Is your parish getting prepared for the Synod?

[fide]

I'm very concerned about a possible "atmosphere of silence" or maybe "ignorance" about the danger that I see right at the walls and gates (if any remain!) separating Church from World. My parish, and my diocese, make NO mention of what is to happen next month (the "Synod on Synodality"), nor especially what might result from it! If those "leaders"are "successful" who seem to be the prevailing spirits in current leadership - papacy, curia, college of cardinals - the Church is headed for deeply dark times. Almost all bishops seem to me to be hiding in silence - but maybe, I hope, not all are silent about this in their own dioceses.

What is it like in your parish? Diocese? Do you hear any evidence that many - or few - are even aware of what is going on?

 

[Michie]

I'm very concerned about a possible "atmosphere of silence" or maybe "ignorance" about the danger that I see right at the walls and gates (if any remain!) separating Church from World. My parish, and my diocese, make NO mention of what is to happen next month (the "Synod on Synodality"), nor especially what might result from it! If those "leaders"are "successful" who seem to be the prevailing spirits in current leadership - papacy, curia, college of cardinals - the Church is headed for deeply dark times. Almost all bishops seem to me to be hiding in silence - but maybe, I hope, not all are silent about this in their own dioceses.

What is it like in your parish? Diocese? Do you hear any evidence that many - or few - are even aware of what is going on?

Mine is about the same as yours. Sometime I think clergy are afraid to speak out on these things.

 

[Sword of the Lord]

Mine is about the same as yours. Sometime I think clergy are afraid to speak out on these things.

They've been given no reason to believe they won't be punished.

 

[fide]

Mine is about the same as yours. Sometime I think clergy are afraid to speak out on these things.

Let's presume that you are rightly discerning the reason: What, if anything, do you conclude from this - "clergy are afraid to speak out on these things"?

 

[mourningdove~]

Mine is about the same as yours.

Same here.

It would seem this event should be 'covered' in prayer, if we truly are wanting to 'hear' from the Holy Spirit thru it.

Perhaps once it starts, some churches will begin to include the Synod in their prayers during the Mass ...

 

[fide]

They've been given no reason to believe they won't be punished.

But weren't they told, as we have all been told, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me"? "Punishment" is part of the deal, isn't it?
John 15:18 "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you."

The painful part for me is the reality of the world so present and so powerful in the Church.

 

[mourningdove~]

I'm very concerned about a possible "atmosphere of silence" or maybe "ignorance" about the danger that I see right at the walls and gates (if any remain!) separating Church from World. My parish, and my diocese, make NO mention of what is to happen next month (the "Synod on Synodality"), nor especially what might result from it! If those "leaders"are "successful" who seem to be the prevailing spirits in current leadership - papacy, curia, college of cardinals - the Church is headed for deeply dark times. Almost all bishops seem to me to be hiding in silence - but maybe, I hope, not all are silent about this in their own dioceses.

I am going to sound like a pessimist here, but ...

I get the sense that we are not hearing 'much' about the Synod because there is not much resistance in many of our parishes towards the modernist ideas that will be proposed at the Synod.

... and I hope am wrong.

 

[fide]

Same here.

It would seem this event should be 'covered' in prayer, if we truly are wanting to 'hear' from the Holy Spirit thru it.

Perhaps once it starts, some churches will begin to include the Synod in their prayers during the Mass ...

Have you given any thought as to how a faithful Catholic ought to pray, concerning this Synod? If you were leading the church in "the Prayer of the Faithful", as a lector in the Mass - if you wrote the prayer to be included in the prayers of the parish to be responded to with "Lord, hear our prayer", ... - in other words, how are we to pray, what are we to pray, at this time in salvation history? What does God want us to ask, at this time? What is His will, at this time, in this matter?

These, I believe, are questions we ought to ponder, deeply.

 

[mourningdove~]

Have you given any thought as to how a faithful Catholic ought to pray, concerning this Synod? If you were leading the church in "the Prayer of the Faithful", as a lector in the Mass - if you wrote the prayer to be included in the prayers of the parish to be responded to with "Lord, hear our prayer", ... - in other words, how are we to pray, what are we to pray, at this time in salvation history? What does God want us to ask, at this time? What is His will, at this time, in this matter?

No, I hadn't given it any thought ... yet ...
but those are good questions you ask.

Any suggestions you might have, on how to best pray?

 

[fide]

I am going to sound like a pessimist here, but ...

I get the sense that we are not hearing 'much' about the Synod because there is not much resistance in many of our parishes towards the modernist ideas that will be proposed at the Synod.

... and I hope am wrong.

I returned to the Church in earnest many years ago now, and in that time the worst negative response regarding homilies or teachings I have heard mumbled among parishioners, in the many churches I have attended, is "Mass is too long." Parishioners seem most content when nothing controversial or challenging (i.e. "judgmental") is preached or taught, and when what is preached or taught is entertaining to the ears (and not for too long). In other words, milk-toast pablum baby food is fine, thank you.

