Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Synodality, an antidote to polarization, helps mission, cardinal saysAt the end of a multiyear process of listening, praying, discussing and discerning, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, said he hopes the Synod of Bishops can give Catholics four practical suggestions for being a more “synodal” church.“What four things? I can’t tell you right now, but I sure wish we could give four pieces of guidance to the people of God across the world,” the cardinal told Catholic News Service Oct. 4.In a message to the people of his archdiocese, Cardinal Tobin said synodality — which involves...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Grech: Every Catholic is invited to weigh in on synod study groups’ deliberationsThe Vatican newspaper has reported that Cardinal Mario Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, said that every group in the Church—and every individual Catholic—may offer “contributions, observations and proposals” to the ten synod study groups created by Pope Francis in February.L’Osservatore Romano reported on October 3:Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary General of the Synod, Cardinal Mario Grech, announced that pastors and ecclesial leaders, but also and above all every faithful, man or woman, and every group, association, movement or community, will be able...

[Catholic Caucus] Priesthood about a person's gifts, 'not their genitalia,' says woman priestThe U.S. representative of a women's ordination movement said she is encouraged by people praying that the Catholic Church will open the priesthood to all who feel called to the ministry — particularly women. "What I feel right now is excitement and solidarity because I feel like there is a lot of good energy and movement in the greater body of the church that really wants to see equality come in so many different ways," said Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer of Roman Catholic Womenpriests-USA. She is in Rome...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis and Synod leaders defend event against criticism, say Church needs ‘reform’Pope Francis defended the Synod on Synodality against critics at the event’s first meeting this month, while Cardinal Mario Grech hinted at unspecified ‘reform’ resulting from the Synod.Opening the second Vatican-based session of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis defended the Synod from criticisms about its structure and aims, while the Synod’s leading cardinals laid out the style and aims of the event.“The synodal process is also a learning process, in the course of which the Church comes to know herself better and to identify the...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope leads penitential service on eve of Synod with cardinals confessing list of new sinsJoining members of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis presided over a penitence ceremony in the Vatican during which cardinals read out a list of petitions for forgiveness which the pope had written.Pope Francis and leading cardinals of the Roman Curia have led a penitential ceremony on the eve of the Synod on Synodality, asking forgiveness for failings towards creation, towards women, in the area of abuse, for using doctrine as “stones,” for “adorning the altar” instead of feeding the poor, and for not...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland calls on ‘all of the shepherds of the Church’ to defend the faith as Synod loomsBishop Joseph Strickland implored the Church’s shepherds ‘to stand firmly for Christ’ ahead of the Synod on Synodality and urged the faithful not to accept ‘any synodal process that contradicts the Deposit of Faith of the Catholic Church.’The following is Bishop Joseph Strickland’s open letter to the participants of the Synod on Synodality.September 30, 2024The Feast Day of St. JeromeAn open letter to the participants of the final session of the Synod on Synodality, as well as to the Faithful who...

Theologian participating in Synod on Synodality heralds heterodox viewsSpanish theologian Cristina Inogés, appointed by Pope Francis to participate in the Synod on Synodality, argues in a recently released document that “Christianity should never have become a religion.”In a September article titled “Del Sínodo al jubileo: construyendo comunidad en diálogo” (“From the Synod to the Jubilee: Building Community in Dialogue”), Inogés argues that Jesus sought to hand on a way of life and human relationships based on fraternity, not to found an institutionalized religion with hierarchies and “to separate a small part from the rest, the priests — the clergy —...

[Catholic Caucus] The Infernal Synod on SynodalityAs the three-year synodal process on synodality for a synodal Church limps into its final three weeks of meetings in Rome, even poking fun at it has become a bit tedious.Originally ridiculed by many as a “meeting about meetings,” it never managed to demonstrate that it wasn’t. Way back in November 2021, still flush with excitement over the synodal process—with meetings at the parish, diocesan, national, continental, and planetary level still beckoning enticingly—Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio in the United States, said that if synodality was a “meeting about meetings,” it would be a...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican Newspaper Publishes Gay-Positive Essay from Synod’s Spiritual AssistantParticipants in the Synod on Synodality’s General Assembly are on retreat Monday and Tuesday to prepare spiritually for their deliberations, which formally begin October 2nd. Throughout the month-long assembly, the delegates will be guided by two spiritual assistants , one of whom recently made some LGBTQ-positive remarks.Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, and Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini, OSB, to be the Synod’s spiritual assistants. Radcliffe, the former head of Dominicans worldwide, has been welcoming of LGBTQ+ people for decades. Most recently, he wrote on these issues for the...

[Catholic Caucus] In meeting Jesuits in Asia, Pope Francis says Synodality ‘is not democracy’Just weeks before the beginning of the second session on the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis spoke to Jesuit clergy during his visit to Asia and Oceania.On Sep. 11, the day he arrived in Singapore, he met with members of his religious order, one of whom asked about the pontiff’s vision of the Church of the future in light of synodality.“The synod we are conducting is on synodality,” Francis said about the synod taking place in Rome Oct. 2-27.“The Synod of Bishops was born from an insight...

