Synod Recap

S01EP5_Synod-Recap

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome everybody. Thank you for joining me. This is the Catholic Adventurer. And you are listening to the Catholic Experience live on X Facebook and on YouTube or on demand throughout our many and varied distribution channels. Thank you very much for joining me. I’m very excited that you are.

[00:00:22] Today, you know, this, this intro is so smooth and so slick you would swear I’ve done it before. But I haven’t. I haven’t done it before. Check it out. Check out how smooth and slick it is. It almost sounds rehearsed. Today I’m talking to you about a Synod recap or the recap of the Synod. Whole lot of drama.

[00:00:39] and anxiety surrounding the Synod, um, really since, uh, since it all began, um, it’s been months of drama and anxiety and worry and fear. And I’m not saying that’s, that’s ridiculous. It’s understandable. And I have all the whole time I’ve been saying, relax, relax, relax. We don’t know what’s going to happen.

[00:01:02] Very likely everything will be all right. Just relax. Now the Synod has, has wrapped up. At least the Synod on Synodality has wrapped up. Which, to me, sounds like a meeting about a meeting. Let’s have a meeting to discuss the meeting we’re going to have in, in a month. Uh, that’s what it sounds like to me, but whatever.

[00:01:25] So far, so good. So what happened? What came out of the Synod? And what should we take from that? What should we take from that? So I’m going to be talking about that. with you today. I’m also going to be taking your live calls at 888 546 4656. So, we’re going to talk a little bit about what came out of the Synod and my thoughts.

[00:01:50] Some of it is a little bit, some of it is a little bit silly. Most of it is, is actually pretty fine. Some of the stuff, maybe a lot of the things that are actually pretty fine, are things that might still worry you. But I want you to please hear what I have to offer and consider what I’m going to tell you.

[00:02:12] And then maybe I’ll put your fears to rest on some of the things that sound stu Some of the things that I saw in there, you know, on first reading, immediately sounded ridiculous. Not ridiculous, but, well, some of it did sound ridiculous. A lot of it sounded silly. Um, after a few seconds of reflection, I realized, you know what, that’s actually not so bad.

[00:02:34] So, hear me out as we go through this. I’m going to be, I’m going to base this episode on taking prompts from articles by Catholic News Agency. And I will leave links to those articles on this show’s, this episode’s on demand description page, show notes, whatever. So if you’d like to read the articles yourself, and I always encourage people to do that, wherever you’re finding this, you’re going to find the links there.

[00:03:03] All right? Once again, thank you for joining me. If you’re catching me live, you’ll find me on Twitter slash X at ForTheQueenBVM, and you’ll find me on Facebook and YouTube at Catholic Adventurer. Okay, let’s rock and roll. First up, The Vatican releases Synod on Synodality report proposing larger role for laity in church by Catholic News Agency, written by Courtney, it looks like it’s either Mayers or Maris.

[00:03:39] The Vatican released the Synod on Synodality’s synthesis report on Saturday night, outlining key proposals discussed during the nearly month long assembly’s confidential conversations. The highly anticipated text was approved paragraph by paragraph, which for the first time, uh, and by 344 Senate delegates, which for the first time included women and other non bishops as voting members.

[00:04:07] So this is the first thing that upset people, and I kind of can’t blame them, but I see where the church is going with this. It upset people that there are individuals. Or groups of individuals determining the forward path of the Catholic Church. And they aren’t even priests, some of them. They aren’t priests or bishops.

[00:04:33] The Synod calls them experts. Experts invited to attend the Synod and overseen by a commission of 13 Synod delegates. Experts. What makes them experts? Who knows? So, what makes them experts? God only knows. Maybe some of them are. Uh, uh, I, I doubt it. You know, what makes it Look, [00:05:00] I might be considered an expert.

[00:05:02] Right? Maybe they should have invited me to the Synod. But no, I don’t think so. Because I know that I’m not. I don’t have the expertise to participate in this. But whatever. I’m just one person. What do I know? The document The synthesis of the assembly’s work proposes a synodal church or synodal church that implements synodality throughout church governance, theology, mission, and discernment of doctrine and pastoral issues.

[00:05:33] What this immediately sounds like to me is Protestantism. That’s what this sounds like to me right away. Right away. Let me read it again. The text was approved, sorry, the document. The synthesis of the assembly’s work proposes a synodal church that implements synodality throughout church governance. So I don’t think they’re turning, I don’t think they’re proposing to turn the church into a democracy, but it’s pretty damn close.

[00:06:01] This sounds to me like the church will be governed by the parish council. The parish council or the local, the local pastoral council or, or liturgical council at your local parish, which sometimes there are good people on there. Oftentimes there aren’t. Oh my goodness. I’ve been on two of them. I was there for like maybe a month on each of them and I just couldn’t take it.

[00:06:29] I really just couldn’t take it. Actually one of them, I couldn’t take it. The other one, I was uninvited. I guess I was doing something right. I don’t know. So this whole, I’m fearful of what synodality, quote unquote, synodality becomes going forward. So that’s why that phrase kind of makes me scratch my head.

[00:06:51] The 42 page text released by the Vatican covers 20 topics from the dignity of women to the

[00:07:02] Matters for, so let me paraphrase. Each topic, I guess, had three categories. Convergences, I guess where the, the people in the groups agreed. Matters for consideration, where, so these were things that they disagreed on. Right, but they didn’t squash them, they just said matters for consideration, I guess, you know, in the future.

[00:07:24] And. The third category, proposals, things that they were suggesting we do in the church. More than 80 proposals were approved in the Synod vote, including establishing, now these are proposals folks, these are not, um, declarations, they’re proposals. More than 80 proposals approved in the Synod, including establishing a new, quote, baptismal ministry of listening and accompaniment.

[00:07:51] Throughout this whole thing, folks, I’m I’m seeing a lot of weird language. A baptismal ministry of listening and accompaniment? However, the reason I point it out especially is because we do hear a lot of listening, listening, listening in this. And I actually like that. I actually like that. And I think by the time we get, by the time I explain it to you, I think you’re going to like it too.

[00:08:17] But just roll with me. Establishing a new baptismal ministry of listening. It just sounds like some weird government ministry in like a 1984 book. Baptismal ministry of listening and accompaniment. Initiating discern Again, it’s going through proposals. So another one. Initiating, discerning, uh, discernment processes regarding the decentralization of the church.

[00:08:44] Again, sounds like Protestantism to me. And strengthening the Council of Cardinals into a synodal council at the service of the Petrine Ministry. So we want to establish something called the College of Cardinals? Is that what you’re saying? Or we want to establish a synodal council at the service of the Petrine Ministry and call it the Magisterium of the Church?

[00:09:09] Uh, or is the Council of Cardinals going to include Non cardinals, but because they’re operating or, or I guess participating with the blessing or authority of the cardinals that they’re working for. Will they be considered voting members of this council of cardinals even though they aren’t cardinals?

