Today's Catholic Standard carried a full-blown report of the First Synod of the Archdiocese of Washington that concluded on Pentecost Sunday. The formal proceeds were in there (and I assume that publication in the Standard would constitute official promulgation of those proceeds) as well as all sorts of ancillary anecdotes pertaining to the synod. The archdiocesan website carries those stories and the official proceeds. Read them and notice what's missing.
I read and I noticed. Color me unimpressed. Oh, I suppose it's a nice little document - if one is merely taking a view of the Church that's centered on human needs and not the purposes for which Jesus Christ established His Roman Catholic Church. So what was His purpose? One need look no further than Question 120 of the Baltimore Catechism. Q: Why did Christ found the Church? A: Christ founded the Church to teach, govern, sanctify and save all men. Here are more questions and answers from the Catechism pertaining to the Church. To my readers from the Archdiocese of Washington and the USCCB: please study these. You are in desperate need of remedial Catholic education.
Go to the pdfs on the Archdiocesan site. Try some word searches. Look up "eternity", "heaven", "hell", "salvation", "soul". I'd suggest you might be amazed at how few of these words you'll find, but I regret I know the chancery too well to be surprised by the complete lack of attention there is to eternal matters. But the Church is supposed to be all about preparing people for eternity. While the earthly matters have importance, that importance is dwarfed by that of the Last Four Things. It appears that the Archdiocese has these priorities exactly ass-backwards. It seems like a lot of pomp and circumstance happened for priorities gone askew. That's par for the course around here.
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Well, I agree that it was not only unimpressive but lacked substance. The pdf file I read was adorned, pleasing to the eye, superb photography, but was around 26 pages of mumbo-jumbo.
ReplyDelete"... At the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization it was pointed out that the Christian way of life and the Gospel vision of right and wrong, virtue and God’s love all seem to be eclipsed by various social, cultural, and political trends that seek to bleach out recognition and appreciation of God and marginalize the Church in her ability to function and live out her Gospel mandate to serve others in charity. The consequence of this is a diminishment in the ability of people today to hear the truth, richness and joy of the authentic Good News of Christ.
It is against this background – a diminished appreciation of God and the faith – that the Church has called all of us to a New Evangelization, which is all about revitalizing and sharing life in the Lord who makes all things new. Our Archdiocesan Synod affirms that the antidote to our spiritual malaise is for each of us to know and deepen our knowledge of the Crucified and Risen Jesus and manifest his kingdom. The love of Christ should be seen in all our activities, Synod members stressed. This is our perennial mission..."
Ok, but didn't we know all that. This isn't new...this is like Rip Van Winkle who wakes up how many years later? God must be shaking His Holy Head.
This is foolishness...how sad.
May God bless you and us all.
If you take a position as a bishop, at some point you will have one foot in the grave, that is your age will give you little time left in this life. So how, when a bishop, and at the end of your life can you NOT know that your personal judgement will soon be coming. Does the technology of these modern time delude you so much? Does the political conversations of importance and attention put your mind so far away from the reality of what a Catholic Life IS all about, that in the end you are completely ignorant of the importance of your faith, and your final days? If being alive IS so important, why does a bishop ignore the important things - unless, that is unless he is NO LONGER CATHOLIC and DOES NOT BELIEVE in an AFTER LIFE.
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