MEETINGS IN MUNICH SENDING SHIVERS UP OUR BISHOPS' SPINES

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New Zealand's Catholic Bishops must be biting their nails: with the publication of Emeritus Pope Benedict's book defending the age-old Church Tradition of priestly celibacy, in collaboration with Cardinal Robert Sarah, all hell you might well say, has broken loose.

It's the timing of the book, Des Profondeurs de nos Coeurs (From the Depths of our Hearts) as much as its contents, that makes it a cat in what should be the dovecote of the Vatican, as the Catholic world holds its collective breath, awaiting the post-synodal pronouncement of Pope Francis on this very subject. 

(It's said that actually the Pachamama uproar made a convenient smokescreen for the real biz at the 'Shamazon' Synod, i.e. the proposition that in certain parts of the world priests should be allowed to marry.)

NZ's liberal prelates, who you'd expect to be lining up behind Pope Francis with his expected confirmation of 'limited' exceptions to priestly celibacy, may be somewhat unnerved to find no less than a Pope Emeritus and a Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation and the Sacraments taking decided exception to the idea. 

Not to mention other highly-placed prelates emerging from the woodwork, like the former Primate of Belgium, Archbishop André Léonard - and Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who was forced into hiding after blowing the whistle on Pope Francis for sheltering the disgraced Cardinal McCarrick, and who emerged only yesterday in Munich, the episcopal seat of Cardinal Reinhard Marx, to stand alongside 100 lay people from around the world. Among them were luminaries Michael Matt of The Remnant Newspaper, scholar and historian Professor Roberto de Mattei and John Henry Westen of Lifesitenews, and Alexander Tschugguel (the guy who threw the Pachamamas into the Tiber).

These one hundred (the Acies Ordinata) stood together before the Theatinerkirche in the centre of Munich to call the angels to their aid, and to sing a moving - and surprisingly melodious - rendition of the Catholic Credo before stating that the consequence of the 'synodal path' can only be the constitution of a church separate from Rome'. 

The Acies Ordinata maintain that the German bishops, if they follow the 'synodal way' to its logical end will have to take responsibility for a formal schism, a schism which they say already exists. Amen to that.

https://onepeterfive.com/acies-ordinata-munich-edition-an-interview-with-roberto-de-mattei/

Der Synodaler Weg ('the Synodal Way'), a creature of Cardinal Marx and his bishops - except for only two dissenters, Archbishop Rudolf Voderholzer and Cardinal Rainer Woelki - will burst into full flower on January 30, demanding a change of Church teaching on sexual morality, admission of women to eccelesiastical ministries, marriage for priests and the blessing of homosexual couples, 

FSSPX News says that "The People of God in Germany are now embarking on risky venture ...without a legitimate convening, but with the tacit approval of Francis. The clergy and the laity are meeting outside of any canonical rule to discuss subjects that go far beyond the competence of their council. They bring in their boxes of texts—the working documents of the forums—which are capable of reducing to nothing the divine constitution of the Church and the morals of Jesus Christ."

Cardinal Ludwig Muller has stated that “the ‘German Church’ is claiming hegemony over the Universal Church and proudly and arrogantly boasting of being the one who decides the direction that a Christianity at peace with modernity ought to take.”

Catholics in Germany (like all Germans who register as Protestants and Jews - such Teutonic thoroughness, imagine New Zild imposing a tax on religious affiliation) are taxed to support their Church, which goes a long way towards explaining why the Amazon Synod garnered such support and headlines: German euros, darling. It was mostly German money and German theology which got the Amazon Synod to where it is today. 

And this very day, Roberto de Mattei appealed to German Catholics to refuse to pay the Kirchensteuer (tax). But the snag is, to be exempted from the tax you must officially apostatize - it's called Kirchenaustritt - which means you are officially excommunicated. Not that the German Bishops' Conference actually pronounces that nasty word, but any Catholic in Germany who won't stump up to support their liberal shenanigans is denied the Sacraments and a Catholic funeral. (Reminds me of "We have vays of making you (talk) pay!")