[00:09:32] It just seems, again, I don’t want to give you, I don’t think there’s reason to be concerned. I just think there are things in this that sound silly. Just silly. But it’s only a synod on synodality. We haven’t gotten to the synod on synodality for synodism. We haven’t gotten to that one yet. Or the synod on synodality of synodism for collegiality under the Petrae [00:10:00] ministry.

[00:10:00] That one has yet to happen. That’s about three years away. So don’t worry. There’s really nothing to worry about yet. And joking aside, there really isn’t. The document also encourages churches to experiment with conversion in spirit. Here’s more of that language that is just weird to me. The document encourages churches to experiment with conversion in the spirit, and, and, and this is a hyphenated term.

[00:10:23] Listening and reflection. Quote unquote, conversion in the spirit, and hyphenated, listening and reflection. The listening and reflection method. The Synod’s delegates have used in their deliberations this month. I don’t know what this conversation, I think I might have said conversion before, that was an accident.

[00:10:46] I don’t know what this conversation of the Spirit is. Uh, how do you know the Spirit is guiding you? Uh, how can you know that? Um, but whatever. But here again we’re hearing listening and reflection. It’s a silly term, listening and reflection method. But, whatever. Normal people just call that listening. But I guess the College of Cardinals, or I guess the Synod participants decided to call it the listening and reflection method.

[00:11:14] Absent from the summary report are definitive conclusions on same sex blessings, women’s ordination, and a handful of other hot button topics that have drawn the lion’s share of media attention during this year’s assembly. I thought that was very interesting and encouraging that, um, These things that the media, including Catholic media, have been focused on didn’t actually, didn’t actually come to a head.

[00:11:39] They were discussed. They were discussed, but there was no convergence on them. There were some proposals, which we’ll get to in a second, but there was no, there was nothing that says from now on women can be priests, from now on we can bless any, any relationship. Be it sacramentally, sacramental marriage or not, there was nothing like that.

[00:12:02] Throughout the document, areas of disagreement among Synod participants are listed as matters of consideration. Among them are women’s access to diaconal ministry, priestly celibacy, Eucharistic hospitality, there’s more weird wording. What is Eucharistic hospitality? Well, it’s something, I guess, being proposed, or not proposed, it’s something being considered for interfaith couples.

[00:12:27] So, if the husband is Catholic and the wife is Jewish, um, it sounds to me like they’re considering letting the wife receive communion. Let me pause for a second and talk about that. The Holy Communion is very important. If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you and you won’t be, uh, raised up on the last day.

[00:12:50] Communion is really, really very important, my friends, really very important. But, I mean, it is what it is, right? Discern carefully your worthiness before receiving the bread and the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. That’s what St. Paul said, discern carefully. So, I don’t know about this Eucharist. Again, it’s only a matter of consideration, it’s not a proposal.

[00:13:18] They can, they can have a million matters of consideration. Another matter of consideration is whether or not aliens have human souls. Do Martians have human souls? It’s a matter of consideration. They can consider everything, anything that they want. So, don’t be worried about this. Another matter of consideration is gender fluid.

[00:13:37] Matter of consideration. That’s not the Synod saying that it is fluid. That’s not the Synod making a proposal. That’s not the Synod saying, yes, Martians have human souls. The Synod isn’t saying anything. These are things that are disagreed on and they’re proposing discussing them, um, um, further going forward.

[00:13:53] That’s all that that is. So this Eucharistic hospitality is, is one of them. Um, listen, if, if you’re not Catholic, you can’t receive Holy Communion. It’s pretty simple. It’s pretty simple. If you’re not in a state of grace, you shouldn’t receive Holy Communion. Often that’s, that’s an issue between a person and their confessor, but if they had a confessor then they would be in a state of grace and we wouldn’t have, be having this conversation at all.

[00:14:19] So then it becomes an issue between the person and God. But folks, if someone is not in a state of grace, they cannot receive, so I understand, so in some cases the church might propose, you know what, this person needs the grace of the Holy Eucharist in order to get to where God. wants them to be and where God teaches them to be through the church.

[00:14:42] Oh, okay. Yes, there’s tremendous grace in Holy Communion, but if a person is not in a state of grace, they’re not going to receive those graces. You have to be in a state of grace in order to receive graces. I think a person outside of a state of grace, and this is me talking, don’t take this as Catholic doctrine.

[00:14:58] I think a person outside of a state of [00:15:00] grace can receive exceptional graces, but I think they only receive those graces, first of all, out of tremendous generosity from God. Okay, and they receive those graces only to the objective, toward the objective of getting them into a proper state of grace. That’s it.

[00:15:19] Written by, going back to the article, written by experts, quote unquote experts, invited to attend the Synod and overseen by a commission of 13 delegates, the text says it aims to be a quote, tool at the service of ongoing discernment. Whatever. It is divided into three main sections on the elements of Synodal Church, Participation and blah blah blah.

[00:15:41] Let’s get to the next article. So this next article, and again if you want to read the full article, look for the links in this episode’s description slash show notes and you’ll find them there. Actually, before I get to the next article, let me take a quick sip and take a quick breath and say hello and welcome to those of you catching me live on X, YouTube, and on Facebook.

[00:16:04] Thank you very much for joining me. I hope you’re enjoying the show so far. So I wish I could say it’s been uneventful, but it has not been. But if you’re catching it on demand, you’re never going to know that because I’ve edited it out. If you’re catching me on Facebook, you’re doing so. At ForTheQueenBVM, if you’re not catching me there, or if you’re not following me, please consider following me, ForTheQueenBVM on X.

[00:16:26] I think I might have said Facebook before, that was an accident. On X, ForTheQueenBVM. Usually I’m very active there, this week has not been a very active week, I’ve been so busy. But usually I’m very active there, that’s where I do most of my, most of my social media ing, I do on X. Try to post stuff that’s edifying, inspiring.

[00:16:45] Going forward also, I’m going to try to do, put some things up on social media that have little or nothing to do with Catholicism at all. I want to have a little bit of fun here, um, and because, you know, when I started on social media, I was a blogger, so I tried to keep the, I tried to keep my social feed pretty much, I guess, official, maybe you’d call it that, um, I don’t know, dressed, I don’t know what you would call it.

[00:17:13] Lately I’ve been thinking, you know what, maybe I can just put some things there that are just fun for people. What’s wrong with that? You know? So for instance, last night I posted something, What’s your favorite Halloween movie? Um, either for it’s fright factor or it’s entertainment value. And then I posted the title and some screen captures of my favorite Halloween movie.

[00:17:36] That’s all. I’m not going to be posting pictures of my breakfast. You know, I’m certainly not going to be posting updates on my personal life. Hell no. I’ve got a wife, I’ve got children, it is nobody’s business what I am up to. Because I’m not, you know, by myself, I have my whole family to protect, so. But I’m gonna have a little bit more fun on the socials.

[00:17:58] You know, something fun, some fun stuff that’s appropriate, you know, for a Catholic audience. And really appropriate for all audiences. At forthequeenbvm. You’ll find me there under that name on X and on Instagram on Facebook. You’ll find me and Facebook and YouTube. You’ll find me at Catholic adventurer.

