Propositions From The Synod On Evangelization Sing Benedict's Music

Cardinal Wuerl as Secretary Relator of the Synod made sure Pope Benedict got to read a whole bunch of Benedict's own words and thinking in the propositions Wuerl sent to Benedict.  This is one Cardinal who knows how to keep his bread buttered.

This morning I read through the propositions Cardinal Wuerl wrote up as a synopsis of the work of the Synod on Evangelization.  For the most part I found nothing new in them.  There were a lot of self reflective statements pointing back to the Church as the Sacramental source of salvation, and more statements than I expected about the importance and authenticity of actual living The Way as opposed to pontificating about the way.  Over all I thought Cardinal Wuerl could have made the critical points in about a third of the verbiage actually used.  It is to say the least a quite repetitive, long winded series of statements.  This link will take you to the Vatican's website so you to can wade through all the verbiage.

One of the propostions I found especially interesting is number 12:
 
Proposition 12 : DOCUMENTS OF VATICAN II
The Synod Fathers recognize the teaching of Vatican II as a vital instrument for transmitting the faith in the context of the New Evangelization. At the same time, they consider that the documents of the Council should be properly read and interpreted. Therefore, they wish to manifest their adherence to the thought of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, who has indicated the hermeneutical principle of reform within continuity so as to be able to discover in those texts the authentic spirit of the Council. “There is the "hermeneutic of reform", of renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given to us. She is a subject which increases in time and develops, yet always remaining the same, the one subject of the journeying People of God. [...] However, wherever this interpretation guided the implementation of the Council, new life developed and new fruit ripened” (Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia, 22 December 2005). In this way it will be possible to respond to the need for renewal required by the modern world and, at the same time, faithfully preserve the identity of the Church’s nature and mission.

In this proposition it seems to me that the bishops more or less admit that we will be evangelizing the Benedict XVI Catholic Church.  It's only Roman Catholic in so far as Benedict deems it so. The authentic spirit of the council is only authentic if it conforms to Benedict's ideas of authenticity.  I thought this kind of papalotry was bad under JPII, but it's getting worse under Benedict XVI.  Why call 290 bishops and cardinals to Rome if one of their central propositions affirms what ever Benedict wants Benedict gets?  They could have done that by conference call and saved the Church a bundle of money.

I have to admit I was also purposely looking for a proposition that spoke to Cardinal designate Tagle's ideas of a listening, more humble Church.  I didn't find one, but for some reason the Vatican's website doesn't list all the propositions.  Maybe they haven't been translated from the Latin.  Which is a statement in itself isn't it?
Translating texts from Latin into English is pretty indicative of how out of touch and dead this monstrosity is getting.  

Here's a some thoughts Pope Benedict might want to meditate on.  There is a difference between religion and spirituality.  People in the West are not turning their backs on God because they are leaving the Catholic Church by the millions.  They are leaving the Catholic religion by the millions.  It could very well be that Benedict's concept of the Catholic religion isn't universally appealing.  It's pretty hard for some of us to relate to 290 men dressed in theatrical costumes from the middle ages, castigating entire cultures by parroting Benedict's words and phrases and all in an historically dead language to boot. That is not spirituality.  That is cultic religion.  That's what is no longer selling in the West----especially the unreformed clerical version which Benedict leads.

Finally, I noticed the two propositions that encourage the 'new movements' to infest dioceses and parishes with their particular enthusiasms.  This kind of thing will only evangelize the already evangelized.  Which is apropos since the synod mostly just sang Benedict's songs with Benedict's refrains.  I'm really hoping that my impressions are just the result of Wuerl's interpretation and not representative of the global bishops.  There were notes not sung in Benedict's key, but it doesn't look like they made Wuerl's cut. 

I mentioned above Cardinal designate Tagle and his words on listening and humility.  Here's some more of his words.  This man gets the difference between spirituality and religion, between living The Way and living the clerical way.  This man is definitely not Cardinal Wuerl.