Much backing and filling at the Vatican Tuesday night over jubilant lamestream press reports that the Synod of Bishops now in progress (if such a word can be used) has recommended that the Church welcome homosexuals and all the "gifts and qualities" they can bring to Her. Before we get to the update, please read Walt's initial reaction, posted here earlier today.
Walt is struck dumb [He means "speechless". Ed.] by this weekend's news from the Vatican. In a preliminary report halfway through their Synod on family life, Catholic bishops in conference assembled are recommending "accepting and valuing" LGBT [He means "queer"... Well, that's what they call themselves! Ed.] faithful and all the "gifts and qualities" they can bring to the Church. I will resist the temptation to make any snide or sarcastic comments, reminding myself that the true teaching of Holy Mother Church is to hate the sin -- see St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 1:24-29 -- but love the sinner.
Having said that, if homosexuality is to be regarded by the "new, improved Catholic Church" as something better than "disordered", and if homosexuals are to be made welcome in our communities, what about same-sex "marriages"? The bishops' report reaffirms the Church's teaching that marriage is for a man and woman only, but at the same time says the church must recognize the "positive" aspects of civil unions, with the aim of bringing Catholics who live together without benefit of clergy to a lifelong commitment in a church wedding. Would that be regardless of the gender of the partners? Walt awaits a clear answer.
While waiting, Walt remembers the words of Joseph Priestley -- no pun intended -- an English theologian, who said in 1761 that "in all controversies, it is better to await the decisions of time, which are slow and sure, than to take those of synods, which are often hasty and injudicious."
Footnote: Economists and marketers will tell you that the LGBT crowd is one of the most affluent "market segments" of North American society. Not having children -- well, most of them, anyway -- on whom to squander their incomes, they have oodles of money to splash around on nice clothes, entertainment, and so on. I'll leave the "so on" to your imagination. Of course the queers' affluence has nothing whatever to do with the bishops' willingness to embrace them.
And now the "correction", as reported in "Pushback on Synod document" on the Catholic Culture website. As their analysis is a bit lengthy for this space, I'll just copy the key paragrahs.
Controversy sharpened at the Synod of Bishops, as many prelates have complained that an interim report released on October 13 did not accurately represent the thoughts of the Synod fathers, and the Vatican press office hastened to announce that “a value has been attributed to the document that does not correspond to its nature.
The relatio post disceptationem, which was intended to summarize the discussion during the first week of the October synod, "is a working document," the Vatican observed in an unusual statement released on the day after the document appeared. The press office emphasized that the relatio was designed not to be an authoritative statement, but to be the basis for discussion during the second week of Synod deliberations.
Cardinal Raymond Burke, who has been consistently outspoken in his defense of Church teaching regarding marriage, charged that the relatio did not accurately reflect the Synod discussions but "in fact, advances positions which many Synod Fathers do not accept and, I would say, as faithful shepherds of the flock cannot accept." The American cardinal reported that "a great number of the Synod fathers found it objectionable."
Many prelates observed that the early release of the relatio had triggered an enormous volume of media coverage, much of it inaccurate, conveying the impression that the Church would change her teachings. (BBC provided a vivid example of this sort of analysis, announcing that Pope Francis had "scored a first quiet victory" in the document and saying that the Pontiff had "convinced many Catholic Church leaders to moderate their formerly strongly critical language about gay unions.")
"We’re now working from a position that’s virtually irredeemable," said South African Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, referring to the media coverage. "The message has gone out that this is what synod is saying, that this is what the Catholic Church is saying," he said. "Whatever we say hereafter will seem like we’re doing damage control." [Indeed! Walt]
With a week still remaining before this session of the Synod concludes, it seems clear that critics of the relatio will organize a strong campaign to ensure that the Synod’s final document is very different from the interim report.
That was a close one, wasn't it... But if the bishops think they've dodged a rainbow-coloured bullet, Walt would advise them not to underestimate the power of the LGBT lobby, both in the lamestream media and within the Vatican itself!
Further reading: "The Secret Synod Does What We Expected: Evil", by Christopher A. Ferrara, posted on Monday on The Remnant website.
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