[00:18:18] Oh, I have a pretty nifty announcement to make which I’m gonna get back to the article now I’ll make the I’ll make the announcement later in the show if I forget somebody raise your hand and tell me If you would like to share your thoughts, opinions, if you have a question, consider picking up a phone 888 546 4656.

[00:18:43] Give me a call. It’s on me. What do you care? Next article. Synod on Synodality 2023. Final report calls for greater co responsibility. In church. Again, I, I, I speak English, so I can figure out what they mean by co responsibility, but that is just a weird phrase. It’s just weird wording. All of this is weird wording.

[00:19:07] Whatever. That’s my, that’s my big negative, I have a lot of positive takeaways, but that’s my big negative takeaway is these weird phrases. The Vatican’s nearly month long synod on, oh, by the way, this is also on Catholic News Agency, written by Jonathan Liedl. The Vatican’s nearly month long Synod on Synodality Assembly convened by Pope Francis concluded this evening with members approving an ambitious text calling for greater co responsibility among all believers in the evangelizing mission of the Church and proposing concrete reforms to achieve it.

[00:19:43] Okay, so basically they’re, they’re proposing that we remember Vatican II. That’s basically what I’m hearing there, because Vatican II has already said that. And not the exact same words, but Vatican II already exhorts the faithful, the [00:20:00] laity, to have greater participation in the evangelization mission of the Church.

[00:20:04] That’s not new. Um, we also have it, I don’t remember if it was an exhortation or a letter, or just a verbal, from John Paul II, when he was Pope. Um, where he encouraged us to, you know, evangelize the gospel. He called it like a new evangelization to evangelize the gospel. Not, not a different gospel, but with new zeal, new vigor, new techniques, new media, and so on.

[00:20:32] So, okay. I, so, all right. So this is basically a sequel, uh, to, uh, to what Vatican II has already said. Greater co responsibility among all believers. In the evangelizing mission of the church, entitled A Synodal Church in Mission, the 42 page summary report included notable proposals to establish new ministries for the laity, increase lay involvement in decision making, create processes to evaluate bishops performance of their ministry, that might not be so bad, change the way the church discerns controversial issues, and, Expand the footprint of Sinal assemblies going forward.

[00:21:20] The exercise of co-responsibility is essential for ality and is necessary at all levels of the church. Every Christian is a mission in the world. The document also repeatedly sought to ground ality in scripture tradition and the teaching of Vatican ii. All of that makes sense to me. While also affirming, by the way, let me just highlight that.

[00:21:45] The document repeatedly sought to ground synodality in scripture, tradition, and the teaching of Vatican II. So double edged sword, I guess, for traditionalists that it has tradition in there, but it also has Vatican II in there. But I think that’s all great. So, for those who were worried about this, understand that.

[00:22:09] Let me repeat it. The document repeatedly sought to ground synodality in Scripture, that’s a good thing, tradition, that’s a good thing, and the teaching of Vatican II, that’s also a good thing because it is the work of the Holy Spirit. While also affirming the need to further develop the often misunderstood concept itself.

[00:22:31] And apply it more deeply to the church’s theology and canon law. I guess they’re talking about synodality there. Fast forwarding. The controversial issues. The final document was provided to members earlier today, after writers attempted to incorporate proposed amendments, yada, yada, yada. After the final vote, Pope Francis, yada, yada, fast forwarding again.

[00:22:50] Synodal structures and decision making. Perhaps the Synod’s most significant concrete proposals came in the form of calls for changes in ecclesial decision making in the expansion of synodal assemblies and bodies in the life of the church. So they want more people to be involved in the decision making processes of the church.

[00:23:10] That might not be a bad thing. Let me talk to you for a second about this listening component. Listening, especially, now I, I, I don’t think the church should be a democracy, but I think the church often and for a long time gets away with murder because there is no mechanism for, for the laity to speak and for the church to hear us out.

[00:23:37] I’ll give you an example of why that’s so frustrating. As someone who is very active on Twitter, across more than one account. Um, and I’ve been on Twitter for, you know, since, since Twitter launched, okay? I’ve been interfacing with Twitter. I can’t tell you how frustrating that is. It is so frustrating.

[00:23:58] Because Um Whenever something goes wrong, you know, Twitter’s involved in a lot of stuff, okay? It has ad revenue sharing, it has a subscription model, used to be called Twitter Blue, now I think it’s called, I forget, who cares. Um, so ad revenue sharing, subscription model. You’re able, as a creator, you’re able to apply to have subscribers of your own.

[00:24:28] Right? So if I apply for that, and it gets approved, I’m able to have people subscribe to my tweets. It’s, it’s the same Twitter. It’s everything that you can already do on Twitter, except you can do special stuff that only your subscribers see. I applied for that a month ago, over a month ago. It is still waiting to be reviewed.

[00:24:49] So, Twitter is, is involved in a lot of stuff. And even if you don’t get involved in any of that, Okay, Twitter is pretty, you know, Twitter is pretty active. Even an average [00:25:00] mem, an average user sometimes needs to reach out for help. Right, I can’t log in. I’ve tried everything. And I can’t log in. I didn’t get the password reset email or whatever.

[00:25:13] This happened to me, oh man, might have been a year ago. A year or so ago. Um, and my password wasn’t, it’s a long story. Anyway, Twitter’s password reset mechanisms. We’re not working. No one was answering my email, my calls for help over email. There’s no one to reach out to when you have a problem. You know, the, I keep saying Twitter, but we all know that’s X, right?

[00:25:37] Okay. So, X is involved with so much stuff, and if you’re really involved in that all, like for me, I have the, you know, Twitter Premium, formerly Twitter Blue. I, I’ve subscribed. I applied to be, um, to be a creator with subscriptions. Uh, I have more than one account. Um, I’m able to advertise and so on and so on.

[00:25:59] So someone like me who’s, who’s really involved in everything that X offers. When I, I’m, someone like me is most likely to need a little assistance. Because when you’re that involved, something, many things are bound to go wrong. And many things do. I still have trouble live streaming on the Dialogue FM’s account.

[00:26:24] The dial at the Dialogue FM. A Catholic and an Atheist square off in friendly dialogue and soft soft debate at the Dialogue FM. I still have issues with that. More than one. I still haven’t had my application reviewed to become, um, a Twitter creator to get subscriptions. Um, so on and so on. I have problems all the ti Every day I’m running into a bug or a Literally every day.

[00:26:54] A bug or a problem in my usage of X’s platform. Every day. Every day there’s one or two. Every single day. And there’s no way to get help. Because Twitter has no mechanism to actually listen to me and to people like me. There’s no mechanism. There is sort of a customer support thing, but it really isn’t. I call it customer, customer disservice.

[00:27:23] There’s no mechanism when you need help. Now let’s take that to the church. The church, it’s not rare that the church hurts people. And I don’t just mean through sexual abuse. Sometimes it’s spiritual abuse. Sometimes, it’s financial abuse. Sometimes, it’s emotional abuse or assault. Sometimes, it’s sexual abuse or assault.

