Saturday, October 31, 2015

Scary Halloween Synod Letter Read at the Synod Hall

Edit: just in time for Halloween and the anniversary of Martin Luther's nailing of the 95 Theses.

 This is the unofficial and probably aberrofriendly English translation of the relatio post disceptationem. What it means is anyone's guess, but it provides ammunition to those who want to legitimize things the Church has always and everywhere condemned for two millennia.

1.          During the prayer vigil held in St Peter’s Square on 4 October 2014 in preparation for the Synod on the family, Pope Francis evoked the centrality of the experience of family in all lives, in a simple and concrete manner: “Evening falls on our assembly. It is the hour at which one willingly returns home to meet at the same table, in the depth of affection, of the good that has been done and received, of the encounters which warm the heart and make it grow, good wine which hastens the unending feast in the days of man. It is also the weightiest hour for one who finds himself face to face with his own loneliness, in the bitter twilight of shattered dreams and broken plans; how many people trudge through the day in the blind alley of resignation, of abandonment, even resentment: in how many homes the wine of joy has been less plentiful, and therefore, also the zest — the very wisdom — for life […]. Let us make our prayer heard for one another this evening, a prayer for all”.

2.        The source of joys and trials, of deep affections and relations – at times wounded – the family is truly a “school of humanity” (“Familia schola quaedam uberioris humanitatis est”, Vatican Council II, Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 52), of which we are in great need. Despite the many signs of crisis in the institution of the family in various contexts of the “global village”, the desire for family remains alive, especially among the young, and is at the root of the Church’s need to proclaim tirelessly and with profound conviction the “Gospel of the family” entrusted to her with the revelation of God’s love in Jesus Christ.

3.        The Bishop of Rome called upon the Synod of Bishops to reflect upon the situation of the family, decisive and valuable, in its Extraordinary General Assembly of October 2014, a reflection which will then be pursued in greater depth in the Ordinary General Assembly scheduled to take place in October 2015, as well as during the full intervening year between the two synodal events. “The convenire in unum around the Bishop of Rome is already an event of grace, in which episcopal collegiality is made manifest in a path of spiritual and pastoral discernment”: thus Pope Francis described the synodal experience, indicating its tasks in the dual process of listening to the signs of God and the history of mankind and in the resulting dual and unique fidelity.


http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2014/10/13/0751/03037.html

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like the Halloween party at many an American bishop's residence will be especially festive tonight.

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  2. A very natural outlook, which may exclude the supernatural teaching of Jesus' Church.Lonliness of the elderly can be offered up to God as penance and atonement for sins.A sort of purgatory on earth,. In which case, it is a great gift.

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  3. "The Bishop of Rome" collegiality-speak again…

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  4. Pius IX right after he declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was asked "holiness, what should we do if a pope pronounced a heresy or something contrary to the faith" He answered "you just don't listen to him".
    So my guestion is who is listening to this "bishop of rome"? I'm not personally, literally I've heard two words the man has spoken and read nothing he's written in any way other than a quick glance to get the gist of the latest heretical statement he's making.

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  5. Some hard and true writing. In fact, this column will appear in anthologies of American Literature 100 years from now- that is, if the culture isn't completely obliterated by the immigrant invasion abetted by some of our limp-wristed bishops:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/opinion/sunday/letter-to-the-catholic-academy.html?_r=2

    God bless the Douthat family for converting.

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