I always feel so lost when reading these synod updates and reports...like I'm reading a whole lot of long words with no meaning.
Yes; it is tiring; I agree with you; I only attach importance to these reports because they seem to be the height of the apostasy that was predicted at Fatima.
Xavière Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, speaks to Iacopo Scaramuzzi, a reporter for La Repubblica, in the Vatican press office April 26, 2023. The Vatican had just announced Pope Francis' decision to have women and laymen as voting members of the synod.CNS photo/Cindy Wooden Pope Francis decides women will be voting members of Synod of Bishops BY CINDY WOODEN, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE April 26, 2023 VATICAN CITY -- At least three dozen women will be voting members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October, Pope Francis has decided. In a decision formalized April 17, "the Holy Father approved the extension of participation in the synodal assembly to 'non-bishops' -- priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, lay men and women," the synod office said in a statement April 26. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the synod, told reporters April 26 that about 21% of the synod's 370 members would not be bishops and at least half of that group would be women. Adding women and young people to the membership will make sure "the church is well represented" in the prayer and discussions scheduled for Oct. 4-29 at the Vatican, the cardinal said. "It will be a joy to have the whole church represented in Rome for the synod." "As you can see, the space in the tent is being enlarged," Cardinal Mario Grech, synod secretary-general, told reporters, echoing the title that had been chosen for the working document for the just-completed continental phase of the synod. The document said that in local and national synod listening sessions there were consistent questions about how to promote greater inclusion in the Catholic Church while staying true to church teaching. "The Synod of Bishops will remain a synod of bishops," Cardinal Grech said, but it will be "enriched" by representatives of the whole church. The pope's decision to expand the categories of synod members, the April statement said, "is in continuity" with the Catholic Church's growing understanding of the synodal dimension of the church and "the consequent understanding of the institutions through which it is exercised." Since the Synod of Bishops was reinstituted after the Second Vatican Council, the voting members of the synod have all been men. The membership was primarily cardinals and bishops, except for the 10 priests -- and recently one religious brother -- elected by the men's Union of Superiors General. Now, rather than the Union of Superiors General selecting 10 voting members, the office said, it will elect only five priests or brothers. And the women's International Union of Superiors General also will elect five sisters or nuns. Past synods have included women as non-voting "auditors," a group that included many women. Pope Francis has done away with the "auditor" category of synod participant, the Vatican said. Instead, there will be a group of 70 non-bishop members representing "various groupings of the faithful of the people of God," including priests, consecrated women, deacons and laypeople from every part of the world. The pope will choose the 70 from a list of 140 people selected by bishops and organizers of six regional groupings of bishops and by the Assembly of Patriarchs of Eastern Catholic Churches. The six regional groups are: the council of bishops' conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean, known as CELAM; the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Europe; the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar; the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences: the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania; and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops together. Each of the seven bishops' groups will nominate 20 people, the statement said, and "it is requested that 50% of them be women and that the presence of young people also be emphasized." In addition to the 10 religious elected by their groups of superiors and the 70 non-bishop members nominated by continental groups, Pope Francis may include "non-bishop members" among the members he appoints. And, since the leadership of the synod secretariat will be full members, that includes Xavière Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the synod. Cardinal Hollerich added that after all the work they did preparing the synod, "it would be very unfair" to exclude them as members. Most synod members will be bishops elected by their episcopal conference or by their Eastern Catholic bishops' synod. The number of delegates each conference can elect depends on the size of the conference. Bishops' conferences with more than 200 members -- like the conferences of Italy, Brazil and the United States -- will elect five members. https://www.catholicregister.org/fa...en-will-be-voting-members-of-synod-of-bishops
I am in doubt whether the final result of this synod will be valid with this "democratic" participation of the laity in the voting.
I have kinda given up on it all and am trusting that the Good Lord will will get round to fixing it all, sooner rather than later. Things have gotten so bad I can't even find the energy to complain about it anymore. Dreadful. If by this stage people have not realised something terribly, terribly wrong and evil has happened, well maybe they deserve it happening to them. I am at the take it to the Lord in prayer stage. But I love and admire Our Blessed Mother so much, that she keeps on coming down from heaven and giving her messages, trying to set things straight. She is a real mother. She doesn't give up, she's always in there slugging away.
Pope Francis’ emphasis on synodality cited in joint Catholic-Orthodox statement In a speech during a meeting with Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and other Coptic Orthodox representatives on May 11, 2023, Pope Francis announced that the Coptic Orthodox martyrs killed by ISIS in 2015 will be added to the Catholic Church’s official list of saints./ Credit: Vatican Media By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Jun 14, 2023 / 13:17 pm Catholic-Orthodox relations took a step forward this month with the publication of the first joint statement in seven years. The document said Pope Francis’ hope for a synodal Church promotes “a more effective synodality,” which could eventually bring the Catholic and Orthodox Churches closer together on the issue. It also quoted Pope Francis’ words in the 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, that “in the dialogue with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, we Catholics have the opportunity to learn more about the meaning of episcopal collegiality and their experience of synodality.” The joint statement, on “Synodality and Primacy in the Second Millenium,” gives an overview of the history of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches from the Great Schism of 1054 to today. According to the statement, it “strives to give as far as possible a common reading of that history, and it gives Orthodox and Roman Catholics a welcome opportunity to explain themselves to one another at various points along the way.” The document concludes by “drawing lessons from the history that has been surveyed,” including that “major issues complicate an authentic understanding of synodality and primacy in the Church.” “The Church is not properly understood as a pyramid, with a primate governing from the top, but neither is it properly understood as a federation of self-sufficient Churches,” the statement says. “Our historical study of synodality and primacy in the second millennium has shown the inadequacy of both of these views,” it continues. “Similarly, it is clear that for Roman Catholics synodality is not merely consultative, and for Orthodox primacy is not merely honorific.” The theological dialogue commission released the joint statement following its 15th plenary session in Alexandria, Egypt, June 1–7. Ten Orthodox Churches were represented at the meeting, which was attended by 18 Catholic commission members. The previous joint statement of the commission, which was published in 2016 after a meeting in Chieti, Italy, examined the state of the Christian Church in the first millennium after Christ. “Today,” the 2023 document says, “there is an increasing effort to promote synodality at all levels in the Roman Catholic Church. There is also a willingness to distinguish what might be termed the patriarchal ministry of the pope within the Western or Latin Church from his primatial service with regard to the communion of all the Churches, offering new opportunities for the future.” The joint statement called for Roman Catholics and Orthodox to continue along a path of dialogue in charity in order to come to an authentic understanding of synodality and primacy “in light of the ‘theological principles, canonical provisions, and liturgical practices (Chieti, 21)’ of the undivided Church of the first millennium.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/...ty-cited-in-joint-catholic-orthodox-statement
Can I ask what is the point of a process on synodality when no one can define what it means. Seems to me it is a made up word used as a cover for modernism and novel teaching. Forgive my cynicism but can anyone here define synodality for me as I am.open to changing my mind.
Decentralize everything in the hands of the bishops except the authority to celebrate the Tridentine liturgy and intervene in each diocese that becomes a "stronghold of traditionalism".
Looking at those Coptic prelates, I'd reckon they'd take a very dim view of anyone who tried to suppress tradition. They might have gone into schism way back in the first millenium, but the Copts are unimaginably more orthodox (in the general sense, as well as the particular) than those driving sinodality. Imagine what they'd think of James Martin and those calling for women priests and the legalisation of sodomy.
The more groups like the Copts jump on the sinodality bandwagon the better. Wouldn't be long before the heretics and perverts would be seen falling off the wagon.
I suppose Synodality means whatever you want it to mean. But the closest I can think is, 'Making the Church a Democracy'. Or, 'Giving everyone a voice'.
I am reading a wonderful book at the minute by the historian and Convert to the Faith, Lady Antonia Fraser. 'The story of Catholic Emancipation begins with the violent Anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in 1780, fuelled by the reduction in Penal Laws against the Roman Catholics harking back to the sixteenth century. Some fifty years later, the passing of the Emancipation Bill was hailed as a 'bloodless revolution'. Had the Irish Catholics been a 'millstone', as described by an English aristocrat, or were they the prime movers? While the English Catholic aristocracy and the Irish peasants and merchants approached the Catholic Question in very different ways, they manifestly shared the same objective.Antonia Fraser brings colour and humour to the vivid drama with its huge cast of characters: George III, who opposed Emancipation on the basis of the Coronation Oath; his son, the indulgent Prince of Wales, who was enamoured with the Catholic Maria Fitzherbert before the voluptuous Lady Conyngham; Wellington and the 'born Tory' Peel vying for leadership; 'roaring' Lord Winchilsea; the heroic Daniel O'Connell. Expertly written and deftly argued, THE KING AND THE CATHOLICS is also a distant mirror of our times, reflecting the political issues arising from religious intolerance.' Lady Antonia relates that late in 1791 some laymen (aristocrats) were calling for greater lay 'Rights' to have a say in Catholic Church Government in England and wanted the Pope to keep his nose out of appointing English Catholic Bishops. A spoof petition was launched called, 'The Rights of Women' , calling for women to be made Deaconesses causing much hilarity amongst Catholics. As the French say, times change and times remain the same.
Or getting slugged like the knockout punch St Athanasius delivered to a heretic bishop during the Aryan heresy.