[00:27:47] Sometimes, it’s financial. Sometimes, it’s spiritual. It’s frustrating when, when there’s no, when X has all this involvement in your operation. But there’s no mechanism for X to listen to you when things go wrong or or you might be able to relate to this When there’s a feature that’s removed just because Elon Musk decided yeah, it’s not good enough or not enough people use it Maybe it’s a feature you really loved and used a lot Or feature that’s changed or a feature that’s added and is terrible and there’s no mechanism for X to listen to your feedback or input What about the church, when you’re very involved with the church?

[00:28:26] I don’t mean professionally, I mean at all. Spiritually, professionally, whatever. And there’s no mechanism for the church to listen to you, when something goes wrong, or when something is unjust. And there’s no mechanism for the church to listen to you. So, listening is a good thing. It’s good that the church that the Synod is proposing that there be more ways for the Church to listen.

[00:28:54] Because things are getting very, very hairy and complicated in the human order. Not just over the past, you know, year, but over the past couple of decades. You might say over the past 50 years. Things are getting complicated and difficult and really messy in the human order. And the Church It’s God’s beacon of truth and goodness on the earth.

[00:29:20] It’s the pillar and foundation of truth. It’s basically God’s ark. You’ve heard of Noah’s ark? The church is God’s ark. And the church is supposed to be bringing people into the ark to save their lives. Well that used to be a little bit easier to do when things in the human order weren’t so messy. When we weren’t talking about Highly, highly complicated marital issues.

[00:29:49] Divorced, remarried, remarried twice. Might have been an annulment, might not have been. Uh, I don’t know where my former husband is. We haven’t spoken in 30 years. How can I get [00:30:00] an annulment if, you know, I don’t even know where to find them and so on and so on. Or gender issues, or marriage issues, who can marry whom, and can the church bless this or that?

[00:30:10] This, this did not, this kind of thing did not exist in the past. Let’s say a hundred years ago, just to make it a clean number. Well, how does the church get people into the ark when things are so complicated in people’s lives, so complicated in the human order? Sometimes the church needs to listen. I’m not saying the church needs to become a democracy, but sometimes the church needs to listen.

[00:30:36] Because you’ve heard me say this, I don’t know, I think I’ve done five or six episodes of this podcast, you’ve heard me say it at least once in every episode, at least once in every episode, that the church does not have its finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the world. It absolutely does not. The church is still talking about new media.

[00:30:59] The church is still talking about it. We need to get on board new media. My friends, you’re 20 years too late. Maybe 15 if we’re being generous. You’re still talking about this? My goodness, how long has podcasting been around? You’re only now getting on board? In fact, most of the church will not get on board.

[00:31:20] Still. As if it’s brand new and they’re just waiting to see how it pans out. Have you seen your local parish website? Okay, now we’re talking about silly things, right? Websites are ugly or just badly formatted or they’re just completely useless. Or they, you know, the church doesn’t get into podcasts. Some of the church do.

[00:31:41] Look at, for instance, Ascension Presents, um, Mike Schmitz, Bishop Barron and so on. Some do, but most don’t. But what about more serious things like, um, like blessing same sex relationships? The church is really, I have a, I wouldn’t say a funny feeling, but my fear is the church may say, we cannot bless same sex relationships, but we will bless the individuals in those relationships and we’ll do it publicly so that they feel welcome.

[00:32:19] And so on. I understand the pastoral value of something like that, I really do. But I also understand that everyone will still regard that as a church wedding. In a different format. And the church seems oblivious to this. Oblivious. From the Vatican, to the chanceries, to the parishes. Well, maybe not most parishes, I think pastors.

[00:32:48] have their finger on the pulse a little bit more, but even, even many of them are really, really detached. The church, in my opinion, fails at, at keeping, keeping pace with the human order, with the culture. I’m not saying it’s good. I’m not saying it’s always bad. Sometimes that might be good. I don’t know, but my point is this.

[00:33:09] I think a church that listens, that listens, Instead of a church that just pretends to listen and really they’re just gonna do their own thing. I think a church that listens can be a good thing. I, it can be a risky thing. Don’t get me wrong. It can be risky depending on what you’re doing with that listening.

[00:33:25] It can be a risky thing, but I think it’s a good thing. Because, I, let me just move on. I, I really do think it’s a good thing. I, I really think the church needs to do more listening. Back to the article. Okay, third and final article. Actually, before I do that, before I get to the next article, let me take a moment to make a special announcement.

[00:33:47] Next week, Calcaine and I, the, we are the co host, for those who don’t know, we co host the show The Dialogue, which you will find on X and everywhere else, at The Dialogue FM. Calcaine and I are doing a special episode of The Dialogue, that, which we call, we will call the special episode. Socials Smackdown, where he and I will be going toe to toe on the topic of morality.

[00:34:17] Where does morality come from and how do you know? This has been coming up and coming up and coming up. Cal and I decided to do a show on it and take it a step further. We decided to make it a Social Smackdown. Socials Smackdown. It’s going to be live. Uh, there may or may not be call ins. Um, but we do want to interact with the audience, so we’re going to find some way, whether it, we say, if you want to chat or interact, go to YouTube, or whatever, or we may do call ins, I don’t know, I have to run that by Cal, I’m not the boss, we do this show together, so I have to run it by him, but there’s going to be interaction of some kind, it’s going to be the social smackdown, it’s going to be down and dirty, and already I want to pick up a phone and call him, and I want to already right now say, [00:35:00] listen, why do you believe this?

[00:35:03] This is stupid. And he wants to do the same thing to me, believe me. It’s going to be next week, the Socials Smackdown. We haven’t decided what day it’s going to be, but I suggest, I very seriously suggest, you follow our socials at TheDialogueFM on X, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Because when we schedule the show, We’re, we’re going to make the announcement there, and that is where we, those socials are where we will live, stream it, and that is where you’ll have to go, either to, to call in or to interact, however we choose to do interactions.

[00:35:37] The social SmackDown with me, yours truly, and Cal Kane co-hosts of the dialogue at the dialogue fm. You’ll also find us on our website. Um, on our website, the dialogue fm, the dialogue. It’s a fiat media podcast and you wouldn’t believe it, but the Catholic experience is also a fiat media podcast. And if you want to get on board this train, please follow fiat media on X or go to fiat.

[00:36:13] media and reach out, have them produce a podcast for thee all for thee. Okay. Third and final article. What does the Synod on Synodality document say about controversial issues? The Synod, I’m getting so tired of saying this. The Synod on Synodality, the month long assembly convened by, yada, yada, yada, did I just read this?

[00:36:42] No. 42 pages in Italian. Let me skip forward. Oh, there was something I did want to talk about on this. Among the proposals made by the Synod. At the Vatican, was the request for continued theological study of the possibility of women deacons. So this article is talking about what controversial issues were or weren’t covered.

[00:37:01] First on, on, on tap here, was this, the uh, theological, continued theological study of the possibility of women deacons. And for the results of such a study to be shared at the next session. Held in October 2024, a year from now. So, the church. Could do with some development of its, or some I guess, let’s just stick to the phrase.

