Church With Synods

 

The Church established by Jesus Christ is a church with synods, but not a synodal church as some might imagine or attempt to impose.

The Church is not nor has she ever been a democracy nor a mere social club.

Can. 342 The synod of bishops is a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet together at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world.

A synod is subject to the supreme authority of the Roman Pontiff (Can. 344). 

To confine the Church to man's socio-political constructs is to attempt to undermine the authority of Jesus Christ, an authority which He, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, extends to the bishops of His Church. We hope that the bishops are up to the task of guiding, guarding, governing and sanctifying the faithful, but we know that from the very beginning and along the way members of the episcopacy have diverted from the will of God and have led others astray. There are always sons of Judas Iscariot casting shadows in the Church. We, all of us, must remain vigilant in the truth and wed to prayer.

The bishops belong to the hierarchy established by Jesus Christ. Bishops, the successors of the apostles, meet in synods that are called to discern the will of God in matters pertaining to the mission of the Church. Bishops consult with others at their discretion to better discern the will of God.

Each legitimate pope, like the Apostle Peter the first Pope, is the Vicar of Christ and supreme voice and authority in the Church. This fact does not mean a pope may teach anything contrary to the Faith of the Apostles that is always and everywhere taught.

Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense Catholic, which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors.

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3506.htm 

Even ecumenical councils are subject to the authority of the Roman Pontiff. So it was, so it continues to be.

A council is recognized as ecumenical once its works are approved by a pope. The pope does not need to attend a council for it to be an ecumenical council. The earliest councils were held in the East, and the reigning popes usually sent legates to represent them. Later these popes approved the decrees of the councils, thereby verifying that they were ecumenical councils.

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-21-ecumenical-councils 

Popes have been censured when issuing anything less than orthodoxy, anything less than magisterial teaching that amounts to strange doctrine. No pope, however, has ever taught heresy when teaching ex cathedra.

Ex cathedra is a Latin phrase which means “from the chair.” It refers to binding and infallible papal teachings which are promulgated by the pope when he officially teaches in his capacity of the universal shepherd of the Church a doctrine on a matter of faith or morals and addresses it to the entire world. The concept derives from Jesus.

https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-does-the-term-ex-cathedra-mean-and-where-did-the-catholic-church-come-up-with-it

The laity have a mission: to carry the Gospel into the world for the salvation of souls. The laity are strengthened for mission by receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the truth of the Holy Gospel, and the glory of the Holy Eucharist, the very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

The laity fulfill this mission of the Church in the world especially by conforming their lives to their faith so that they become the light of the world as well as by practicing honesty in all their dealings so that they attract all to the love of the true and the good and finally to the Church and to Christ. They fulfill their mission also by fraternal charity which presses them to share in the living conditions, labors, sorrows, and aspirations of their brethren with the result that the hearts of all about them are quietly prepared for the workings of saving grace. Another requisite for the accomplishment of their task is a full consciousness of their role in building up society whereby they strive to perform their domestic, social, and professional duties with such Christian generosity that their manner of acting should gradually penetrate the whole world of life and labor.

This apostolate should reach out to all wherever they may be encountered; it should not exclude any spiritual or temporal benefit which they have the ability to confer. True apostles however, are not content with this activity alone but endeavor to announce Christ to their neighbors by means of the spoken word as well. For there are many persons who can hear the Gospel and recognize Christ only through the laity who live near them.

Why restate the obvious? Because the obvious is not acknowledged or has been rejected by those who pretend to be disciples of Jesus. In every age, the Holy Spirit issues a call to holiness to all who would be faithful disciples of our Lord and King.

Holy Week exposes charlatans, those who would fashion the Church in their own image and likeness.

1. Spy Wednesday exposes the Judas-like tendencies in our lives.
2. Maundy Thursday reminds one of the authentic discipleship, of authentic charity, of the authentic authority, of the fellowship, willed by Jesus.
3. Good Friday reveals the example of God. Discipleship has a cost. When we follow in the footsteps of our Master, we can expect worldly men to grind their teeth at us and assault us because we defer to truth and love, and they will not. Not truth or love, but truth and love. The worldly powers cannot tolerate anyone who does not bend the knee at their strange designs.
4. Holy Saturday immerses us in the reality of the tomb. Silence.
5. Easter reminds us of the end of death. Death is not the end of the Christian's life.

Being present to the great mystery of our redemption, our restoration to friendship with God, our renewal in Jesus by Jesus, liberates and protects us from the fraudulent narratives that can trap us in misery and that, if unchallenged, lead to damnation.