Posted on 10/06/2023 9:26:43 AM PDT by ebb tide
A prominent canon lawyer has argued that the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality is a “long-awaited opportunity” to “bury” a Christo-centric Catholicism and implement a form of “judgment-free human coexistence.”
“The Synodal Assembly has the potential to cause immense harm to the life and mission of the Church,” stated Father Gerald Murray, headlining a Rome conference on October 3, hours before the Synod on Synodality began the next morning.
Speaking alongside Cardinal Raymond Burke – who recently issued dubia about the synod – Murray gave a canonical analysis of the status of the synod itself and the recent revolution in its nature. The canonist also highlighted problematic elements of the document which is guiding the synod discussions. (Fr. Murray’s talk, given in Italian, is available in English here.)
Of particular controversy in the Synod on Synodality is the Instrumentum Laboris’ request to identify what “concrete steps are needed to welcome those who feel excluded from the Church because of their status or sexuality (for example, remarried divorcees, people in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ+ people, etc.).” This request came in light of Pope Francis’ controversial apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
READ: Major Synod on Synodality document highlights need to ‘welcome’ polygamists, ‘LGBTQ+ people’
But Murray took issue with such a stance.
“Why should the Church create a ‘space’ where polygamists may feel ‘not judged?’,” he asked.
“The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches this about polygamy: ‘polygamy is not in accord with the moral law. [Conjugal] communion is radically contradicted by polygamy; this, in fact, directly negates the plan of God’ (#2387). What more is there to discuss?,” said Murray.
READ: Pope Francis, Synod on Synodality leaders urge ‘harmony’ and ‘listening’ in opening speeches
In contrast to the Instrumentum Laboris, Murray argued that such a “trendy conceit of ‘creating spaces’ for people who reject various teachings of the Church gives the impression that they are not ‘safe’ whenever they are reminded that their behavior is immoral according to God’s law.”
“Is being hurt by the truth a problem?” he asked. “Is not such pain a purifying moment, a grace from God, who challenges us to examine ourselves according to the demands of His law, and not according to our own often mistaken choices? People who reject the Church’s teaching may claim to be unwelcomed by fellow believers. It is not they who are rejected, but rather it is their immoral behavior that is rightly stigmatized.”
A synod of harm
With the Synod on Synodality and its documents thus exploring, or even advocating, contradictions of Church teaching, Murray argued that this is a result of a long-term “liberal project.”
“The liberal project further consists of the effort to do away with Catholicism as a dogmatic revealed religion centered upon the eternal salvation of souls and remake it into a religion of human benevolence promoting personal fulfillment, social harmony, and material well-being,” Murray said.
He described the “present crisis in the Church” as being “the result of this liberal project gaining the upper hand due to the decision of Pope Francis not to treat it as the mortal threat that it is.”
READ: Pope Francis, Synod on Synodality leaders urge ‘harmony’ and ‘listening’ in opening speeches
Instead of protecting Catholic doctrine, the Pope “grants the proponents of the liberal project great freedom to sow doubt and confusion among the faithful, all the while condemning those who resist this project as ‘reactionaries,’ stigmatizing them as nostalgic, if not unbalanced, ‘backwardists’ who suffer from an unhealthy attachment to an ideology,” attested Murray.
Pope Francis and synodal leaders have repeatedly praised the event as being a time of “listening” and “dialogue.”
Fr. Murray, in contrast, warned that:
the Synod on Synodality promises to be the long-awaited opportunity to attempt once and for all to bury Catholicism centered upon the eternal salvation of souls in Christ, and replace it with the new and improved Catholicism of judgment-free human coexistence in which the paramount goal is to make everyone feel included, appreciated, and affirmed in whatever personal choices they make in life, unless one chooses to embrace Catholicism centered upon the eternal salvation of souls in Christ.
The synod, he continued, “has the potential to cause immense harm to the life and mission of the Church.”
Given this assessment, Murray called on Catholics to resist any actions which would contradict the Catholic Faith, saying “it is our duty in obedience to God’s revelation and in charity for souls to resist steadfastly any attempts to change the teaching of the Church that may emerge from this Synodal Assembly.”
Given this assessment, Murray called on Catholics to resist any actions which would contradict the Catholic Faith, saying “it is our duty in obedience to God’s revelation and in charity for souls to resist steadfastly any attempts to change the teaching of the Church that may emerge from this Synodal Assembly.”
Ping
Fr. Murray is, of course, 110% right. Always enjoy his commentary.
Respect Father Murray. Like to hear what he says with Raymond Arroyo on the papal posse on EWTN.
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