[00:37:27] Theological study on the diaconate. The church in, in, in a lot of ways isn’t sure what to make of the diaconate, and the agents in the church will tell you that too. Deacons will tell you that. This is not just me. For instance, a permanent diaconate, what’s the point of that? I, I don’t understand the point.

[00:37:51] of that. What’s the theology behind it? What, what happens to a person’s soul ontologically when they receive holy orders and are ordained deacons? Is it similar to what happens for a priest? Is it not? Why or why not? And so on. But this idea of theological study of the possibility of women deacons, I think that was already done.

[00:38:18] Didn’t they do that in the nineties? I’ve kind of reme I’m sure they did this already. This has already been explored. I think it was in the 90s. Believe it or not. And, I also vaguely, not too vaguely, remember that female deacons in the church were They basically did baptisms. That’s basically what they did.

[00:38:45] That was most of what they did. Um, because this was a time during the church when people were baptized, uh, full immersion and in the nude. And, of course, it was improper for a bishop, who was a man, to baptize a woman fully nude. So they had female deacons to do that. That was most of their work. Other things that female deacons did We’re taken over by nuns, nuns do those, the education and things like that.

[00:39:17] Uh, I don’t understand a place for female deacons, I just don’t understand a place for female deacons. I just don’t. I mean, we have such a rich history of women who are active in the church’s ministry who were never deacons. They were nuns, they were consecrated virgins. They were theologians. They were parents.

[00:39:41] They were mothers. I don’t understand why are we wasting time talking about women deacons when they, when the female diaconate was not a success in the church at all. In fact, it proved to be highly unnecessary. So, okay, [00:40:00] again, this is a proposal, I think, that’s what it’s called. Conversion among the proposals.

[00:40:04] Yeah, it’s a proposal. So this is a proposal to continue, continue studying the theology of, now again, the theology surround, on the deaconate, it’s, it’s, the church itself admits it, it needs some growth there, on the deaconate in general. But the possibility of women deacons, you know what I would like? I would like a proposal.

[00:40:32] That studies the necessity of such a study. Why is this study even necessary? Why are we so locked on this? I don’t know either. Back to the article. For the first time in a synod, bishops, and laypeople, yada yada. The document also acknowledged that there were differing views among synod members. Of course.

[00:40:55] It said people who feel excluded, ah, people who feel excluded because of their sexuality or gender or gender identity want accompaniment and for the church to defend their dignity. Let me fast forward here to the gender identity part. Actually, let me, let me back up. I’m sorry. Remember I told you at the top of the show this is going to be a little bit out of order.

[00:41:19] Oh, by the way, if you want to call into the show and leave a comment, Or ask a question or give me your thoughts. The number to do that is, I have to get it back in front of me, I’m sorry, 888 546 4656. Again, 888 546 4656. If you’re catching this, um, on a video platform, X, YouTube, Facebook, Uh, you’ll see it there in the slate on the screen.

[00:41:46] You’ll see the number there, lower right hand corner. Okay. So let me back up for a second. Back to women’s participation. Let me continue with this little subsection in the article. In addition to asking for further theological study of the permanent diaconate and the possibility of access to the ministry by women, the Synod report proposed incorporating language more inclusive of women and women’s experiences in liturgical and other church texts.

[00:42:15] So in other words, the Synod is proposing that we pander to women because I guess That’s what, that’s, I guess that’s what the thing, what the Synod thinks women are worth, that they have to be pandered to. I personally think women are worth more than that. I don’t see why, I, hey, maybe it’s because I’m a man, but I don’t see language in, in the church being, um, gender exclusive.

[00:42:40] I, I, maybe I don’t see it because I’m a man and it’s all masculine, gendered, uh, language, or phrases, I, I, I don’t know. Um, more gender and incorporating language more inclusive of women and women’s experiences in liturgical and other church texts. I think the important thing that you want to represent there is Catholic experiences and that’s true whether they are male or female Catholics and I think that’s where the church is already at in its language.

[00:43:12] Catholic experiences in the liturgical and other church texts. I mean, we already say sisters and brothers, or brothers and sisters, depending on your celebrant. Right? I don’t understand. I just don’t. I see a lot of pandering in this synod document. I see an awful lot of pandering. I mean, just the question of female ordination to the priesthood is pandering, because everybody in the church knows you can’t do that.

[00:43:41] I mean, folks, they all know it. They all know it. They all know it, but they’re pandering. They want to, they want to appear to be listening and considering, okay, fine. It asked if, again, back to the article, it asked if new ministries are needed for women or if it’s adequate to create more space for women in existing ministries.

[00:44:03] It also proposed that women with proper training be allowed to be judges in church trials. It asked if new ministries, yada, yada, yada, I don’t know why there need to be new ministries or, or space. made for women in existing ministries. Since women are in every ministry everywhere I ever go. I was at mass this morning.

[00:44:21] Cross bearer was a woman. Eucharistic minister or extraordinary ministers, women. Collector, woman. The only man present was the priest. In most ministries and groups in, in parishes, it’s almost all women or entirely women. Parish councils, same thing. I, I don’t, it’s like women are the sole pillars in, in the church, because I don’t know where the hell the men are at.

[00:44:44] So, again, this makes me, this makes me feel like this is pandering, not taking it seriously, just pandering. The next section, gender identity. The report said, a point of convergence in the assembly was that some issues, such as [00:45:00] those related to gender identity, and sexual orientation, and the end of life, Difficult marital situations, ethical issues related to AI are controversial, not only in society, but also in the church.

[00:45:14] I agree. These are all controversial issues, not only in society, but in the church. Agree and agree. Because they raise new questions, agree again. They raise new questions. Let me, I’ll give you an example. I’ll touch on an example I made earlier. I’ll touch on an example I made earlier. So let’s say I get married in the church, and then I get divorced.

[00:45:41] And I never go to church again because I know because I’m divorced, um, I can’t go to church ever again. That’s not true, but a lot of Catholics, especially in recent past, believed that, that they can never go to church again. They get remarried because the situation is hopeless. They’re already, you know, excommunicated from the church, or so they believe.

[00:45:59] So they get remarried, civilly, or maybe in a Protestant church, I don’t know. But they get remarried. 30 years goes by, they learn about the church’s teaching on marriage, on, on reincorporation into the body of Christ. You know, you’re not, you don’t have to not come to church, you can still come to mass, but we have to get you to a place where you can receive Holy Communion.

[00:46:22] Okay, what does that mean? Well, we, you need to get an annulment. First of all, because the church doesn’t recognize, let’s say it’s a civil marriage. Church doesn’t recognize civil marriage. You need to have a sacramental marriage, but you cannot do that because technically you’re still married to your first husband or to your former husband.

[00:46:40] I don’t know how you would phrase that, but anyway, you need to be annulled. You need that to be annulled first. Well, I haven’t spoken to him in 30 years. Is he still alive? I have no idea. I think so, but I have no way of getting in touch with him. Well, how does such a person I think I started the example with me, and then the example became a woman.

