Final Chapter of the ‘Rigging of a Vatican Synod’

Here below is the concluding chapter of my book the The Rigging of a Vatican Synod?: An Investigation of Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family  (Ignatius Press 2015):

 

“The stated purpose of the Third Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops was straightforward but risky: to open up a debate on some of the most neuralgic issues facing the Church and her teaching—issues that have wrought tension and division for the past fifty years. The apparent hope was that it would enable her to offer a more unified and effective pastoral response to the challenges facing the family today.

To many, it seemed to further that goal: they saw the synod as a salutary, collegial, and inspirational experience that showed the great universality of the Church. They welcomed the way in which, for the first time, it gave those who hold different views—or what Cardinal Brandmüller and others would criticize as “heretical” perspectives—a full airing.

Many of those who saw the meeting so positively tended to reject allegations of manipulation, even if some of them were critical of certain procedures and decisions of synod leaders. Some who rejected the “progressive” positions pushed by some of the meeting’s heads and espoused by some synod fathers also thought the final outcome of the synod was positive, despite certain missteps.

But whatever one makes of the charges of manipulation, this book shows that Pope Francis’ wish for an open and free debate in which all parties could listen with humility was seriously impeded, whether by dubious procedures inadequate to the tasks at hand, as some claim, or by outright manipulation by leaders with an agenda, as others claim. At the very least, it seems that the Kasper position and that of those favoring a change regarding homosexuality received support from the synod leadership significantly disproportionate to the real support for those positions among the synod fathers. Add to this the publicity created by the media release of the interim report, and the result was a highly controversial synod.

One side targeted for repression was, bizarrely, the one that upheld the traditional doctrine of the Church, passed down from one generation to the next for two thousand years. This led the synod to become, in the words of one cardinal, “grossly unfair”. The audiatur et altera pars principle (to hear the arguments of both sides) was aggressively disregarded, despite the fact that it is one of the two norms of natural justice both in canon law and civil law. Suddenly, merely restating the Church’s long-held doctrine on key issues left one open to bullying, intimidation, and threats, not so much by the media as by some in senior Church positions and even those in charge of the synod itself. This book has, one hopes, gone some way in presenting the extent of the problems with the process of the Extraordinary Synod of 2014 and has identified those who were principal protagonists of the difficulties.

In October 2015, the Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family will take place on the theme “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World”—the second of the two synods on the family. There are indications that the next synod may wind up in a situation similar to that of the previous one and that key leaders have an agenda to emphasize “innovative” pastoral practice that many others see as being at odds with the Church’s established doctrine. Notwithstanding Pope Francis’ wishes for an open discussion yielding a well-grounded unity, the next synod may result in even more confusion and dissension.

To prevent this, some are looking upon the next synod as a summons to return to the established teachings of the Church, to revert to Scripture and tradition, which were largely sidelined at the last synod.1 Critics of last year’s meeting believe that, after years of poor catechesis, doctrine must be reasserted and proclaimed, ending the false dichotomy underlying the notion that upholding the Church’s teaching and practice somehow means being unpastoral. Jesus, they point out, took pity on the crowd, who were “like sheep without a shepherd”, not by affirming them in their worldly thinking and values, but by first “teaching them many things”.2

They also warn about false doctrine cloaked under the seductive guise of “innovative” pastoral practice. This is not new, of course, and no shortage of scriptural passages warn against it.3

Also not new is the passion shown during a synod, which can, at times, be wearying. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus became so dispirited by synodal disputes (councils, in his day) that he eventually came to the conclusion that all such meetings are useless.4

But although the value of synods might be questionable, that fact is unlikely to deter those concerned about last year’s meeting from being alert to subtle attempts to circumvent Church teaching at the next one. In this respect, they may wish to heed the warnings given by the early Church Fathers.

“Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected”, warned Saint Irenaeus in his writings on heresy.5 “It is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced . . . more true than the truth itself.” Their language, he went on to write, “resembles ours, while their sentiments are very different.””

***

Footnotes:

1 It is related on good authority but unconfirmed that a visitor asked Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI after last year’s synod what he thought about the meeting, to which he allegedly replied: “Halten Sie sich unbedingt an die Lehre!” (“Adhere strictly to the doctrine!”).

2 Mark 6:34: “When [Jesus] landed he saw a large throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” Cf. Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

3 2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.”

Romans 1:21-22: “They became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.”

4 “If I ought to write the truth, I am of the mind that I ought to flee all meetings of bishops, because I have never seen any happy or satisfactory outcome to any council, nor one that has deterred evils more than it has occasioned their acceptance and growth” (Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, ep. 131; A.D. 382).

5 Irenaeus against Heresies, bk. 1, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1: The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2004), 315.

See here for my latest article on how the family synods paved the way for the Synod on Synodality.

 

Edward Pentin