By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
One of the most haunting memories from the time of turmoil in the Church after Vatican II was the terrifying remark of Paul VI, no less than the pastor himself at the helm of the universal Body of Christ, who said, “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.”
That alarum has been raised again in the Synod Hall in Rome this month as our bishops and cardinals meet to hammer out a document in aid of families today. The concern which gave rise to this is the overwhelming sense among some that doctrine on marriage and family may not come out of the synod unscathed.
As many of our readers may already know, news came out of the pre-synod meetings last year that a plan to give Communion to Catholics who have been divorced and civilly remarried had gained some traction in discussions among the synod fathers, in particular through the interventions of Walter Cardinal Kasper who has advocated for some time for such a break with sacramental discipline.
Another voice was raised in response who said that the smoke to be feared is that of division, as indicated by the etymology of the word “diabolos.” If division is a sign of evil, then this “tale of two synods” may mean that truth is only present on one side of the divide. Luke Coppen of the Catholic Herald gave this report on the discussion:
“But another took up Pope Paul’s phrase and said that the smoke of Satan would enter the Church and the Synod Hall if we succumbed to an anxious and ideologically driven spirit of partisanship that violated the communion of the Episcopal college and the Church and reduced the synod to no more than a political cause where power is what really matters. Satan is ‘diabolos,’ the separator.”
This rebuke certainly sounds soothing but refuses to acknowledge that the first speaker was making the same point: Division in the synod and the Church over settled doctrine in regard to who is unable to receive Communion due to a lack of the state of grace is in fact the division that Satan desires and encourages to destroy souls.
The illusion of salvation on the part of someone lacking the will for sincere contrition, and thus unable to obtain absolution, who uselessly and sacrilegiously receives Communion is most certainly abetting the destruction Satan engenders.
The theme of division arises also from comments made by two of the cardinals present at the synod. Cardinals Wilfrid Fox Napier and Donald Wuerl both serve on the 10-member drafting committee to produce the synod’s final report and have differing points of view about the composition of the committee.
As reported by John L. Allen Jr. of Crux, Wuerl scoffs at suspicions that the final results may have been rigged ahead of time, saying that “everything looks yellow to the jaundiced eye.”
Allen reports Napier’s concerns:
“Among other things, he objects to the composition of the 10-member drafting committee on which Wuerl serves. ‘I really would share’ concerns about ‘the choice of the people that are writing up the final document. If we’re going to get a fair expression of what the synod is about, [such as] what the Church in Africa really would like to see happening’ then different people should be chosen.”
The drafting committee is lopsidedly European as Cardinal Napier notes. However, Pope Francis has repeatedly made clear that a theme of his papacy is “seeking the margins” or the periphery and, if the Church in Asia and Africa is booming while that of Europe is in declining due to falling birthrates and Mass attendance, has the periphery not shifted now to the historic Christian heartland?
The process is only accelerated in light of the fact that thousands of Muslim men are crossing those borders, some under the guise of seeking refuge from war in Syria and other conflict hotspots, while native European populations continue to plummet. There are always differences in points of view in the Church as regards matters not touching doctrine and the disagreement between Cardinals Wuerl and Napier about the makeup of the drafting committee is simply one of these.
Napier was one of the cardinals who, as reported by Sandro Magister, signed a letter to the Holy Father expressing the same concerns about the 10-member commission preparing the final document. The text of the letter and how many and which cardinals signed it have been under dispute since news of the letter first broke on October 12.
John L. Allen wrote: “Napier acknowledged signing a letter, but said its content was different from that presented in Magister’s report.”
Allen also elaborated on Napier’s concerns about the process for arriving at the final synod document:
“We wouldn’t like to see the same kind of people on that committee who were there the last time, who caused us the grief we had.” Cardinal Napier was referring to the 2014 synod’s midterm relatio.
Napier also said he’s worried that the preparatory document for the synod, known as the Instrumentum Laboris, will have too much influence on the final result rather than the actual content of the synod’s discussions.
“It’s almost like the Instrumentum Laboris is the base text, not what’s come out of the group’s discussions as concerns that need to be put forward as proposals for the final document to take to the Pope.”
This “tale of two synods” must end with unity as the Pope will give voice to their deliberations in a final letter which he will sign. There have been rumors back and forth about whether or not there will be a final report; the latest word as this column was written was that there will be one.
Where the bishops and Pope gather there is indeed a struggle for the Church and a struggle for the salvation of the souls entrusted to her by the Lord. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit shed the light of truth upon their minds and deliberations so that the good of souls is well served, in particular through the family as created holy by God, with one man-father and one woman-mother and the children that they are blessed to bring into the world, no matter how many reject or fall short of this ideal.
Some voices, such as that of Salt and Light TV founder Fr. Thomas Rosica and Jesuit Fr. James Martin, remonstrate that true compassion would not any longer propose ideals from an ivory tower, a characterization used by Rosica to describe orthodox positions held by those such as Raymond Cardinal Burke.
Ideals as proposed by God are the goals which give direction to holy human activity in this world. Proposing the goal of a family as father, mother, and the children given to them in cooperation with God, as has been done time and again in the Church, would be a most important service rendered, now as always, by the Magisterium for the Church and for all of humanity.
Thank you for reading. Follow me on Twitter @MCITLFrAphorism.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress