Measuring the Synod and the Instrumentum Laboris

READ TIME: 11 minutes

The fruit for which we ask at the next Assembly is that the Spirit inspire the Church’s walking together as the People of God in fidelity to the mission that the Lord has entrusted to it. Indeed, the purpose of the synodal process “is not to produce documents, but to open horizons of hope for the fulfilment of the Church’s mission” (DCS, 6). - 3. Instrumentum Laboris

A lot of highly intelligent people have invested a great deal of time and effort in an attempt to discern the call of the Holy Spirit in and to the contemporary Church during the past few years, the years of the Synod On Synodality, and since the 1970s, each suggesting - or rather, each of the so-called "Spirit-led" among those intelligent folk, claiming - that they possess some unique insight into the Spirit's intent. An ever growing number of contradictory positions and often sterile agendas are being promoted among believers. Diversity and inclusivity, for all their virtue, are producing division. One could easily be tempted to think that the socialist strategy of divide and conquer, i.e., foment chaos then propose a scapegoat "solution" that weary combatants eagerly comply with, has found favour among Christ's elect, if that were possible.

The problem is not one made by the Holy Spirit, of course. Rather, the problem is a confusion of the Spirit's identity and mission promoted by status hungry religionists and the confinement of inspiration to a vague definition born of the whims of fervent but shallow-minded Catholics. That errant teaching is the democratization of doctrine and the democratization of discernment, an attempt to make all opinions - irrational and rational, faithful and heterodox - equal, and a setting up of that methodology against the necessary effort to distinguish between Gospel and gobbledygook. Consensus in the Apostolic Faith - sure; inviting people into a process whereby the Church must cede to their demands that libidinous wants are accepted - not so much.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. - 1 John 1:5

Synods only really work when bishops of proven holiness submit themselves to the will of God to determine how they might better configure themselves and their flocks to the design intended by God. Yes, throughout history, the occasional Judas has infiltrated the ranks of the successors of the Apostles. If one of the original twelve was Judas, and the statistic holds true that one-in-twelve bishops is a son-of-the-devil, then we should not be surprised that a significant number of charlatans continue to darken the sanctuaries of the Church. Eight-and-a-third percent of the Church's bishops, that is.

There is no need to fear that listening to the People of God has compromised the pastoral function of the Bishops. On the contrary, the synodal process has restored a fruitful ministry to the Bishops, both as Pastors of their Churches and as members of the collegial bodies that have been called upon to carry out a careful discernment of the contributions of the consultation: that is, first in the Episcopal Conferences and then in the Continental Assemblies. - Presentation by Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the General Secretariat of the Synod

If, indeed, the People of God to whom Cardinal Grech is referring are faithful, there need be no fear. On the other hand, if there be tares among the wheat...? Even a quick read of diocesan-level synod reports reveals an astonishing number of demands to accept agendas that openly contradict the mind of Jesus Christ and His Church.

https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/which-us-dioceses-have-completed

(Raymond Arroyo and Cardinal Müller) were especially critical of remarks by Cardinal Grech to the attendees of a recent gathering organized by the Leadership Roundtable where he said, “What has the Church to fear if” LGBT and divorced and civilly remarried Catholics “are given the opportunity to express their intimate sense of spiritual realities which they experience? Might this be an opportunity for the Church, to listen to the Holy Spirit, speaking through them also.” Müller understood this as “a hermeneutic of the old cultural Protestantism and modernism, that is, individual experience on the same level as the objective revelation of God.” They seem unable to comprehend the possibility that the Church might benefit in any way from hearing from people whose lives and experiences aren’t always aligned with Church doctrine, but who yet say they “need help, support, and clarity” from the Church. - Where Peter Is

Approval of sinful behaviours? Support for lifestyles that are incompatible with the Gospel? Clarity about the unchanging Apostolic Faith? The author of the article critical of the Arroyo and Müller interview is either naive or approves of the behaviour of those "people whose lives and experiences aren’t always aligned with Church doctrine".

"Aren't always aligned... ." Is the author in a position to excuse or judge? The Christian life is not about excusing ourselves from the commitment to ongoing conversion to the Gospel to allow Jesus to save our souls. Rather, quite the opposite. The Christian life is the real struggle, in a hostile world full of temptations to sin, to embrace the Way of Jesus through ongoing conversion, to dispose ourselves to His will and grace, to grow in holiness and be saved.

Throughout the interview, Müller and Arroyo presented the synod as a political and ideologically driven undertaking, in which unchangeable moral doctrines were under assault by modernists and secularists. At one point, Arroyo asked, “As someone who has dedicated his life to protecting this doctrine and extending it, what must you think as you watch a system being created where all of that doctrine seems to be up for grabs, Your Eminence? Where anyone can, by a popular vote, we can toss out or pull in doctrines of the moment?” Arroyo and Müller both spoke of the leaders of the synodal process as if they are working towards a predetermined (and heterodox) outcome or are engineering a “play for Vatican III,” as Arroyo put it, adding—in perhaps a bit of projection—“to kind of create a ‘pop-culture’ Vatican III.” - ibid.

"Arroyo and Müller both spoke of the leaders of the synodal process as if they are working towards a predetermined (and heterodox) outcome or are engineering a “play for Vatican III,” as Arroyo put it(.)" Well, much of the evidence speaks for itself.

Heterodoxy just doesn't suddenly appear out of thin air. The nature of heresy is an incremental drift away from true doctrine by mixing fact with fiction. The sin of Arius and his disciples was precisely the drawing of false conclusions based on select portions of doctrine and scripture that were juxtaposed in a manner that led to a reasonable set of outcomes that were entirely incompatible with the orthodox Faith. We can do no less than the great Saint Athanasius to scour the Barque of Peter when barnacles fix themselves to its hull and attempt to drag down the Church.

Careening—also referred to as "heaving down"—is a technique for getting to the hull of a sailing ship without the need for a dry dock. It is employed to maintain or repair the hull. Before copper sheets were fastened over the surface of the hull to protect it from marine development, fouling by this growth would significantly reduce a ship's ability to sail and create a lot of drag. Careening comes from the word for a ship's keel, carena, which is derived from the Latin word for keel, carina. Similar terminology may also be found in French, Spanish, and Italian.

See also: https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/2022/09/synod-of-diocese-of-victoria-milestone.html 

If the published comments of Synod hyper-enthusiasts are any indication, then many in the Church imagine that the Spirit does exactly what we tell Him to do, or that the Spirit takes on the agenda of those so inclined to project their disordered wants upon God's Church. "Hi God - give us what we want... now!" Or, more subtly, "Lord, we know you agree with us about equity, diversity and inclusivity - even if that means condoning sexual deviancy and robbing children of their innocence - and whatever else our power-peers tell us is meritorious. So, grant us the swift demise of all opposition to our will and an even swifter ascent of barbarous behaviours." And when an outcome arrives that defies our "enlightened" self interests, what then? Do we curse God or do we blame our weak faith? Once a community starts down that road, the road of speaking for God with little of a God-given authority to command any obedience, while avoiding the obligation to speak in alignment with God and His Church, i.e., the obligation to teach in conformity with received Tradition, no one should be surprised by the advent of two outcomes:

1. firstly, that community becomes a wax-figurine, a caricature of Christian virtue and practice, that melts into an ideological chimera of worldly attractions;
2. secondly and consequently, that community begins to disintegrate into a religious social club that hemorrhages members who are unable to sustain their convictions because their cause is detached from the grace of God that makes authentic hospitality possible.

Real Fruit

The Holy Ghost is constantly at work. We know that. Much good abounds for those with the eyes to see it. It seems better for the Church to trust the ongoing discernment typified by new movements - e.g., in the past the Franciscans, the Jesuits, the Dominicans, etc., and more recently faithful youth movements such as Catholic Christian Outreach, and Tradition-minded movements such as the personal ordinariates, and so forth - that demonstrate commitment in varied ways to the renewal heralded, at least at first, by the Second Vatican Council before its hijacking by ecclesiastical democrats who imagined God and Church revolve around their confused agendas.

