[Grem] *****SPAM(8.7)***** The Synodal Comedy: Act II / Fr. J. A Perricone

[Emoke Greschik]

 The Synodal Comedy: Act II

In the Synodal Sessions, the Faith's majesty is trampled upon, then traded
for the cheap trinkets of the best psychobabble money can buy.

   - [image: Fr. John A. Perricone]
   Fr. John A. Perricone
   <https://crisismagazine.com/author/fr-john-perricone>

*Assaults on the city of Rome,* the See of Peter, have not been infrequent
over the course of the millennia.

Attila attempted. But he failed when he came into the formidable presence
of Leo, called “the Great,” resulting in a dramatic *volte-face*.

Napoleon conquered Rome in 1809.

The Italian Nationalists of the Risorgimento mounted attacks upon Rome in
1848, forcing Blessed Pius IX to flee in a simple black Roman cassock to
Gaeta in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Hitler subdued Rome on June 4, 1944.

*Yet none of these can compare* to the assault being suffered by Rome
today. This time the foe is Synodal Listening—II, and it is nothing less
than the squandering of Christ’s salvific inheritance. To witness princes
of the Church and assorted empurpled prelates parade about as though in
some Rogerian self-actualization exercise makes a Catholic shudder. If not
for Christ’s words, “And the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it,” a
Catholic would be tempted to think he was witnessing the end of
Catholicism.

This ruling elite behaved as though they were fanatical participants in a
Maoist Struggle Session. Those historic monstrous displays dragged Chinese
citizens into the semblance of a court and gratuitously accused them of
being “class enemies.” They were then humiliated, accused, beaten,
tortured, and put to death.

In the Synodal Sessions, it is the Faith that is so treated. Its majesty
trampled upon, then traded for the cheap trinkets of the best psychobabble
money can buy. All the more chilling is the gleeful willingness with which
the successors of the apostles participated. Imagine. On the very ground
consecrated by the blood of Peter and Paul and countless other martyrs,
their successors are performing like a troupe of vaudevillians. They
exhibit the gravitas of scarecrows.

One hesitates to accuse these synodalists of heresy, for there is far too
little there to deserve the weight of such opprobrium. Heresy requires
probity and purpose. It is the stuff of serious men. These synodalists are
giddy pallbearers for the corpse of a spent Catholic Left.

Before the Synod began, a “retreat” was mandated. You see, the insipid
requires preparation. To fool the Catholics masses, folly requires
mimicking Old Catholicism, though it be only a hollow shell. Hence the
otherwise respectable guise of “retreat.” The Synodal Retreat was as close
to an authentic retreat as astronomy is to astrology.

Take a quick glance at a copy of the agenda and prepare to cringe. It
begins:

*The penitential liturgy is intended to direct the work of the Synod
towards the beginning of a new way of being Church. In St. Peter’s
Basilica, the penitential celebration, presided over by Pope Francis,
will include time to listen to three testimonies of persons who have
suffered sin: the sin of abuse: the sin of war: the sin of
indifference to the dramas present in the growing phenomena of
migrations all over the world. They will confess the:*

• *Sins against peace.*
• *Sins against creation, against indigenous populations, against
migrants.**• Sins of abuse.**• Sins against women, family, youth.**•
Sins of using doctrine as stones to be hurled.**• Sins against
poverty.**• Sins against synodality / lack of listening, communion and
participation of all.*

*This is the din of Babel.* Where does one begin? The task is akin to
nailing down raindrops. The most obvious question: What is the “sin of
using doctrine as stones to be hurled”? Could this refer to the defense of
the Revelation of Christ? If so, one wonders what then is there to believe?
If doctrine is something hurtful, then the purpose of Christ’s Church
evaporates. Doctrine is the unchanging teaching of the Faith. If that
cannot be used as our buckler and shield, then what is?

That very query calls into question the purpose of martyrdom. Did St. John
Fisher go to his death because he “hurled doctrine against his enemies”?
Was his beheading then futile? Indeed, a sin? Was the Council of Trent a
nefarious episode because it defined doctrines as ways to quell the fires
of Protestant heresy?

Reason here stands stupefied. Theological analysis screeches to a halt.
Against such stream of consciousness platitudes there is no egress. In his
*Metaphysics*, Aristotle remarks that trying to argue with a man who has
taken leave of reason is like speaking to a vegetable. Is this our
predicament?
Any Catholic not embarrassed by this fog must look to see if their
baptismal character has faded. Pachamama ceremonies along with the new
Mayan and Amazonian rites of the Mass were only faint preludes to the
soaring inanities of the Synod Retreat. These synodalists fashion
themselves a pack of new Moses promulgating a terribly *au courant* list of
sins. It used to be that Modernist theologians of the past years were busy
burying any mention of sin. This new crop is now busy reviving it. But sins
of a different color. A color bearing no resemblance to Christianity.

Readers of *Crisis *might smile at all of this. As they should. The tragedy
is that ninety percent of the Catholic world will hang on this Synod’s
every word and treat it with the reverence of the Gospel.

Perhaps they, and the synodalists, should read St. Gregory the Great’s
*Pastoral
Guide* of 599:

*To advance against the foe involves bold resistance to the powers of
this world in defense of the flock. To stand fast in battle on the day
of the Lord means to oppose the wicked enemy out of love for what is
right. When a pastor has been afraid to assert what is right, has he
not turned his back and fled by remaining silent? Whereas if he
intervenes on behalf of the flock, he sets up a wall against the enemy
in front of the House of Israel…*
*The word of reproach is a key that unlocks a door, because the
reproach reveals a fault of which the evildoer is himself often
unaware. That is why Paul says of the bishop: he must be able to
encourage men in sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it…*
*Anyone ordained a priest undertakes the task of preaching, so that
with a loud cry he may go on ahead of the terrible judge who follows.
If, then, a priest does not know how to preach, what kind of cry can
such a dumb herald utter? It was to bring this home that the Holy
Spirit descended in the form of tongues on the first pastors, for he
causes those whom he has filled, to speak out spontaneously. *

Is St. Gregory the Great “using doctrine as stones to be hurled”?

What dangerous ground these synodalists have chosen to tread.

But all this must not be met with either rancor or desperation. No room for
those exertions in authentic Catholic hearts.

*Call to mind the occasion* of St. Ignatius’ visit shortly after the
approval of the Society of Jesus in 1540 by Pope Paul III. He traveled to
Spain to meet with the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, Juan Pardo de Tavera,
to ask permission for his newly erected Society to work in his archdiocese.
The cardinal flatly refused. The saint then returned to his small band of
new priests and announced the news. They were crestfallen. Immediately, St.
Ignatius encouraged them, “I know that you are sad, this simply means that
Our Lord expects great things of us.”

St. Ignatius repeats that same exhortation to us today from Heaven. In the
teeth of unprecedented crisis, there stands an invitation from Christ
Victorious. Over two millennia, His Holy Church has risen from far greater
crises. She will today. But not without inspired laymen like the readers of
*Crisis* and their friends.

Be assured, the crisis will deepen, and the time for redress will drag on
even longer.

But alert and intelligent Catholics have no recourse now except prayer.
Each must examine their actions against the deeply affecting words of Our
Savior in the Book of the Apocalypse: “But because thou art lukewarm and
neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth”
(Revelation 3:16).

These must be looked upon as times for Catholics to do great things.

Get started.

*[Photo Credit: Getty Images]*
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