In other words, a "radical" (zealous) modernist would be as objectionable as a "radical" (zealous) traditionalist. Many want no rocking of the boat period, not to the left, not to the right. It's the rocking that disturbs the peace, not the direction. And sadly, if the shepherds want to be liked by the crowd more than to be loved by the Lord - pleasers of men more than pleasers of God - lukewarmness is the goal. This, of course, is spiritual death to the Church.

 

[fide]

No, I hadn't given it any thought ... yet ...
but those are good questions you ask.

Any suggestions you might have, on how to best pray?

Augustine gave some excellent direction in his commentary on Revelations 2 - the letter to the Church in Ephesus:

Rev 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Rev 2:5 Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Rev 2:6 Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

2:4 tells them - and us - love perfectly as God loves.
2:6 tells them - and us - hate perfectly as God hates.
Briefly, Augustine is teaching here to love all men, including sinners, and hate all sin, perfectly as God hates. Love the sinner, hate the sin.

So I pray first for the Church, all her members, the holy and the unholy, the sincere seekers and the lying hypocrites: give them grace, God Holy Father. Grace for the righteous to grow in holiness, righteousness, selfless love, fidelity, endurance to the end;
Grace for the unrighteous, the liars, the hypocrites, for repentance: convict them in their hearts to break their hearts of stone, and give them natural hearts, loving hearts, obedient hearts, faithful hearts. Renew your whole Church, Lord, that they might renew the world,

 

[mourningdove~]

So I pray first for the Church, all her members, the holy and the unholy, the sincere seekers and the lying hypocrites: give them grace, God Holy Father. Grace for the righteous to grow in holiness, righteousness, selfless love, fidelity, endurance to the end;
Grace for the unrighteous, the liars, the hypocrites, for repentance: convict them in their hearts to break their hearts of stone, and give them natural hearts, loving hearts, obedient hearts, faithful hearts. Renew your whole Church, Lord, that they might renew the world,

Thank you ^.

Sometimes these days, all I can do is tell the Lord how sorry I am for the things that have happened and are happening,
and ask Him for His Mercy ...

 

[fide]

Thank you ^.

Sometimes these days, all I can do is tell the Lord how sorry I am for the things that have happened and are happening,
and ask Him for His Mercy ...

It is exhausting - this trial - but I believe it has only begun, and will get worse before it gets better. Evil has not yet manifest itself fully. Nor has God's holy and empowering grace! The tepidity of the institutional Church, and her persevering wish that happy compromise with the world is still possible - these illustrate for us that time is not yet fulfilled.

Luk 12:49 "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!
Luk 12:50 I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!
Luk 12:51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division;
Luk 12:52 for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three;
Luk 12:53 they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

His baptism was first the Cross - the first Cross in a sense, to be followed by a second, the Church teaches, by ours. First the Head, then the Body, the Church. The Catechism bears repeating - we, the whole institutional Church, need to listen:

The Church’s ultimate trial

CCC 675 Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. [Cf. Lk 18:8; Mt 24:12] The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth [Cf. Lk 21:12; Jn 15:19-20] will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh. [Cf. 2 Th 2:4-12; I Th 5:2-3; 2 Jn 7; I Jn 2:18, 22]

CCC 676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, [Cf. DS 3839] especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism. [Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, condemning the “false mysticism” of this “counterfeit of the redemption of the lowly”; cf. GS 20-21]

CCC 677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. [Cf. Rev 19:1-9] The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. [Cf Rev 13:8; 20:7-10; 21:2-4] God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world. [Cf. Rev 20:12 2 Pt 3:12-13]

We must persevere in the supernatural theological virtue, hope. We know that He will triumph; His mercy and justice are perfect; evil cannot endure - it is a lie, self-defeating.

 

[mourningdove~]

What is it like in your parish? Diocese? Do you hear any evidence that many - or few - are even aware of what is going on?

Okay. So tonite 9/24, at the Sunday evening Mass, during the prayers of the faithful, we prayed "for the upcoming Synod".
We weren't told "what" specifically we were praying 'for' (???) ... but, we prayed for it ...

This particular parish is very pleasant, friendly, and very 'Vatican II'. Promotes diversity, equity, inclusivity, etc.
(The closing song tonite was an upbeat song written in a foreign language ... and it wasn't Latin. lol!)
I hope the more traditional parishes in our diocese have begun praying 'for' the Synod this weekend also ...

Note: This parish isn't my 'home' parish. I haven't decided on one yet ...

 

[Markie Boy]

I hadn't looked much, but the logo or poster for the synod is sort of a play on rainbow colors possibly? It's a bunch of different colored people, and a tree, and the sun I think. I may just be hyper sensitive too.

What do you expect to come from it?

 

[mourningdove~]

I hadn't looked much, but the logo or poster for the synod is sort of a play on rainbow colors possibly? It's a bunch of different colored people, and a tree, and the sun I think. I may just be hyper sensitive too.

Then I am hyper sensitive also!


