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Ousted JP2 Institute prof links institute’s gutting to Amazon synod
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<p class="gmail-article-tags gmail-hide-print"> <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ousted-jp2-institute-prof-links-institutes-gutting-to-amazon-synod">https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/ousted-jp2-institute-prof-links-institutes-gutting-to-amazon-synod</a></p>
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<p>KRAKÓW, Poland, August 27, 2019 (<a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com">LifeSiteNews</a>)
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> ― A Polish professor<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>dismissed <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">from </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the John Paul II Theological
Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>is convinced</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> that the recent
gutting of</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> the institute</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>is connected to<span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)"> the upcoming Synod on the
Amazon</span></b></span>.</p>
<p>“I’m convinced that what happened to the Institute is <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>linked to the
changes that might be introduced</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>by</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)"><b>the approaching Pan-Amazon Synod</b></span>,”
Professor Stanisław Grygiel told Hanna Nowak of <a href="https://teologiapolityczna.pl/instytut-jana-pawla-ii-pod-znakiem-zapytania-rozmowa-z-prof-stanislawem-grygielem-2">Teologia Polityczna</a> in an August 18 interview that was translated into English by Jan Franczakand and published on <a href="https://www.eng.pch24.pl/the-twilight-of-the-john-paul-ii-institute--an-interview-with-prof--stanislaw-grygiel,70372,i.html#.XWG50IbfN9w.twitter">Polonia Christiana</a>. </p>
<p>“We might ask a question, ‘<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Can<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> the Church, which has looked at man in
the light of the truth revealed in Christ,</span> also look at <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">man</span> on almost
the same level in the light of<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> local cultures</span> </b></span>(for example, the Amazon
one) <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>or should the Church remain in an evangelical light and preach what
it can see?</b></span>’” he continued. </p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Grygiel was first a student of the then-Father Karol Wojtyła at the
Catholic University of Lublin and in due course was the friend of Pope
John Paul II. After 10 years of lecturing at a pontifical theological
college in Kraków, he and his wife Ludmila moved to Rome</b></span>. His academic
career in Rome began in 1980, and <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>despite </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>being a senior figure at the
Pontifical Institute for Marriage and the Family, and its <span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)">replacement,
the current institute</span></b></span> founded by Pope Francis, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>he </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>was dismissed from<span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)"> </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)"><b>the
faculty in July. </b></span></p>
<p>This and other surprise changes to the Institute are, Grygiel
believes,<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> indicative of the tension between</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> those who read Amoris
laetitia in the light of the Catholic faith</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>and those who read the
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Catholic faith</span> only in the light of that <span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)">tendentious papal encyclical. </span></b></span></p>
<p>“The abolition of the John Paul II Institute became a sign that
revealed the thoughts of many hearts,” he told Polonia Christiana. </p>
<p>“Some professors have been removed from the Institute, some
professors who read Amoris Laetitia in the light of the faith of the
Church rooted in the Gospel and Tradition, and not, as Cardinal
Christoph Schönborn of Vienna demanded in his discussion with Cardinal
Carlo Caffarra, read the Tradition present in the teaching of the
previous popes in the light of that document,” Grygiel continued. </p>
<p>He suggested that both ways of understanding are important and that
insisting on interpreting the faith only by contemporary realities one
risks “flattering” truths for selfish reasons. </p>
<p>“It is in the name of Tradition that both ways of journeying towards the truth are important in the Church,” Grygiel said. </p>
<p>“As a result of reading the revealed truth about man only in the
light of today’s here and now, it is very easy to descend to the level
of flattering those truths that one’s career depends on.” </p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>There are some interpretations of<span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)"> Amoris laetitia </span>that simply deny
</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>that Christ knew what he was talking about,</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>the professor suggested. </b></span></p>
<p>“<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>When Christ says that whoever <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">leaves <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">his wife </span>and lives with<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> another
woman </span>commits adultery,</span></b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>no interpretation</b></span> by even the cleverest
theologian or minister <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>can change</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> the meaning of the word ‘whoever,</b></span>’”
