Synod of Bishops in Rome

By Fr. Thomas Cahill, MJ 

Greetings to you in Christ, Our Lord!

Here in Rome, the Synod of Bishops is discussing the Church’s relationship with the youth of the world.  In preparation for the Synod, the organizers asked: “what do young people want?”  The entire prepared document (instrumentum laboris) is premised on the need for “listening” to the youth, opting for dialogue rather than teaching, as if, according to some observers, “the Church does not possess the truth, but must take its place alongside other voices.”

The Archbishop of Philadelphia, USA, criticized this approach and the notion that young people are the ‘watchmen and seismographs of every age.’  He says that “such flattery masks a loss of adult trust in the continuing beauty and power of the beliefs we have received.”  And he notes that “youth are ‘products of the age,’ and are shaped profoundly today by a culture that is perhaps very appealing but essentially atheist.”

Archbishop Chaput continues: “Many ‘developed’ countries today are actually underdeveloped in their humanity. They (and the culture) are stuck in a kind of moral adolescence; an adolescence which they have chosen for themselves and now seek to impose upon others.”

He says that:  “The Church is not served – particularly in a time of humiliation and crisis – by an overdose of sentiment, accommodation, and sociology.  Faith demands more than that!  The foundation of the Bishop’s Synod ignores 2,000 years of accumulated Divine wisdom in favor of cultural trends which result in trivialization and emasculation of Church teaching.”

A youth from India challenged the Synod: “If the Church wants the young people to listen to Her, She should first convince us that She has a message, that She is qualified to preach, and that She does so with conviction and compassion.”

Please pray for the Synod. Pray for the youth. Pray that the Holy Spirit guide the Church. Pray (the Rosary) in these turbulent times that Mother Mary may protect us. The Our Constitutions (13) quoting the Catholic Catechism (1303) say that “(a Miles Jesu is ready) to spread and defend the Faith by word and action as a true witness (soldier) of Christ, to confess the Name of Christ boldly and never to be ashamed of the cross.”