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The pope, flanked by Cardinal Baldisseri (left) of the Synod Secretariat, and Cardinal Farrell (right) of the Dicastery for Laity, etc., addressing the pre-synodal assembly of' young people'.
After the initial and predictable faux enthusiasm that the publication of the 'youth document' generated (the puff piece by AP's Nicole Winfield was typical:
"Oh, look! What beautiful clothes the emperor has!"), is there anyone anywhere who puts any credence in yet another deceptive document from this Vatican?
Aldo Maria Valli sees through the deceit.
The farce goes on
Who really wrote the pre-synodal document
purportedly prepared by 300 young people?
Translated from
March 28, 2018
I have read the document that the ‘young people’ gave the pope in view of the coming bishops’ synodal assembly on “youth, faith and vocational discernment’. From which my impression is that it is an ‘old’ text in its language and its contents, as if it had not been produced by young people today but by someone who was ‘young’ half a century ago who hasn’t yet emerged from certain preconceptions and complexes.
The document says at the start that it “reflects the specific realities, personalities, beliefs and experiences of the young people of the world” and is intended to provide the bishops with a compass aimed at a better understanding of young people”. [With what hubristic presumption and by what authority could 300 persons handpicked by the national bishops’ conferences around the world be considered representative of young Catholics??? (Say there are 200 such conferences, one for each country – then to come to 300, 1.5 persons would be assumed to represent each country, but given who chose these 300, how likely is it that the 1.5 persons statistically representing each country could even pretend to be representative of the young people in that country? If this were a study submitted for peer review in any self-respecting professional journal, the numbers would represent very poor ‘power’ (a measure of the reliability and applicability of the conclusions drawn by the study), and the study would be rejected until it reflected sufficient 'power' for it to draw any meaningful conclusions.)]
But page after page, one notes that the reflections, “drawn from a meeting among more than 300 young people representing the youth of the world” and “with the participation of 15,000 people connected online through Facebook”, convey the idea of a Church reduced to a social organization, concerned most of all with excusing herself for not being sufficiently abreast of the times. From the ‘linguistic’ viewpoint, many of the expressions used seem to come directly from Pope Francis’s repertoire. [Not that we did not all expect that! The farce has become familiar to us from this pontificate's two earlier synodal assemblies. Everything - from agenda to the real objectives of the synod to the eventual papal document 'emerging' from all the synodal huffing and puffing - are foregone conclusions, faits accomplis already set in stone (even if the actual synod should bring unexpected vigorous opposition to the pre-set schemes as in the two 'family synods'), and the Bergoglio Vatican is simply going through the motions for the sake of establishing that it is going through all the procedural motions followed in a synodal assembly.
None of which legitimizes the farce we are expected to live through one more time - purposeful hustle and bustle aimed at a false consensus that will be the basis for Bergoglio to decree whatever it is he wishes to decree. In this case, I very much fear that the 'vocational discernment' part of the synodal assembly's title is code for Bergoglio to say that 'the young Catholics of the world all desire women priests and married priests'. Even if it is quite a stretch to claim that, because the synodal participants are not the young people themselves or their representatives, but bishops handpicked by episcopal conferences only too eager to play patsy to the Bishop of Rome.]
Let us examine it in an orderly way. After maintaining that “young people are looking for a sense of self in communities which are supportive, edifying, authentic and accessible, that is, communities that are capable of using their capabilities”, it goes on:
“At times, we feel that the sacred is something separate from daily life. Many times, the Church appears as too severe and is often associated with excessive moralism. At times, in the Church, it is difficult to overcome the logic that ‘this is the way things have always been done’. We need a Church that is welcoming and merciful”.
First of all, IMHO, the sacred should be something separate from daily life (space and time are sacred precisely because they are different from what is routine and profane). But the total coincidence of those statements with what Bergoglio often says is obvious, in which we find the denunciation of the Church as too severe and moralistic (when in fact, the problem today is exactly the opposite, that ‘the Church’ is too uncertain and lax), and the criticism of the logic ‘this is the way things have always been done’, which is one of the present pope’s battle horses.
