October 15, 2012                   John W             John W's previous articles

Reflections on the Synod

1. When I heard that Cardinal Wuerl gave an opening address in Latin for 45 minutes, I couldn't help thinking that very few of the Synod participants would understand what he said. What's the point of using Latin for a meeting?  What does that say about the meeting/the cardinal?
Does any other international organization in the world use Latin for a meeting?  Communication is all about being understood. Latin is no longer understood by many people.  To be using Latin for a major Church address in 2012 beggars the mind. Did the cardinal think he was at Trent?

2. The Pope's opening homily, in a Mass where the Gospel spoke about divorce, just re-stated the strict party line re marriage, and did not refer to the fact that more than one third of Catholics in the world are divorced, and that many bishops' conferences have been calling for a more compassionate approach to divorced people. 
No mention....symbolic of the fact that not a few "hot topics" are not allowed to be discussed. 

3. As many Synod articles on this and other websites have pointed out, the whole Bishops' Synod exercise is just window-dressing, a show.
The participants have no authority to vote for change. Their opinions may not even go into the Pope's final summary. The Synod is just like a meeting of the National People's Congress in Beijing - toothless

4.  Many (most?) of the clerical participants are office-bound, tied down to administration, with no time for hands-on pastoral work....causing them to be out of touch with what's happening in the lives of ordinary people (including their own clergy). Would that all Synods and meetings of the like could incorporate two or three afternoons a week in a pastoral situation (prison, hospital etc) to bring people down to earth. Just as seminaries long ago incorporated a weekly pastoral work into their program, so all administrators should have a weekly pastoral commitment to keep their feet on the ground

5. Motto that helped Bill Clinton: "The economy, stupid".
Mottos to help the Synod: "The laity, stupid". "Women, stupid".
"The poor, stupid". "Priestless parishes, stupid". "The climate, stupid".

6. When the participants heard the first reading of October 10, from Galatians 2 where Paul stands up to Peter for undoing a Jerusalem meeting decision, did they not feel a voice in their hearts saying that they should stand up to Benedict's drive to undo the decisions of Vatican II?

7. How much of the real agenda of this Synod, for not a few participants, is not about evangelization but about lobbying for a post at the Vatican and lobbying re the next pope?

8. Material I hope the Synod will discuss