Grygiel declared. </p>
<p>“If we say that in this or that case someone does not commit
adultery, because he is justified by this or that, it means that at the
same time, we say that Christ didn’t know what he was saying, because he
didn’t know what is inside a human being. He should have asked other
people.”</p>
<p>This naturally flies in the face of Scripture, for <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>the Gospel of John
says <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Christ “knew all people” and didn’t have to</span> ask for external
opinions </b></span>(John 2:25). To say that Christ didn’t know the human heart is
to say that Christ isn’t God. </p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>“According to the imperious voice of today’s followers of situational
ethics and pseudo-Ignatian discernment,</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Christ</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> didn’t know </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>what was
hidden in every man</b></span>, because, for example, He didn’t know what was
hidden in the man with a clear conscience who was living in his second
or third pseudo-marital union,” Grygiel said.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">“(And) so Christ wasn’t God. Someone very important in the Church
today has already dared to say that Christ became God only after the
moment of His death.”</span></p>
<p>During the interview, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Grygiel told an anecdote in which <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">St. John Paul
II </span>approached him with <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">a letter from a theologian who wanted</span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> him</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">to
change</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Catholic doctrine on marriage. </span></b></span></p>
<p>“One evening St. John Paul II handed me a letter written to him by a well-known theologian,” he said. </p>
<p>“(The saint) said, ‘Read it and tell me what you think of it,’” Grygiel continued. </p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>“That theologian advised<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> John Paul II </span>to change<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> the ethics of marital
sexual relations</span>, because if <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">he</span> didn’t change it <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">a lot of people</span> would
leave <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">the Church.</span></b></span> Just after reading the letter I said sharply, ‘This is
stupid!’ After a moment of silence, the Pope said simply, ‘Yes, it’s
true, but who will tell him that?’<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> Then,</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>without a word, he went to the
chapel and remained there alone.”</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Grygiel said </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>John Paul II founded the Pontifical Institute for
Marriage and the Family because he knew that the fate of both the Church
and the world rests on those institutions. </b></span></p>
<p>*********</p>
<p><strong>Many intellectuals were dismissed from the Institute for
their reaction to the voices which were alternative to the tradition
they followed. Can these events be treated as a symbolic moment, a
tangible symptom of these transformations that the institutional Church
is giving in to?</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yes, they can. They can and we need to treat them as such. I’m
convinced that what happened to the Institute is linked to the changes
that might be introduced by the approaching Pan-Amazon Synod. We might
ask a question, “Can the Church, which has looked at man in the light of
the truth revealed in Christ, also look at man on almost the same level
in the light of local cultures (for example, the Amazon one) or should
the Church remain in an evangelical light and preach what it can see?”
The abolition of the John Paul II Institute became a sign that revealed
the thoughts of many hearts. Some professors have been removed from the
Institute, some professors who read Amoris Laetitia in the light of the
faith of the Church rooted in the Gospel and Tradition, and not, as
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna demanded in his discussion with
Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, read the Tradition present in the teaching of
the previous popes in the light of that document. It is in the name of
Tradition that both ways of journeying towards the truth are important
in the Church. As a result of reading the revealed truth about man only
in the light of today’s here and now, it is very easy to descend to the
level of flattering those truths that one’s career depends on. When
Christ says that whoever leaves his wife and lives with another woman
commits adultery, no interpretation by even the cleverest theologian or
minister can change the meaning of the word “whoever”. If we say that in
this or that case someone does not commit adultery, because he is
justified by this or that, it means that at the same time, we say that
Christ didn’t know what he was saying, because he didn’t know what is
inside a human being. He should have asked other people. But St. John
says that Christ “knew all people” and didn’t have to ask anyone (Jn
2.25). According to the imperious voice of today’s followers of
situational ethics and pseudo-Ignatian discernment, Christ didn’t know
what was hidden in every man, because for example, He didn’t know what
was hidden in the man with a clear conscience who was living in his
second or third pseudo-marital union … So Christ wasn’t God. Someone
very important in the Church today has already dared to say that Christ
became God only after the moment of His death.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>August 29, 2019 correction:</strong> <em>An earlier version
of this report stated that Grygiel made his comments to Polonia
Christiana’s Hanna Nowak whereas they were made to Teologia Polityczna's
Hanna Nowak. This has now been corrected. </em></p>
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