And what about the demand for ‘a welcoming and merciful church’? Hasn’t that been copyrighted by Bergoglio?
Farther on, instead of the beauty and originality of the Christian proposition (the factors which today as always, are those which can truly captivate young people), we find a sociological analysis which mixes up diverse questions and all in a horizontal sense:
“Young people are profoundly involved and interested in subjects like sexuality, dependencies, failed marriages, broken families, as well as major social problems like organized crime and human trafficking, violence, corruption, exploitation, feminicide [???], every form of persecution and the degradation of our natural environment”.
But what does the Church have to say about them in the light of divine truth? In all of this, where is God? Where is there an interest in truth? The document says nothing about these. Instead we have the usual, worn-out appeals to face ‘social challenges’ in the face of which (and here, once again, the document turns literally to the pope’s vocabulary) “we need inclusion, welcoming, mercy and tenderness on the part of the Church”.
Equally inevitable is the document's advocacy of ‘multi-culturalism’ which has ‘the potential to facilitate a climate for dialog and tolerance’, with the following objective: “Let us make use of the diversity of ideas in our globalized world, respect for the thinking of others [REALLY? IN A ‘ONE-THOUGHT’ WORLD?] and freedom of expression." Which, frankly, does not seem to constitute any great conclusion!
But above all, the impression is that the document simply traces a preconstituted scheme. [About which, given our experience so far with the shameless and obvious manipulations of Cardinal Baldisseri’s Synod Secretariat, no sensible observer could have any doubt, could he?]
In confirmation [as if the statements practically lifted verbatim from Bergoglio’s blather were not confirmation enough],, the primary concern expressed appears to be the fact that “there is yet to be a binding consensus on the question of welcoming migrants and refugees nor on the problems that these phenomena cause…notwithstanding the acknowledgment of the universal duty to care for the dignity of every human being” [Please! Is this really the best that these chosen 300 could do – to recycle the pope’s plodding, sophomoric ideas in plodding, sophomoric language? Don’t they have any ideas of their own that are genuinely fresh and useful, instead of merely parroting what the pope has been saying and obviously wants them to say?]
Moving on: A large part of the document is dedicated to the ‘fears of young people, and even here, the expressions used are virtually lifted literally from Bergoglio’s repertoire. As in: “Sometimes, we end up giving up our dreams. We have too much fear,and some of us have stopped dreaming”. [WHAT CRAP! The words also echo the false sentiment in Obama's DREAM program, or whatever that was!] And: “We want a world of peace that upholds both an integral ecology and a sustainable global economy”, without forgetting to denounce ‘conflicts’, ‘corruption’, ‘social inequality’ and ‘climate change’. [What a BOOOOORING echo chamber this is of Bergoglio's ideas! Surely, Baldisseri et al (including Bergoglio) do not think they can hoodwink anyone with this document that is so patently prefabricated and made to order by Bergoglio!]
And when finally, the document appears to emerge a bit from its piecemeal general sociology to enter supposedly into the area of religious sociology, here is a statement of something we all take for granted: “Today religion is no longer seen as the principal means by which a young person proceeds to find meaning, but rather turns to modern ideologies”, followed promptly by a criticism of the Church [ “The scandals attributed to the Church – whether real, or simply perceived as real – have conditioned the trust of young people in the Church and in the traditional institutions she represents”] and by the demand that the Church herself be more ‘inclusive’ about women, because “today, a widespread problem in society is the lack of parity between men and women.. which is true even in the Church”. [That's all the opening Bergoglio will need to claim eventually in a forthcoming Letitia iuventae or Gaudium iuventae that young Catholics demand women priests (and married priests, too). And because the young are the future of the Church, he has no choice but to accede to their desires.]
