[Catholic Caucus] The Synod on Synodality, St. Thérèse and the Unspoken Reality of Perdition

National Catholic Register ^ | October 30, 2023 | Edward Pentin

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[Catholic Caucus] The Synod on Synodality, St. Thérèse and the Unspoken Reality of Perdition

COMMENTARY: The Catholic Church’s primary role remains: It is an instrument of the salvation of souls.

From what can be gathered from the publicly restricted discussions at the Synod on Synodality, delegates talked a great deal about welcoming and inclusion, about some potentially radical changes in Church governance, and specific issues such as women’s ordination, homosexuality and immigration. 

The focus, therefore, appears to have so far been primarily on the temporal, on matters clearly pertaining to this world and mostly according to merely worldly perspectives, both regarding the Church and society.

By contrast, how much has the essence of the faith and the supernatural been discussed? More to the point, when did the delegates speak of the importance of the Church’s primary role as an instrument of the salvation of souls? Connected to that, how much throughout this process has the reality of the Four Last Things — death, judgment, heaven and hell — figured in discussions, documents and deliberations? 

Until relatively recently, the teaching of the Four Last Things had been of great importance in the life of the Church, providing a framework for understanding human existence, morality and the afterlife. Given its significance in correctly orienting the faithful, it would presumably be a crucial point of reference in the synodal discussions whose overall theme is “Communion, Participation, and Mission.” 

And yet the reality and profound significance of every person’s eternal salvation and a true and healthy fear of a just and righteous God has “barely been discussed in any of the [synod] sessions,” wrote Auxiliary Bishop Rob Mutsaerts of De Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.

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Ping

[Deo volente]

I wonder if the Synod ‘fathers’ even believe in the next world.
Everything is temporal with them, the here and now. The sooner the global government is launched, along with the global church emptied of Christ’s cross, the better. There will be a frightful judgment though, and a huge surprise when death comes to call.