According to der Synodaler Weg ('the Synodal Way'), divorced and remarried Catholics in Germany who pay the Kirchensteuer may receive the Sacraments, but practising Catholics who refuse to pay the tax (what if they can't afford it?) are, says de Mattei, "rigorously excluded from the sacramental life of the Church. 

("We have vays of making you pay!") 

"Heretics and notorious schismatics, including priests and bishops, are not sanctioned, while the punishment of excommunication is applied to an act that, even in the worst cases, qualifies merely as an act of lay disobedience, against which can law provides no punishment."
https://gloria.tv/post/CVUvffK1FiSK41BqrNrPskwD8

I don't subscribe to the views of NovusOrdoWatch, but I can't quarrel with this statement today:

"Where is the German Bishops’ Conference going? What will the consequences be in the life of the Church of the “synodal path”  initiated by Cardinal Reinhard Marx in the Munich Cathedral on December 1, 2019? 

"Considering the ideological convictions and public declarations of many German bishops, we have no doubt about the answer: the end result of the synodal path can only be the constitution of a church separate from Rome."
https://novusordowatch.org/2020/01/international-protest-munich-announced/

Do our NZ Bishops, in their mild Clark Kentish way, really want to align themselves with the German revolutionaries, and come out as the Superbishops of the South Pacific? Do they really?

Or are they pinning their hopes on Pope Francis' famous Fabian* tactics? The Pope Incumbent has spoken against marriage for the priesthood, but good Jesuit that he is, he knows he has time on his side (barring accidents and assassinations) and our bishops could reasonably hope for exceptions to be made, for priests in the Amazon of course, with their German backing - or the Pacific. 

Watch out.  On Sunday, after his holiday in Taupo, my PP couldn't wait even till homily time to tell us how at Mass in Taupo their Monsignor Trevor Murray had taken a back seat while a woman delivered her 'Reflections' (on the day's readings, were they, or on something more esoteric, like preserving hydrangea blooms - or her next-door neighbour's latest abortion, perhaps?) 

It's all because, you know, that we're so short of priests. Monsignor Murray's just practising for the day he's not there any more, getting his congregation used to lay men and women in the pulpit - married men and women probably - so that eventually, the emergence of a priest who happens to be married will seem a natural progression. Or an act of God.

Pope Francis is a Jesuit. He's never going to be caught out with an outright denial of Church doctrine so long-established as clerical celibacy. No, but he could just wait a bit, while the Germans forge ahead with their schism and allow priests to marry. Just like the Dutch forged ahead with Communion in the hand 50 years ago, and then the Canadians got it into their pretty heads to do likewise. 

We should turn to today's St Fabian*, a layman and a farmer who around the year 200 AD went into Rome one day just as the clergy and lay were electing their next pope. 

According to the Church historian Eusebius, a dove flying by settled on the head of the farmer Fabian, a sign uniting votes of priests and people who elected Fabian unanimously. He governed the Church for 14 years until his martyrdom under the Emperor Decius. St Cyprian wrote to his successor describing Fabian as an 'incomparable' man whose glory in death matched the holiness and purity of his life.

In the catacombs of St Callistus the stone which ornamented his grave can still be seen, broken into four pieces and bearing the Greek words,

"Fabian, Bishop, Martyr."

Please pray for the Church.

Bob Gill says: The German synodal path must surely lead to a suicidal path for the Church as a whole. May Our Lady, Mother of the Church,  pray for us!

Peter Brockhill says:

Very well put, Julia. It's as though Church teaching is being marched off to the arena to be torn apart by the wild beasts for the amusement and gratification of the crowd. This does not augur well for those who follow those teachings. 
I think that, like the early Christians, songs of praise and thanks to God can rise in our hearts because we know the immeasurable love of Jesus Christ Our Lord and are honoured and happy to go where He has gone before. God bless.

Sharon Crooks says:
That's very well put, too!