And what do they have to say about the great theses of life and death, of family and sexuality? Here’s a sample:
“There is often great disagreement among young people – in the Church and in the world – about those teachings which are particularly questioned today. Among which we find contraception, abortion,homosexuality, cohabitation, marriage, and even how the priesthood is seen in the various ‘realities’ of the Church. What is important to note is that, independent of their level of understanding the teachings of the Church, we find disagreement and open debate among young people on these problematic questions… Consequently, young people would want the Church to change her teachings, or at least, provide a better explanation and formation on these questions”.
[There, a wide-open gate provided for Bergoglio to 'change' more Church teachings as he pleases, laying the burden for his decision at the feet of 'young people' whom he is so blatantly instrumentalizing.]
A bit later, perhaps aware of some disequilibrium, the document corrects itself and says that “on the other hand, many Catholic youth accept these teachings and find them a source of joy”.
So where do we stand then? [That is, where do these 300 signatories really stand?] The impression is that the document is a superficial and ambiguous analysis, all told. But what seems to count is to satisfy the expectations of he world which wants the Church in the dock and in a losing position.
One has to wait several pages before there is any reference to Jesus, to wit: “In the end, many of us desire strongly to know Jesus, but often find it difficult to understand that He alone is the source of a true discovery of oneself, because it is in relationship to him that a person can find himself” [1) What an awkward tautology, and what typical self-centeredness! 2) How is it difficult to understand this about Jesus?; 3) I do not seek to know Jesus primarily in order to know myself but to be saved!] Consequently, young people demand authentic witnesses: men and women who are able to express passionately their faith and their relationship to Jesus, and at the same time, encourage others to come close, meet him, and in their turn, fall in love with Jesus”.
But to come to that conclusion, was it necessary to convoke 300 young people from around the world, send out thousands of questionnaires and hold this pre-synodal assembly?
Yet, I repeat, in none of this does the beauty of the Christian proposition emerge. Instead, what is constant is the concern with ‘self-criticism’ about the faith (“Wrong ideals of Christian models appear beyond realization, just like the precepts given by the church. Because of this, Christianity is perceived by some as an unrealizable standard”), and even with regard to consecrated life, the emphasis is, more than anything else, on its limitations and ‘vulnerability', with the predictable emphasis on “the lack of clarity on the role of women in the Church” [They really mean that the Church ‘persists’ in limiting the priesthood to males, because she has always been very clear about the role of women in the Church – they can do everything except be priests!]
About the guidance that consecrated persons ought to provide, the document insists on involvement and on ‘walking together’ (“Guides should not make young people into passive followers but walk together with them, allowing them to be active participants in the journey”, but never saying what all this walking together should lead to.)
On the other hand, once again, they bring up ‘vulnerability’:
“A credible Church is that which does not fear to show herself vulnerable. And so the Church ought to be diligent and sincere in admitting its own past and present errors, presenting herself as being made up of persons who are capable of making mistakes and of incomprehension. Among these errors, one must mention the sexual abuses and the maladministration of wealth and power”.
[Help! I am gagging in disbelief at this pathetic silliness, even if nothing of what they say is new, because it is so familiar from what ‘the world’ has been chastising the Church with for centuries!]
We are coming towards the end. With two more enunciations lifted from the Bergoglian repertoire (“The young people in the Church wish to look outwards”, “The Church ought to reinforce initiatives aimed at combatting human trafficking and forced migration [???] along with drug trafficking”), the document comes to an end.
So back to the question: Who really wrote this?
An 'analysis' of the prefab document in Catholic World Report seems 'kinder' but even by taking it on its face value, it, too, sees through all the cosmetics...