Yes, the Synod poster is sort of rainbow colored.
Unfortunately, these days when I see rainbow-colored things, I cringe.
If it's a product being sold, I don't buy it. (I don't even want it in my house!)
I've become totally adverse ... towards the whole 'rainbow business'.
(Yep, I'm not very politically correct! lol)

 

[mourningdove~]

I think this is it ...

 

[Gnarwhal]

I'm very concerned about a possible "atmosphere of silence" or maybe "ignorance" about the danger that I see right at the walls and gates (if any remain!) separating Church from World. My parish, and my diocese, make NO mention of what is to happen next month (the "Synod on Synodality"), nor especially what might result from it! If those "leaders"are "successful" who seem to be the prevailing spirits in current leadership - papacy, curia, college of cardinals - the Church is headed for deeply dark times. Almost all bishops seem to me to be hiding in silence - but maybe, I hope, not all are silent about this in their own dioceses.

What is it like in your parish? Diocese? Do you hear any evidence that many - or few - are even aware of what is going on?

Nobody's talking about it at my parish or diocese either. Only place I ever hear anything about it is at work (EWTN) because we cover the latest about it maybe once a day.

I want to be optimistic and assume that the reason nobody's talking about it because the clergy know that a synod has no actual binding power like a council does. So whatever declarations and opinions they produce in the synod are just that, but they have no power in or over the Church.

I want to be optimistic about that, but in a Francis-lead Church, optimism is hard to hold on to.

Regardless of the reality of it, progressive-agents in the Church will try to hijack the synod, obscure the realities of it and use it as a vehicle to promulgate an ulterior agenda that pushes female clergy and sodomy on the Church.

I pray that the end result is complete and total blowback on these enemies, that they're swiftly and surely excommunicated from the Church and the Pope proclaims once-and-for-all that female clergy and sodomy will never be a part of the One True Church.

 

[fide]

Okay. So tonite 9/24, at the Sunday evening Mass, during the prayers of the faithful, we prayed "for the upcoming Synod".
We weren't told "what" specifically we were praying 'for' (???) ... but, we prayed for it ...

This particular parish is very pleasant, friendly, and very 'Vatican II'. Promotes diversity, equity, inclusivity, etc.
(The closing song tonite was an upbeat song written in a foreign language ... and it wasn't Latin. lol!)
I hope the more traditional parishes in our diocese have begun praying 'for' the Synod this weekend also ...

Note: This parish isn't my 'home' parish. I haven't decided on one yet ...

Thank you for answering the question! But sadly, this kind of "prayer" is exactly what I expect from most parishes - probably "suggested" by many or most bishops. It covers the need to "pray for the synod" in a completely ambiguous, non-committal way, and gives the pastors checked boxes in the list of "we ought to" requirements for the deanery meetings. A rhetorical question: Are there any men in our male-only clergy?

I hope you can and will find a solid, mature parish to be part of. I have found few, very few, in my travels.

 

[fide]

Nobody's talking about it at my parish or diocese either. Only place I ever hear anything about it is at work (EWTN) because we cover the latest about it maybe once a day.

I want to be optimistic and assume that the reason nobody's talking about it because the clergy know that a synod has no actual binding power like a council does. So whatever declarations and opinions they produce in the synod are just that, but they have no power in or over the Church.

I want to be optimistic about that, but in a Francis-lead Church, optimism is hard to hold on to.

Regardless of the reality of it, progressive-agents in the Church will try to hijack the synod, obscure the realities of it and use it as a vehicle to promulgate an ulterior agenda that pushes female clergy and sodomy on the Church.

I pray that the end result is complete and total blowback on these enemies, that they're swiftly and surely excommunicated from the Church and the Pope proclaims once-and-for-all that female clergy and sodomy will never be a part of the One True Church.

With "progressives" in leadership, it is hard indeed to be optimistic in the short term. It is amazing to me, the mirrored similarities of the secular and the ecclesial worlds now. Biden and Francis - seems like "one ring to rule them all", to reference Tolkien. Federal and state law are no obstacle for Biden and his surrogates - they do as they wish. Francis and his - neither canon law nor Sacred Tradition and the Deposit of Faith can overrule the surging "charism" of their "spirit". Are we not seeing what Rev. 13 predicts? This very thing that we might be seeing: secular beast(s) from the sea who hate(s) the Good Shepherd, and ecclesial beast(s) from the earth who dress in sheepskin yet speak and act as a wolf - and both/all are led by the same dark spirit.

It's hard to say "progressive-agents in the Church will try to hijack the synod". "Synodality" seems to be designed and scripted and constructed in detail to lead to a final goal which is entirely "progressive" - a "synodal Church" having a spirit one with .. guess who.

Only God can defeat satan. A weak, compromised, carnal and mixed "church" cannot. Can we yet learn how compromised and worldly we have become? Can we yet be humbled enough to know how deep and profound is our need for Penance! Penance! Penance! The Immaculate Heart of Mary will defeat him - the Holy Mother and her faithful children, the truly Holy Church, the Bride will come. The Church today must look long into a clear mirror with open eyes, and see. Our hearts are not right.