[Catholic/Anglican Caucus] Francis-appointed Synod adviser appears to defend homosexual ‘desire’ in Vatican newspaperIn an article published in L’osservatore Romano, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe claimed that homosexuals ‘rightly desire to express their affection,’ though the Church teaches that homosexual activity is mortally sinful and homosexual desires are ‘objectively disordered.’Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, whom Pope Francis named a spiritual assistant for the October session of the Synod on Synodality, penned an article for the Vatican newspaper in which he appears to defend homosexual “desire” and claims that homosexual individuals “rightly desire to express their affection” in contradiction to Catholic teaching.“I am convinced of...

Fr. Heimerl: Pope Francis marks the fulfillment of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich’s ‘dark church’ prophecyEditor’s note: The following essay is the first in a two-part series on the prophecies of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, the ‘synodal church,’ and Pope Francis. Part two can be found HERE.(LifeSiteNews) — Two hundred years ago, the German mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich died in Dülmen, Westphalia. The stigmatized nun saw not only the life of Jesus in her visions, but also the future of the Church. Shortly before her death, she said: “There will be an after-church.”During Emmerich’s time, such a thing was hardly imaginable,...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis personally invites pro-LGBT Fr James Martin, Cardinal Cupich to October SynodPope Francis' personal picks for the Synod remain largely the same this year as last year, including controversial figures such as Cardinals Blase Cupich, Jozef De Kesel, Wilton Gregory, Robert McElroy and Father James Martin, S.J.The Vatican’s press office released details of the upcoming Synod on Synodality starting later this month, which, like last year, includes a list of heterodox attendees invited by Pope Francis.While the Synod begins on Monday, September 30, with all participants taking part in a two-day retreat, meetings do not begin in...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Says African Synod Delegates Will Keep Opposing LGBTQ+ InclusionAhead of Rome’s Synod on Synodality’s final assembly in October, a Cameroonian archbishop has defended African Catholics’ opposition to LGBTQ+ inclusion and said the opposition would continue.Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda made his argument in late August during synodal conversations that are being held each week by the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network and the Conference of Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar.Nkea broached gender and sexuality topics because they had become such a flashpoint during last fall’s General Assembly of the Synod in Rome, which ultimately...

[Catholic Caucus] "Sin of Using Doctrine as Stone" - Franics Presides Penitential Celebration During SynodVatican.va published (September 16) a program and list of participants for the October ex-synod on synodality.On October 1, Francis will preside over a penitential service. Testimonies will include a victim of abuse, a victim of war and a migrant. The event will take place "in the name of all the baptized"."Sins" will be invented, such as:- "Sin against creation, against indigenous peoples, against migrants."- "Sin of using doctrine as a stone to be thrown."- "Sin against synodality: lack of listening, communion, and participation of all."An ecumenical...

[Catholic Caucus] Synodality will continue after papacy of Francis, says visiting theologianRenowned Italian theologian and author Massimo Faggioli provided valuable insights into the challenges and hopes of the Catholic Church during a two-week visit to Adelaide. Source: The Southern Cross.Professor Faggioli has lived in the United States for the past 16 years and is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on the modern history of the Catholic Church.His visit was part of the Mission Masterclass series introduced by Catholic Education SA this year and included a public lecture, an address to clergy and sessions with educators, parish leaders,...

Exposing False Shepherds: Should We Really Mind if Heretics Like Cupich Hide the Cross?“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)In the wake of Blase Cupich’s invocation at last week’s Democratic National Convention, some Traditional Catholics have criticized the bishop for hiding his pectoral cross. While the impulse to criticize Cupich is seldom wrong, his scandalous behavior in this particular instance invites us to ask a question that may make us less censorious: do we really mind if heretics like Cupich conceal their supposed Catholic identity? To...

[Catholic Caucus] Synodality and the continued and deceptive use of “People of God”There is an air of play-acting at real theology and of a cynical insouciance toward the actual truth of the Council, a mendaciousness that is the product of a set of foreordained conclusions in search of an argument.Larry Chapp Chapp's Schtick, Columns, Features 58 PrintA program for a Mass opening the synod process in the Diocese of Camden, N.J., is seen at St. Agnes Church of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Blackwood, N.J., Oct. 17, 2021. (CNS photo/Dave Hernandez, Catholic Star Herald) Johathan Liedl, a reporter with...

[Catholic Caucus] Deleted: Francis’ Ex-Synod Crushed in Their Own PollThe social media account 'Synod.va' launched a poll on Twitter and Facebook on 25 July.It asked the question: "Do you believe that synodality, as a way of conversion and reform, can strengthen the mission and participation of all the baptised?"From the start, the negative responses were overwhelming.The screenshot that still exists to illustrate this article shows that at the moment there are 5,633 votes, 88% of them negative. The percentage of "no" responses on Facebook was similar.On 26 July Synod.va deleted the poll. Those who are interested in religion and voted...

Cardinal Hollerich: ‘If women do not feel comfortable in the church, we have failed.’The working document, or instrumentum laboris, for next October’s meeting of the Synod of Bishops is “taking up again” the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on the church by focusing on the missionary responsibility of all the baptized in the synodal church. That is what Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the relator general for next October’s synod, said in this exclusive interview with America’s Vatican correspondent.He emphasized the importance of the working document’s attention to affirming and promoting the role of women in the church in the 21st...