The Youth Synod: The next step in the Francis papacy
The just-issued document for the upcoming youth synod emphasizes
social justice, the empowerment of women, and changing the Church’s moral teachings
by Thomas R. Ascik
March 29, 2018
This past Saturday the Vatican released a 7,000 word “final document” of a pre-synod meeting held in March, a prelude to the synod called by Pope Francis to be held in October of this year on the subject of “youth, faith, and vocational discernment…”
The document describes itself as “a statement reflecting the specific realities, personalities, beliefs, and experiences of the young people of the world.” It’s purpose is to provide “a compass” and “a navigational guide” to the bishops who will attend the synod so that the Church will be informed “of what she needs to do moving forward.”
The March meeting was attended by 300 'youth' from around the world and included those “from various religious and cultural backgrounds.” For the purposes of the synod, “youth” are 16-to-29-year olds. In his widely-reported Palm Sunday homily, Pope Francis, while not referring specifically to the synodal document, urged youth to “shout.”
There are three main themes. Overall, and by far, the predominant theme is social justice and the social aspects of life. “Young people seek to engage and address the social justice issues of our time.” They are intent on “building a better world.” Just about every known social justice issue is included: ecology, climate change, human trafficking, “femicide,” war, public corruption, racism, “social inequalities,” immigration, “the end of war,” and “a sustainable global economy.”
The social aspects of each person’s life, including the effect of the social on the formation of personality, are also stressed. “A sense of belonging is a significant factor to the shaping of one’s identity.” But youth today experience personal formation in other social contexts than their “experiences with the Church.” “Key places of belonging” include social networks and “our social and natural environments.”
Youth are particularly invested in “seeking diversity,” and they “value the diversity of ideas in our globalized” and “pluralistic” world. All in all: “Young people look for a sense of self by seeking communities that are supportive, uplifting, authentic and accessible: communities that empower them.”
Women are the second major theme of the document. A “common perception that many young people have is an unclear role of women in the Church.” In society and in the Church, “women are not given an equal place.” All young people, but especially women, find it difficult “to feel a sense of belonging and leadership in the Church.”
A reference to “how the priesthood is perceived” seems to be a reference to how it is perceived in relation to the status of women in the Church. Accordingly, the document calls for a “clear” statement of “the role of women” in the Church, which should “deepen its understanding of the role of women and . . . empower women.” And this empowerment should occur “in the spirit of the Church’s love for Mary.” Thus, in a document that mentions Mary only twice, Mary is connected with women’s desire for power.
As it happened, an article titled “The (almost) free work of sisters” was published this month in Women Church World, the women’s edition of the Vatican daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. The subject of the article was the alleged economic exploitation of women religious, and the article was widely reported in both the secular and religious media as concerning their “servitude” in the Church. In fact, Pope Francis himself, at the 2016 meeting of female religious orders, criticized the treatment of women in the Church as “more servitude than service.” [Is that how women religious feel about themselves? Do all those nuns-on-the-bus type activists think they are in servitude doing what they do? Excuse me if I snort derisively!] And it is well-known that Francis has created a commission to study ordaining women as deacons.
As the third major theme, echoing numerous statements of Pope Francis and his advisors, the document states that “the Church oftentimes appears as too severe and is often associated with excessive moralism... This implies a Church that is not “merciful” and fails to 'love everyone'... “Simplistic answers to complex issues do “not suffice... (We) desire answers which are not watered-down, or which utilize pre-fabricated formulations.” [ROFL!Look who's talking 'prefabricated formulations', when their entire document is nothing but pre-fabricated Bergoglio formulations!]
Certain moral teachings of the Church, that is, “contraception, abortion, homosexuality, cohabitation, marriage, and how the priesthood is perceived,” are re-labeled “polemical issues” about which there is “internal debate.”
In addition, part of “the development of our identity” is “discovering our sexuality.” Thus, youth “may want the Church to change her teaching or at least to have access to a better explanation and to more information on these questions.”
In a similar vein, Jesuit priest and Vatican insider, James Martin, said in his 2017 book, Building a Bridge, that “some bishops have already called for the church to set aside the phrase ‘objectively disordered’” concerning homosexuality in the Catechism.