[00:47:01] So, let’s say it’s a woman, in this case, not me. And, so, she can’t find her former husband. How does she get in touch, how does she get, how does she receive communion if she can’t even get in touch with her former husband? Right? Because an annulment involves both spouses. There’s no such thing as like an uncontested, I mean, I guess you can, there is an uncontested annulment, but the church still has to make an effort to reach out to both spouses.

[00:47:32] Then there need to be witnesses, right? After 30 years, there may not be witnesses available. They may have died. Their memories may have faded into nothingness. They may be impossible to get ahold of. Well, is this woman never going to be able to receive communion again? Despite her efforts and her intent, her deep hearted intent to do the right thing at this stage in her life, is she never going to be able to receive communion again?

[00:48:01] Controversial issue that raises new questions. Another controversial issue that raises new questions is gender. Now, here’s the thing on that. Gender is pretty clear. Gender is pretty clear. But the church has never been in a position where it had to ask, what, I mean, I have to be very careful as I phrase this, the church has never been in a position where it has had to ask, can someone’s gender, um, not be changed, but is it possible that someone could be born in the wrong body?

[00:48:38] I think 99 percent of quote unquote the church, doctrine, church thought, scripture, tradition, I think. And thought on this that has already taken place, which isn’t a lot, but it’s, it’s, it’s there. I think for the most part the church is gonna say, no, that’s impossible. But, the church has never been asked that question before.

[00:48:59] The church has this knowledge and understanding in general about genders, man and woman, he created them, and so on and so on, theology of the body and so forth. Right? The gender disposition of the soul, the body is a sign of the unseen gender, and yadda yadda yadda. The church has done plenty of thinking on related topics here, but the church has never been asked, can gender be changed, or can gender be wrong?

[00:49:31] Can a person’s gender be wrong? The church has never been asked that. So it raises new questions. I don’t think there’s any doubt what the answers will be. But the church has never directly been asked that. I’ll give you an example. Not, having nothing to do with gender. If someone commits suicide, will they go to hell?

[00:49:53] Well, a hundred years ago the church would have said yes. The church would have said yes a [00:50:00] hundred years ago. Or it might have gone further back than that, I don’t know. Today, the church will not say, yes, they’re going to hell. The church today, based on new science, new understanding of human psychology and psychoses and things like this, today the church will say, maybe, maybe not.

[00:50:19] It depends on their psychological health and disposition at the time that they committed the act. It could be a one way ticket to hell, and it may not be. It depends on, on their, their condition, their situation, you know, their, their, not their situation, their condition. Gender, I think, may be one of those things, not just gender specifically, but other controversial issues, may be one of those things where the church has never been asked this question about gender.

[00:50:48] This is the first time that the world is in a situation where it has to, where it is asking the church this question. Again, the, I don’t think the church I don’t think the church is ever going to say, Yes, gender can change. But I think what will happen is the church will say, based on our, on our, you know, our, not research, but our exploration of this issue, the science, the theology and so forth, we remain steadfast that gender cannot change, that everyone is born in the correct gender.

[00:51:21] Um, but we also recognize that sometimes gender, you know, people are confused about their genders. Um, we also recognize that, uh, gender, while not being fluid, is diverse, and that’s something that I say personally. But, I think there’s going to be some answers the church comes up with that it never had to explore before.

[00:51:43] But I think none of those answers will be, gender is fluid, gender can change, people can be in the wrong gender, and so on. I really don’t, I’m, I am so confident that’s not going to happen. But again, controversial issues raise new questions, because things are not simple and clean cut in the human order the way they used to be.

[00:52:03] Back to the article. It said anthropological categories are not always sufficient to cover the complexities of elements emerging from experience or knowledge in the sciences, and the Church should reflect and work on this. Quote, without giving in to simplifying judgments that hurt people and the body of the church.

[00:52:23] You want to bring people to truth without hurting them, but frankly, as long as people are fighting the truth, getting to it is going to hurt. That’s true for people who are living on the wrong side of the gospel, on the wrong side of doctrine, and for people who are at mass every week. Sometimes the truth hurts practicing Catholics too.

[00:52:44] And that’s just the way it is, and there is nothing you can do about that. The church can make efforts to be more pastoral. In fact, I have recognized this in my personal life. The church can make efforts to be more pastoral, right, to make it hurt less, but the church is never going to make it not hurt at all if the person is far away from the truth.

[00:53:09] Article continues, Church teaching can be translated into appropriate pastoral initiatives. This is maybe the last thing that I talk about this paragraph here. People who feel marginalized or excluded from the church because of their marital situation, identity and sexuality, ask to be heard and accompanied.

[00:53:26] This is the Synod talking, by the way. They ask to be heard and accompanied and their dignity be defended. Who is saying these things? Because this is not A bishop who went out and lived with the people and asked them questions about this, and then he came back and reported, Well, I’ve heard that people want to be accompanied and their dignity defended.

[00:53:49] I know there were diocesan level synods held, and there were, you know, surveys and things sent out to parishes distributing to the people. Um, but, you know, in that exchange, what you have is, So, the Vatican prompting the di the, the, the conferences, the conferences prompting the diocese, the diocese prompting their individual parishes, the parishes bringing it to the faithful.

[00:54:17] And how do the parishes bring it to the faithful? They bring it to church. Well, who is coming to church? It’s not secularists. It’s Catholics of varying degrees of devotedness, but it’s not secularists. Let’s go back to this question. People who feel marginalized or excluded from the church because of their marital situation, identity, and sexuality ask to be heard and accompanied, and their dignity be defended.

[00:54:47] I would like to know where they got that from, which people told you this. The reason, too, that I think it’s a little silly is the church is [00:55:00] offering accompaniment, but the church cannot force itself on others. The church is offering accompaniment. So, there’s that. And then, and their dignity be defended.

[00:55:12] Let me talk about this, and again, this will probably be the last thing I talk about. The church, all day, every day, is trying to defend the dignity of others. Not just the dignity of man, but the dignity of persons. Individual persons. I tell people all the time, never be cruel to others. Be they black, white, fudge ripple, gay, straight, somewhere in between, transgendered, not transgendered, something else.

[00:55:46] Never be cruel to people, because you may be their last reminder of their dignity. You could, by treating them well, and why do you treat them well? Because they’re creatures made in the image and likeness of God. They have dignity, right? By treating them well? You may be the only one reminding them of their dignity.

[00:56:10] Because other people treating them well may be treating them well for the wrong reasons. If I go around calling myself Superman, and I insist to be called Superman, and I will answer to no other name, and people wanting to give me what I want, what I ask for, call me Superman, they’re not remembering my dignity by calling me Superman.

[00:56:31] First, because I’m not from Krypton. Second, because I’m not a superhero. So, by pretending I have characteristics that I don’t actually possess, therefore, they’re allowing me, and they themselves are participating in, the forgetting of my dignity as who I truly am. By allowing me to pretend I have these characteristics, they assist me in forgetting about the characteristics I do possess, which have dignity and value and worth.

