Monday, October 29, 2012

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.

11 comments:

  1. First, a big round of applause for taking the time to actually read through Wuerl's propositions. But alas, I think your conclusion that Wuerl was chosen precisely because he would "sing Benedict's songs" is correct. Any outlier opinions such as Tagles will be ignored. Betty Clermont

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    1. I agree Betty. I believe Wuerl was chosen for this duty, just as he has been continuously promoted, for the same reason Benedict was chose to be pope. Now that I think of it, Paul VI was chosen for the same reason. They can be controlled by their fear of their own sexuality.

      Tagle is a horse of an entirely different color. I kind of think he is Benedict's reparation for Benedict's own sins of omission.

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  2. Just curious. Did the synod fathers involve any outside, independent, opposition voices in the deliberations before issuing their conclusions?

    My suspicion is they did not. Oh, well, still isolated bishops, synod fathers.

    It's the reason spirituality is ascending.

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    1. No, as far as I can tell, the eventual synopsis of the Bishops speeches and talks came from Wuerl and two others. These three did not include laity or other voices.

      It is exactly the reason spirituality is ascending and religion is swirling the drain. And there are also other reasons. The first of them being fear based, hell centered religions only appeal to a small segment of the West---and some of the propents of that fear have already decided the super storm headed for the East Coast is the wrath of God for abortion, gay marriage, and the potential re election of Barack Obama. Fear, fear, fear, some Christians can't seem to get enough of it.

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    2. Good point. Bill recommended Emmett Coyne's book "The Theology of Fear" and I will put this on my book reading list.

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  3. There is no suprise about this with Wuerl. He didn't get to be a cardinal by being an independent thinker.

    But, hark, here is someone who IS an independent think and would make an excellent cardinal: Mary McAleese.

    Just think of the long-term possibilities: Pope Joan II, anyone?

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    1. I agree Jim. That's why I wrote what I wrote about her. Look out above, because this is a woman who was a head of State and she knows what governance is all about. It's not about hypocritical closeted gay men who too many people know are really and truly gay, and won't deal with it in any honest way.

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  4. "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."

    ## You noticed too. Unfortunately the Popes have now become the Pries-Emperor-God Darth Palpatine of Dune - he is the God, Lord, Master, & Emperor of the Roman Ecclesiastiacal Empire, the Judge, Jury, & Law-giver, the arbiter of what counts as Tradition. He is not subject to Tradition, any more - he is the lord & judge of it. There is no authority anywhere in the CC to restrain a Pope: not even an Ecumenical Council or the Catholic Episcopate. Guess who decides whether a Council is legitimate ? That's right, the Pope. He is the absolute Lord & Master of the Church. And obviously there is no legal recourse against him.

    I bet God wishes He had that much authority.

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  5. My 'gaydar'is pretty good and from the first time I saw Wuerl I was of the opinion that here is a homosexual man. Fine. The whole bunch of them are in varying states of immature sexuality, ego dystonic homosexuality, paedophilia, just finish for your self.Bishop Lahey has been 'laicised' due to a penchant for images of naked children harvested on the internet. Some images included sado masichistic pictures of tortured children. The rot in the Vatican goes to the core, and surgery will not suffice now. Best that the whole circus collapse. Start with a schism that will create the catholic church of the americas. As for me, I will return to the 'Church' when Mr. Law gets his butt out of Mary Major and into an american prison. What are the odds?

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    1. What really flagged me about Lahey was the passport stamps to and from Thailand.

      The rot does go right to the core. What is infinitely sad to me is that the more this rot is exposed the more the uber Catholics engage in mental gymnastics and hateful attacks to pretend it isn't there. Just exactly like closeted gay clerics engage in hateful rhetoric directed at gays to pretend their own gay selves are not gay.

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  6. You know, for someone who bashes the church so much for all its faults, you have a lot of hatred. Why aren't Catholics allowed to sin like everybody else? Maybe Catholicism says it's wrong for you to live with another man, but they don't condemn you for it. Read the Catechism if you really want to know what the church is.

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