The final document’s criticisms are in keeping with the words of the Preparatory Document for the youth synod released by the Vatican exactly one year ago, which said that “rigid attitudes” must be abandoned, and the Church must give up any “way of acting” that is “out-dated.” And, indeed, the Pope himself in Amoris Laetitia, spoke of “a framework and a setting which help us avoid a cold bureaucratic morality in dealing with more sensitive issues.” (312).
Almost all of the final document could have been composed by secular youth. [And why not? Since its inspiration and ultimate author is a pope who has never hidden the fact that he considers his task as pope far more secular than spiritual, for all the pro forma religious observances he necessarily has to 'show'.]
- Prayer is brought up only five times, all in passing, never as a regular practice or way of life.
- Without naming any particular saints, the “saints” are mentioned at the very end as people who are “still” relevant, although the document had earlier stated that “not all of us believe that sainthood is something achievable and that it is a sign of happiness.”
- Any importance that the Mass might have is ignored, except to state that attending Mass, without more, is not sufficient as the basis for community.
- “Eucharistic adoration” is mentioned at the very end as a “tradition” of the Church, not for its essence.
- Reference to the sacraments is confined to one paragraph at the end, and there the sacrament of reconciliation is mentioned in passing.
- Scripture is never cited, quoted, or referred to.
- The name of Jesus first occurs half-way through the document; his humanity is mentioned, but there is little sense of his divinity and what it might mean or imply.
- There are no references to any papal or Church documents on youth, education, or vocations. No saints, Catholic theologians, or philosophers are named or cited. [Of course not! In Bergoglianism, everything started anew on March 13, 2013, and everything that went before in the Church is outdated and useless. The new gospel according to Bergoglio has Chapter 8 of Amoris laetitia as its core teaching.]
- Besides the strong emphasis on the empowerment of women, there is nothing about “male” and “female.”
- In a document concerned with “vocational discernment,” there is nothing about the possibility that young men and woman might have different vocations or about a possible common vocation, marriage.
- Except for that empowerment, the document is uni-sex throughout. - Motherhood, fatherhood, and children are never discussed. [For some reason, perhaps the pre-fab template the 'young people' worked from somehow failed to include marriage and parenthood as vocations to be discerned? If you didn't think the template was tendentious towards 'vocational discernment' as code for allowing women priests and married priests, think again!]
The final document is firmly grounded in and takes its cues from the contemporary post-modern world, and its overall tone is that youth themselves are both the source of and reference for the present and future. [And ain't that soooo typical of the 'I-myself-and-me'-obsessed generations since 1968!]
Last year’s Preparatory Document stated that the Church must adopt a “new approach” about youth and must “make a self-examination and . . . re-discover her vocation of caring for others in the manner recommended by Pope Francis at the beginning of his pontificate.” In dealing with the Francis-emphasized themes of social justice, the empowerment of women, and the avoidance of moralizing, this new final document of the Pre-Synodal Meeting of Young People seems to have accomplished that.
As Valli said, WHERE IS GOD IN ALL THIS? At the rate Bergoglio is going, the next we know, he will say 'there really is no God' - since he has already said before that "There is no Catholic God", which prima facie would seem to be a denial of the Trinity, even if what he was perhaps saying was that 'God does not have a religion' or "God does not belong to any one faith', i.e., the 'God' anyone professes is the same God everyone, including Catholics, professes. - which is patently not true about the Holy Trinity, nor about Jesus being God the Son. Which is more than enough to cast a great fog of doubt over the very Christianity of a pope who says so facilely, "There is no Catholic God", even if it was Scalfari who reported him saying so!]
