world-wide. | Into Stillness

John Bosco’s Prophecy (Part II): The Synod at the Crossroads

by Fr. Regis Scanlon, O.F.M.Cap.

Today’s world-wide conflict between the Church and secular society over the family has been anticipated and even prophesied — both by John Bosco’s dream in 1862 (see my previous post, Oct. 1, 2015), and by the powerful encyclical, Humanae Vitae, issued by Pope Paul VI in 1968.

Bishops against bishops, cardinals against cardinals? Worldwide conflict? Who expected this instability to explode in our own day and even enter the heart of the Church at her highest levels. But it has begun. Today at the October 2015 Synod in Rome, bishops and cardinals are sharply divided and challenging one another over the very meaning of marriage, human sexuality, and the family.

Even before the Synod, Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany championed the reception of Holy Communion for the civilly divorced and remarried in certain cases, and also said that we should honor homosexual relationships which last –and recognize “elements of the good” in them.

If that wasn’t startling enough, the “Kasper Proposal” uncovered a lot of hidden approval among the bishops: Archbishop Blase Cupich, recently appointed to the influential Archdiocese of Chicago stated : “If people come to a decision in good conscience then our job is to help them move forward and to respect that. ” And he said: “It’s for everybody”. But, does he mean this “everybody” to Include racists and pedophiles? Apparently this means that communion is open to all as long as they are following their conscience—and only they know that.

This is truly a rupture of belief among the hierarchy. Consider that at the very opening of the Synod Cardinal Peter Erdo stated that the push to permit the civilly divorce and remarried to be able to receive Holy Communion is “a pressure with no foundation.” In other words it is a closed question.

Cardinal Erdo’s statement met with complete resistance from other bishops: Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli and Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher responded by saying that giving communion to the civilly divorced and remarried was still an “open question.”

This is truly a chasm between Church teaching and the push to re-fashion the Church to reflect the modern world, which is the exact opposite of the advice given to the Christian by St. Paul who urged: “Do not be conformed to this world”