Posted on 10/12/2015 6:53:00 AM PDT by ebb tide
The letter was signed by Cardinals Caffarra (Bologna), Collins (Toronto), Dolan (New York), Eijk (Utrecht), Erdö (Esztergom-Budapest, president of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe and Synod Relator-General), Müller (Prefect of Doctrine for the Faith), Napier (Durban, President-Delegate), Pell (Secretary for the Economy), Piacenza (Penitentiary Major)*, Sarah (Prefect of Divine Worship), Scola (Milan*), Urosa (Caracas), Vingt-Trois (Paris, President-Delegate *).
The text was the following: Your Holiness,
As the Synod on the Family begins, and with a desire to see it fruitfully serve the Church and your ministry, we respectfully ask you to consider a number of concerns we have heard from other synod fathers, and which we share.
While the synod’s preparatory document, the "Instrumentum Laboris," has admirable elements, it also has sections that would benefit from substantial reflection and reworking. The new procedures guiding the synod seem to guarantee it excessive influence on the synod’s deliberations and on the final synodal document. As it stands, and given the concerns we have already heard from many of the fathers about its various problematic sections, the "Instrumentum" cannot adequately serve as a guiding text or the foundation of a final document.
The new synodal procedures will be seen in some quarters as lacking openness and genuine collegiality. In the past, the process of offering propositions and voting on them served the valuable purpose of taking the measure of the synod fathers' minds. The absence of propositions and their related discussions and voting seems to discourage open debate and to confine discussion to small groups; thus it seems urgent to us that the crafting of propositions to be voted on by the entire synod should be restored. Voting on a final document comes too late in the process for a full review and serious adjustment of the text.
Additionally, the lack of input by the synod fathers in the composition of the drafting committee has created considerable unease. Members have been appointed, not elected, without consultation. Likewise, anyone drafting anything at the level of the small circles should be elected, not appointed.
In turn, these things have created a concern that the new procedures are not true to the traditional spirit and purpose of a synod. It is unclear why these procedural changes are necessary. A number of fathers feel the new process seems designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions.
Finally and perhaps most urgently, various fathers have expressed concern that a synod designed to address a vital pastoral matter – reinforcing the dignity of marriage and family – may become dominated by the theological/doctrinal issue of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried. If so, this will inevitably raise even more fundamental issues about how the Church, going forward, should interpret and apply the Word of God, her doctrines and her disciplines to changes in culture. The collapse of liberal Protestant churches in the modern era, accelerated by their abandonment of key elements of Christian belief and practice in the name of pastoral adaptation, warrants great caution in our own synodal discussions.
Your Holiness, we offer these thoughts in a spirit of fidelity, and we thank you for considering them.
Faithfully yours in Jesus Christ.
[Letter and signatories revealed by Italian journalist Sandro Magister, formally excluded as a correspondent by the Holy See Press Office by papal orders since June 15, 2015]
Despite that, Cardinal Pell insisted on several procedural points. We know that thanks to the summary notes made by the Polish bishops, later suppressed due to the censorship imposed by Secretary-General Baldisseri. Still on the same day of the letter delivery he complained of the very composition of the committee charged with writing a final report for the Synod, clearly slanted:
Synod, week 2 begins: 13-Cardinal Letter Rejected by Pope - Plus, Pell Appeal Ignored - Now we understand why Erdo is boycotted
Looks like the church is possibly having its Obama period. Popular, charasmatic leader who’s driving the train off the rails with his liberal ideals, while the conservative faithfuls pleas for sanity are ignored. Hope I’m wrong.
Obama madness is infectious. A healthy dose of Trumbiotics will assuage this malaise and get us all back on the track of a healthy minded culture.
Trump is a GOP Obama. Replacing one inexperienced populist would-be dictator with another is not going to help.
If you think for even a minute that Barack Obama can be equated to an accomplished man like Donald Trump you are just being silly. There are no similarities between the two.
Folks, I didn’t mean to sidetrack this thread by equating Obama with the Pope. I regret mentioning his name here.
More prayer, less prattle from me.......
Yes, I was just as surprised that Dolan signed it.
Eh, Dolan’s denial is forthcoming.
Several of them are now supposedly denying it, although it’s not clear to me if this comes from press questions after the close of the sessions (there’s a six hour time difference between us and Rome) or if this is just more disinformation and confusion.
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