[00:57:06] These accomplices may be doing it for what they think are the right reasons, but they’re actually helping me to forget my dignity.

[00:57:15] So, I don’t understand this, their dignity defender. The church is always defending the dignity of persons and of, and of mankind. But what I think people are asking for is not accompaniment, but validation. They want their, their choices validated and elevated to the platform of truth. They do not want their dignity defended.

[00:57:44] They want their dignity to be what they want it to be. And they want the church to say, yes, it is that. That is exactly what your dignity is.

[00:57:55] Never be cruel to people. You might be the last to remind them of their dignity. And that may be the bridge that gets them to where God wants them to be. In his relationship with them This idea and their dignity be defended It sounds like the premise to that is that the church is not defending their dignity and I think that’s ridiculous eight eight eight five four six four six five six if you’d like to call into the show and have Your thoughts heard if you would like your dignity defended Eight eight eight five four six four six five six Give me a call.

[00:58:34] We’ll see what we can do

[00:58:38] So my closing thought on this, here’s what I take from this. Oh, um, I also want to talk for a second about a changing church. And I’ll tell, I’ll tell, actually let me, let me talk about that right now. Uh, because I said to someone I would bring that up. Someone on Twitter. So, Someone on Twitter, and I, and I really want to shout this woman out.

[00:59:02] Sophie Luther 83, not Twitter, X, whatever. Sophie Luther 83 on X. Um, I follow her. She follows me. She’s a Christian. I don’t know if she’s actually a chaplain or what doesn’t, doesn’t make a difference to me. It looks like NAFO chaplain, Christian satirist, friend of all faiths. The, you know how we actually got connected.

[00:59:24] She actually followed me first. And then I in turn followed her because I can, I can, I can be friends with everybody. She’s definitely of a liberal bent. You will notice that from her tweets. From her posts. Damn you Elon Musk for changing this freaking name. Definitely a liberal slash progressive bent politically.

[00:59:44] I guess theologically. Sometimes her theology is very balanced, you know, and centered. Um, but always she brings such She brings a dutiful and loving heart to what she posts. Sometimes she brings a little bit of anger. That’s okay, don’t we all? [01:00:00] It’s not a criticism. But she brings a dutiful and loving heart to the things she posts.

[01:00:03] I have to tell you this, and I hope she hears this. I, I am very happy to call that person my friend, even though we’ve never met beyond, you know, beyond these Twitter exchanges. Very kind person, funny. I’m very happy to call, call, uh, Chaplain Sophie Luther. Uh, my friend wanted to say that. So sometimes she’ll post a comment to things that I post.

[01:00:29] When I posted about the Synod on Synodality, as it winds down, we’re going to take a look at what we take from it, Sophie dropped a comment that goes like this, Every church is always changing. And that’s something that Catholics fear. Catholics fear the church might be changing. Let me tell you what I said to her, and then I’ll explain.

[01:00:52] Um, Okay. All right, every church is always changing. My response, not the Catholic Church. It’s important to recognize, though, that changing and growing are not the same things. It’s a detail that Catholics and non Catholics overlook or misunderstand. If I remember, I’ll talk about it for a minute or two on the live show, so here I am.

[01:01:12] Sometimes people misunderstand what growth means. Sometimes it does not mean change. You grew and developed from when you were five up until now, but you’re still you. You didn’t change. You grew a lot from five till now. You developed a lot from five till now, but you didn’t change. We euphemistically call that change, but it isn’t change, it’s development.

[01:01:40] You’re still you. The church does not change. It will not change. Folks, for Pete’s sake, if you believe in Jesus Christ and you believe in the Holy Spirit, stop being afraid that the church will change. The church is not changing, period. I’ve been telling people for months, stop worrying about the Synod.

[01:02:02] Stop worrying about the Synod. Stop worrying about the Synod. And people have been calling for my head, because I’m telling them to stop worrying about the Synod and to have faith in the Spirit’s guidance of the Holy Catholic Church. And I’m the one who’s wrong. Sure enough, the Synod on Synodality, I understand that there’s more Synodding to go, but the Synod on Synodality that everyone was so worried about is concluding, and there’s nothing earth shattering whatsoever coming out of it.

[01:02:30] If you believe in Jesus Christ, if you believe in what He said, if you believe in the Holy Spirit, stop worrying that the church will change. But do be prepared. Do be prepared for the possibility that it will grow and develop, because it always has, my friends, for 2, 000 years it has. And it will continue to grow and to develop.

[01:02:56] That doesn’t mean it will change. There may be, the church may develop its guidelines on who can and cannot receive Holy Communion. I don’t think you’re going to see interfaith marriages. Where both spouses are permitted to receive communion. I really don’t think so. Um, Divorced and remarried Catholics, it’s a, it’s a remote possibility that certain, certain people under certain circumstances are permitted publicly or privately to receive Holy Communion.

[01:03:33] Again, my friends, Holy Communion is so important. What does a person do When they want to do the right thing and they’re literally not able to. They haven’t been in touch with their former spouse for 30 years or the witnesses are all dead. I don’t know. People are in really, really, really complicated situations, some of them.

[01:03:54] My fear is that we will apply these, some more relaxed rules intended for people in very complicated situations. My fear is that On the local level, there will be priests or bishops who will apply those Moral Acts rules universally, and that would be wrong. But that would be on the bishop or priest. That is not on the church.

[01:04:16] And that’ll be another hurdle we’ll have to clear when we get there. What can I tell you? But, please, stop being in fear that the church will change. It will not. And anyone who doesn’t like what the church teaches, if you’re listening to this right now, I don’t know why you are, but thank you for listening.

[01:04:31] Anyone who has a problem with what the church teaches, I have to tell you that the church is never going to stop teaching it. If it’s doctrine, if it’s doctrinal. If it’s doctrinal. You might see, uh, clergy, you might see priests getting married. That’s not doctrine. That’s a discipline. But what the church teaches, the church will always teach, because the church teaches what God teaches.

[01:04:50] God is reality. Reality doesn’t change, and God doesn’t change His mind. That’s it. Simple. The church doesn’t change. [01:05:00] Folks, relax. The church is not going to change. It may grow in some ways and develop in some ways but it’s not going to change. If you believe in Jesus Christ and you believe in the Holy Spirit, please, for Pete’s sake, stop worrying about it.

[01:05:14] Just grow in holiness. Just, please, work on growing in holiness. That’s hard enough. Just do that. And God will be very pleased with you. My closing thought on all of this, and wow, did this go a lot longer than I wanted to, by the way, this is your last opportunity to place a phone call and share your thoughts.

[01:05:32] Ask a question, whatever. 888 546 4656. 888 546 4656. One of the benefits of this show is by the time I’m done with it, I will absolutely have this number committed to memory. I’m saying it so much. 888 546 4656. So, let’s take you out of here with this last thought. What I, I did see some silly things in, you know, the, the conclusion of the Synod.

[01:06:01] That’s to be expected. Folks, that, that has been an expectation since the first century. There are going to be some silly things recommended or discussed, and, I mean, but you have to start somewhere. How do you arrive at truth? Sometimes you have to ask silly things. Or say, sometimes even say silly things.