Now listen to one of the 'young people' supposedly involved in preparing the disgraceful pre-synodal document discussed above:
There's more to the farce
On liturgy and orthodoxy,
the synod document ignored our voices
We expressed our affection for the Extraordinary Form and
the Church's hard teachings. The official write-up downplayed both.
by John Monaco
March 30, 2018
[The writer is a graduate student at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry which happens to be a bastion of V-II progressivism, so Mr. Monaco represents a phenomenon in himself being an orthodox Catholic in a den of wolves.]
This year’s synodal assembly, the 2018 Synod of Bishops on Youth, Faith, and Vocational Discernment is slated to begin in October, but the preparation has already been underway for months. In particular, official Facebook groups in six languages were created by the #Synod2018 leaders, inviting all Catholics from ages 16 -29 to participate. I was one of the members of the English-language Facebook group, where I and over two thousand peers answered questions posed by the group’s leaders.
Among the 15 questions asked regarding our experience of the Church included questions on the spiritual life, our hopes and dreams for the future, and the struggles of living in a fast-pace society. Many of the answers given by the youth were of a similar timbre: the Church should meet the young where they are, be present in the world as a witness of the Gospel, and work towards the common good. Themes of Francis’s pontificate (mercy, justice, encounter) were strongly echoed by those drafting the final document.
However, certain prominent themes coming from a number of youth in the Facebook group were largely ignored – namely, ones concerning orthodoxy and liturgy.
By and large, members of the Facebook groups voiced a desire for orthodox teaching and reverent liturgy, including specific references to promoting the Extraordinary Form. On the writing prompt concerning the resources in the Church which promote spiritual growth, I counted over almost 30 specifically mentioning the Latin Mass.
The basic tenor of the comments was the same: the youth’s ordinary experience of the Sacred Liturgy in the post-conciliar Church left them wanting something “more”, and many of these young people found their desire for transcendence and awe within the Extraordinary Form, a desire that could not be satiated by banal folk music and anthropocentric liturgical behaviour.
Regarding Church doctrine, the vast majority of the youth expressed the importance of right belief, sound moral teaching, and not shying away from some of the hard truths of the Catholic faith. As the period for commenting came to a close, I and several others were confident that the final document would reflect our concerns.
However, when the final document was released and made public, it seemed as if an entire group of the youth was simply ignored. For example, in regard to the Sacred Liturgy, there was no explicit reference to the Extraordinary Form; rather, the text used the term “reverential traditional liturgies”, and only as part of a long list. This may have been partly a translation issue, but it still felt unrepresentative of the conversation.
Those who commented on the importance of strong moral teaching were also shocked to find that the final document regarded topics such as same-sex marriage and artificial contraception as “polemical issues” – as if they were merely political stances and not de fide truths grounded in Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
The reaction from the group members was quite negative, with one commenting: “[The document] does not reflect the very loud, dominating opinion voiced in this group that the Church is leaving behind the vast numbers of young people who want the liturgy to return to its traditional roots.”
Another said: “Despite the fact that so many young people expressed their requests about the Extraordinary Form, these opinions were simply omitted; there are merely some short mentions about ‘silence’. I have no words to express my deep sadness and feeling of being ignored.”
However, the controversy did not stop there. When more members challenged the group leaders regarding the glaring disconnect, their comments were deleted.
For those of us who expected a “listening Church”, this experience has left many frustrated and questioning the entire purpose of these Facebook groups. Isaac Withers, one of the writers of the pre-synod document, has said that “there was a huge online community asking for the Extraordinary Form,” and that the writers “were given only a summary of these comments”. If this was made clear from the start, I wonder whether the more orthodox youth would have bothered voicing their opinions at all. [Well, now you know: Bergoglio's 'listening church' only listens to those voices who sing his Hosannahs and/or parrot his views.]
Actually, the pro-active Mr Monaco has also written an open letter to the pope, which I would call the alternateive pre-synodal document that presents the views of those ignored in the official document... He, too, quotes Bergoglio back at him, but the statements he quotes are those he disputes - clearly but ever so unpolemically. In fact, he is actually 'preaching' to the pope, but he does it ever so casually and matter-of-fact so as not to sound offensive in any way.
