here's why the Synod will likely fail" (Dyspeptic Mutterings, October 15, 2014)
[Hat tip to JM for many of these links]
5 comments:
What Bergoglio, Kasper, Bruno et al may fail to realize is that the Cardinal Burkes of the episcopate are sowing their own orthodox seeds, which, unlike unlike the formers' grubs (I'm currently working on my own lawn) are falling on the fertile, authentically Catholic soil of groups like Juventum, to which there is no liberal counterpart. They are the future of the HMC, Holy Ghost be praised.
Who can be surprised the Bishop of Rome has gone to the mats and has ordered hits against his enemies?
He is very willful, far from humble, and there was no way, no way in hell, he was going to let some pipsqueak prelate derail his mercy train.
He is the Godfather of the progressives and he is not going to go silently into the outer darkness.
M.J would love to see the Faithful Cardinals and Bishop walk en masse - that IS necessary to defeat the agenda of the Godfather but he also knows that is asking too much of those politicians.
As for the Cardinals deposing Our Pope and Our Cross, that too is necessary but it won't happen.
The Godfather wants his church to mimic the schismatic heretics of the east vis a vis divorce and remarriage and he is quite comfortable with omertà vis a vis active sodomites and so he will continue to do as much damage as possible only he will think that damage is mercy.
There is one good to come out of all of this; War for the Faith is now so open that even the ultramontanes will have a hard time trying to shroud this evil with a 12-things-you-should-know-and-share-about-how-a-synod-really-works happy face.
We are learning two lessons: the limits of papal infallibility and the dangers of a cult of personality around the popes.
The question for me is: once things reach a point where "calm down" and "pray and obey" can no longer be passed off as wise and credible advice by neo-cath middle managers, which way will the sad sacks turn? Will they graduate from dupes of progressivists to fellow-travellers (as I personally suspect many of them are already), or will they rise in a ringing proclamation of orthodoxy?
The answer is that it depends on what you mean by "orthodoxy." In order for a concept like adherence to orthodoxy to mean anything, stuff has to happen. If orthodoxy is threatened, orthodoxy needs to be protected. Governance! To put it baldly, heads have to roll. Progressivist heads. Kasper needs to join Kung at the heretic hostel. Does anyone really see that happening? So far, only one head has rolled: Cdl Burke's.
Do we even have any heads to replace those heads which most deserve to roll? Heads that would be a silly millimeter less progressive, less subversive, less full of ideas gleaned from the secular world, less full of religious praxis siphoned from protestantism, less scornful of our own post-Constantinian tradition?
If adherence to orthodoxy means simply to pretend that it was all a jolly matter of bad translations, and nothing to prevent a return to peaceful slumber, while Kasper and his group hide in folds of Francis's splendorous cassock until the heat is off, resolved to plan the next putsch better, then nothing of any great importance has happened -- except that the placidly orthodox middle managers have failed us again, and that subverters of the faith, unpunished, will live to fight another day.
In Burke we see something of an Athanasius. How many followers does this Athanasius have? And how many of those are more than fair weather? Those few must hang together, or they will most certainly hang separately.
RRD,
Like my old football coach used to say, I'd run through a brick wall for Cdl. Raymond Burke.
RFA, Ph.D.
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