[01:06:20] And sometimes people are just dumb. And they’re going to say silly things and everyone else is going to give them the time of day. Even though everyone else in the room is saying Oh boy, that’s dumb. But okay, okay. Okay, um, so going forward, we want to discuss if Martians have human souls. Alright, there it’s there.

[01:06:38] Oh, does Bigfoot exist? Okay, that’s stupid, but okay. And we also want to discuss the theology of whether or not Bigfoot exists. And if he does, does he have a human soul? That’s been going on since the first century, my friends. There’s always going to be something ridiculous coming out of the church’s body of work.

[01:06:58] Right? Garbage in, garbage out. Flawed human beings going in will produce flawed work, not flawed work, but, but imperfect work coming out. What we want to focus on is what is settled on. Was Vatican II high octane pure theology? No, of course it wasn’t, but what we want to focus on is what was settled on.

[01:07:27] Again, sorry for these pauses. Focus on what was held on. So there were some silly things that came out of the Sinod documents, but those aren’t things that were settled on. The things that were settled on, things that were agreed on, even some of the things that they want to discuss going further, were not crazy at all.

[01:07:48] It asked if new ministries are needed for women. Uh, or if at, or if it’s adequate to create more space for women. I, I think that’s a little silly, but if you wanna talk about it, go ahead and talk about it’s you blue in the face. What do I care? Well, what gets settled on is what matters. And really, this isn’t, this isn’t really settling on on much, but what it does settle on, the thing that I, the tone that I’m finding is that the church is talking a lot here.

[01:08:14] The church here is talking a lot about listening, and I really do think that’s important. I think that’s really very important because in many, many ways, the church is, it’s not out of step with, um, cultural thought, I guess, in other words, we’re out of step with the church. The world is out of step with the church.

[01:08:37] The church teaches what’s true. The world accepts or rejects it. Right now, the world rejects a lot of it. So the world is out of step with the church. But the church is also out of step with the human culture. In not, not absolute ways, but in many ways. You, sometimes I hear the church speak, whether it’s the Pope, or Cardinals, or Ecclesial bodies.

[01:09:02] I hear the church speak, and I’m thinking, Oh boy, that train arrived about ten years too late. But you think, you think you’re right on time. That’s so cute. Boy, that train arrived 20 years too late, but you, you think you’re early. You think you’re ahead of schedule. Oh, that’s cute. It’s so cute. In many ways, the church is so far behind.

[01:09:27] It’s, it’s, it’s pathetic. Not absolutely, but in many ways, it’s just pathetic. I think that doing some listening could help, could help the church with that. That doesn’t mean the church should become a democracy. But I think the church needs to be doing some listening. Going back to my analogy of X and how complex it has become, it could, you could, I would consider it a good complexity if it would just cooperate more with [01:10:00] me.

[01:10:01] I can see all sorts of ways that I could use everything that X offers, including a subscription model. But, it’s been over a year, and I still haven’t had my application reviewed. Well, how do I ask somebody about it? Can I reapply? Can I send an email reminder saying, hey, are you guys reviewing this? Did it get lost in the shop?

[01:10:22] There’s no way to contact x to ask them any of those things Facebook is even worse. Have you ever needed to contact facebook for help on anything? They’re even worse My goodness one time. Oh, never mind. Let me let me just move on So x is a good example of something that’s very complex That is practically torture because X is not listening.

[01:10:49] You might’ve seen it in my tweets sometimes. Sometimes I tweet, I don’t expect Elon Musk to listen, but sometimes I’ll send him a tweet and I’ll also send it to X and to premium support, right? You might’ve seen me tweeting these things. You know how many times someone’s gotten back to me? Never.

[01:11:06] Absolutely. Never. Precisely zero times. How much more complex is the world and the church? And if the two are going to meet in the middle so that the church can carry the world into the ark, I think it could be very helpful for the church to have mechanisms that allow it to listen. Mechanisms that allow it to listen.

[01:11:29] Not like how school boards listen to parents at these school board meetings, which really the school board is just sitting there. I think most of these school boards are not actually listening. They’re just sitting there, letting people talk so that they feel heard. I think the church could really benefit from mechanisms that enable it to listen and empower the faithful to, to, to, to speak, to speak, not just to yell and scream or say, you know, why aren’t there coffee and donuts served at the church?

[01:12:01] I don’t know. Cause you know, there are Catholics who are going to ask stupid things, right? Why can’t I have, why can’t I marry two people at the same time? Which is a thing in some places. It’s becoming a little, not, I wouldn’t say popular, but several years ago, there was some marriage in, I think it was Korea, where, you know, it was three people married together.

[01:12:23] And every once in a while, I see another story about that in other countries. So, of course, you’re going to have Catholics asking for ridiculous things. Or asking about ridiculous things. You know? I’m, I’m trans species and I want to be heard and I want my dignity protected. Okay, let them say that. You’re going to have some Catholics also saying things like that the structure of the church often turns the faithful into not just a subculture but an inferior one, which there is truth to that.

[01:13:06] I’m not gonna say it’s it’s the church. But it does happen throughout the church, where the people become the subculture, the inferior culture. And the church, at the local, um, or diocesan, or I guess national level, becomes the proletariat. I think, do I have that right? The proletariat? Let me see.

[01:13:37] Or are they the bourgeoisie? The class of industrial wa Okay, they’re not the proletariat, sorry. See, I’m not up on my, on my, uh, Marxism, uh, my Marxism education, I guess. So sometimes the people become the proletariat, and the church becomes the bourgeoisie. That’s what I meant to say. And sometimes the church needs to hear that.

[01:14:01] You know, hey, Catholic Church, you’re treating us like total crap. You know, you’re being spiritually negligent or sloppy. Um, I, I mean, I can think of a handful of parishes where I so wish the church in that diocese would listen to the Catholics saying what this parish is doing is outrageous. It’s objectively outrageous on numerous levels.

[01:14:31] And it needs to stop. Because you’re making all of us look stupid. By allowing this parish and this parish to do X and Y and Z, you’re making us, who try to carry the faith out into the world with us, you’re making us look stupid, wrong, and evil. And this needs to stop. I wish the church had a mechanism to enable and empower people to do that.

[01:14:58] Of course you’re going to have people [01:15:00] asking or saying ridiculous things. Sure, of course you will. But you, I think by and large you’re going to have people asking and saying things that really need to be heard. And that’s really, really important. Man, that is one hour and a half. That’s my longest podcast yet.

[01:15:19] I think it’s time to roll out of here. We had no calls, but that’s all right. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this has been the Catholic Experience, hosted by yours truly, the Catholic Adventurer, at ForTheQueenBVM on X and Instagram. Catholic, here we go, Catholic Adventurer on YouTube and Facebook. I hope you enjoyed the show.

[01:15:44] Please share it with your friends. Folks, it’s so hard to grow an audience. Please help me out. Share it with your friends. I’d really appreciate it. God bless you and God be with you all. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Bye bye.