And the reassurances.

Those are things the pope has said before, of course, including in his remarks to basically every Synod of Bishops on his watch, but it’s still instructive that he repeated them with such emphasis.

Here’s how (Bishop) Barron summed it up:

“Whatever Pope Francis means by ‘synodality,’ he quite clearly doesn’t mean a process of democratization, or putting doctrine up for a vote,” Barron wrote. “He means, it seems to me, a structured conversation among all of the relevant ecclesial players—bishops, priests, and laity—for the sake of hearing the voice of the Spirit.”

Is that working?

https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2020/02/pope-to-us-bishops-no-synodality-doesnt-mean-democracy

The Church has relied on holy men and women rising up, called by God, to reorient us to the will of God. God will never abandon His Church to heresy, so hath He promised (St Matthew 16:18). That does not mean God will not test and purify His Church from time to time.

How might God be testing His Church? The current synod risks becoming irrelevant before its completion because of misplaced or misordered priorities. We must apply faith and reason aligned with the truth to weigh the proceedings of the Synod, as we must each and every day apply ourselves to prayer, openness to God's grace, and good guidance from a spiritual director and/or study of the Gospel to better align ourselves with the design God has for our lives.

Father Murray has discerned a serious defect that will undermine the integrity and efficacy of the Synod if not addressed.

Nowhere do we find any mention of the Church’s paramount mission: the salvation of souls. There is not a hint that what is most important in the life of the Church is the preaching of God’s gift of eternal life, Christ’s call to conversion and repentance. - Fr. Gerald E. Murray, The Synodal Church of "Me, Myself, and I", The Catholic Thing

Souls will not be lost because the Church won't change her teaching. Souls will be lost because those misguided souls obstinately follow another drummer, a drummer leading them off a cliff or down the road to perdition. It is precisely this time, this hour, that the Church should speak truth to sin and ignorance.

The only focus of the so-called "Synod" should be evangelization of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the Truth, and it is displayed and revealed daily in the Celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Shepherds were ordered before the Resurrection to evangelize. Follow the orders given by Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. - Edward Smith, commenter at NCR, Synodality Methodology Seeks to Sidestep Conflict

Amen.

It is our humble and supreme obligation to engage with the unredeemed in order to save souls. Charity of speech is absolutely necessary. Finding ways to better communicate the truth to those in most need of God's mercy is a good and holy thing. In order to bridge the gap between speakers who use the language of faith and an uninformed audience, between those illuminated by faith and those awaiting the Good News, is a challenge unique to our times given the relativisation of language that often evacuates meaning and complicates the exchange of information between parties. Fostering a communion between persons is, then, a significant challenge and difficult to achieve when words are often emptied of meaning.

And, let us not be naive - our mission is to those receptive to God's rescue mission. Jesus worked few miracles among those with little or no faith. Can we expect the Gospel message to be received with any conviction and enthusiasm among those who are adamantly comfortable with their chaos? Speak and act we must, but we assume too much if we imagine all will be saved. Many will, but not all will be saved. Lord have mercy.

SUPPLEMENTARY READS - Updated 29JUNE2023

1. https://www.synod.va/content/dam/synod/common/phases/universal-stage/il/ENG_INSTRUMENTUM-LABORIS.pdf
2. https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/2022/11/wynken-blynken-and-synod.html
3. https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/2022/10/two-ways-catholic-or.html
4. https://atreasuretobeshared.blogspot.com/2018/04/what-about-beauty-pre-synodal-meeting.html
5. https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2023/06/28/a-synod-of-no-surprises/
6. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2023/06/28/a-laborious-and-vacuous-instrument/
7. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2023/06/27/renewal-of-language-and-the-role-of-discernment-in-the-synodal-process/
8. https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/listening-church-but-synod-organizers-arent-listening/