Flea market? Archdiocese of Chicago recycles old threadbare Protestant social gospel, and much, much more

In "A Listening Church," a Commoneweal interview with Chicago Archbishop Kaput, published on January 22, 2015, we get an opportunity to see Kaput up close and personal.

On how to deal with the overall decline of the Church in the USA:

... The way to do it is not by saying, “You’re not going to Mass and so there’s a problem.” Rather, we can say, “We have an opportunity to better society and to better the common good. We work for the poor. Come and work for the poor with us.”

On the 2014 Synod:

I think the media reported what actually took place. What really took place at the synod was that a majority of the bishops voted for all the proposals that were there in the final summary document.... It’s true that three of the paragraphs [about divorce and gay people] did not get two-thirds majority support, but they got more than a majority. That’s what’s new. That’s the story.

Promoting Kasperite theology and the theology of the 2014 Synod "Relatio" in Chicago:

I have met with my archdiocesan women’s council, the presbyteral council leadership, and my archdiocesan pastoral council. I gave them the relatio of the synod [the summary document] and asked them to propose a way in which there can be an effective—not necessarily widespread—consultation with their various constituencies ....

What I did last year in Spokane I want to do here too. We’re going to have a day-long presentation for priests on two things: First, what are the canonical issues here? A good canonist will tell you that there are multiple ways in which we can be sensitive to our people’s needs. Second, we have to unpack this notion of the theology of the family. Cardinal Walter Kasper gave a talk about this to the cardinals last year, which has been published as a book called The Gospel of the Family. In Spokane, I gave all my priests a copy. Then I brought in a priest who knows Cardinal Kasper’s theology quite well, Msgr. John Strynkowski, and he helped them understand what Kasper is saying.

And on doctrine:

[The Church's doctrinal tradition] is a living tradition not because of anything we say, but because the risen Christ is always doing something new in the life of the church. In Pope Francis’s Evangelii gaudium, there is a whole section in which he talks about the idea that Christ is always doing something new in the lives of his people as he accompanies them.

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The link to the above article was sent to me by Guy Noir, who said in his own remarks:

You have to admit, he is much easier to understand than Francis! Maybe we can call it Concupichscence? [Or, I would add, Kaputscence.]

Note that now we will be getting lectures on Kasper's Theology of Mercy. Attach these to Theology of the Body and you have the key ideas of modern Catholicism: 1) a strong affirmation of pre-emptive forgiveness and a retreat from non-contradicting doctrine or hard sayings found in Scripture, and 2) a strong pre-emptive affirmation of sex and a retreat from a prohibitive morality. Someone's Jesus is certainly doing something new. But when you're essentially handing out loan forgiveness, condoms, and smiles, forgive me if I can't tell if this is a Jesus seminar or a Jackson Browne concert.

Kasperite Indoctrination for the Archdiocese of Chicago? Cupich on the 2014 Synod: "the media reported what actually took place" (Rorate Caeli, January 23, 2015).

[Hat tip to Rorate Caeli and G.N.]