An open letter to Pope Francis
March 29, 2018
Your Holiness,
It is with a spirit of faith, hope, and love that I write this letter to you, the vicar of Christ on earth, the successor to St. Peter, the point of unity for all Catholic Christians. Truly, the Petrine office is one to which I faithfully submit in humble obedience. I pray for you and for the Church daily.
Countless times during your pontificate, you have emphasized the need for the youth to speak openly, boldly, and with courage. In fact, I recall you telling us youth at World Youth Day Rio 2013 to “make a mess.” You encouraged the bishops assembled for the 2014 Synod on the Family to “speak with parrhesia,” the Greek word meaning liberty, openness, fearlessness. In your words: “Speak clearly. Let no one say: ‘This you cannot say.’”
It is in this spirit that I bring you three points regarding the upcoming Synod 2018 on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.
Young People
As a 25-year-old male, I belong to the giovani, the young people to whom the Synod is directed. Truly, this is a turbulent time for the youth. We have inherited and experienced massive changes within our common life. Seismic shifts in socio-political institutions, the burden of economic insecurity, and the rapidly growing irreligious population among our peers have placed us in a situation unlike any prior generation’s.
That stated, many of the young people I know around the world, though differing in language and culture, have a shared desire for truth, goodness, and beauty. All of us, from those who attend daily Mass and pray the rosary, to the person questioning the existence of God, are searching for meaning and for ultimate happiness. We pray and live the words of St. Augustine of Hippo: “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee” (Augustine, Confessions, Book 1).
I speak not only for myself when I say the restless heart finds its rest in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We encounter God’s love most powerfully in the Holy Eucharist. Regardless of one’s formal theological education, many young people find this sort of rest in the Sacred Liturgy. Something should be said, then, about the way we often experience liturgy.
Young people today are not the young people of the 1960s. The Second Vatican Council tried its best to speak to “modern man,” but modern man of the 1960s and 1970s is now himself in his 70s. If the 1960s youth were marked by a sense of rebellion and anarchy, the youth of today desire stability, orthodoxy, and order. Unfortunately, such desire is often seen with suspicious and distrusting eyes. We are often called “rigid,” “close-minded,” and “unstable.” This is a most unfortunate pejorative claim marked against us.
Young people desire clarity, truth, and a steadfastness to the Apostolic Faith. Given the reality of the internet, young people today are exposed to the traditional teachings of the Church now more than ever. No longer does a person need to visit a library or Catholic bookstore to read papal encyclicals, canons of previous Church councils, and the writings of the Church Fathers; much of the Tradition is available online, free of charge . [Betcha Bergoglio's propagandists never thought of this great alternative resource available to anyone. In which young people seeking for the truth truly have ressourcement at their fingertips, as an alternative to all the anti-Catholic aggiornamento that has taken an unprecedented acceleration with the present anti-Catholic pope!] Yet all one has to do is google what Augustine or Aquinas (or any Traditional authority figure one can think of) has to say about whatever controversial and/or murky teaching Bergoglio is purveying - to realize immediately the abyss that separates him from the thinking and language of the Church's magisterial authorities!]
Tradition is for the young. Many of us find ourselves attending the traditional Latin Mass for its sublime beauty, rich symbolism, and unquestionable sense of sacred worship. Unfortunately, when many of us express our love for tradition, we are insulted and unfairly labeled “ultra-conservatives.”
We attend the Latin Mass not because we seek to escape from the world, but rather because we wish to sanctify it by being nourished through intentional, purposeful, and transcendent worship. Many of us rejoiced when your predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, issued Summorum Pontificum and aided it with the following words:
What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place.
The young people who desire tradition are not “rigid.” In fact, the real rigidity is in our experiences with many liturgies in the Novus Ordo. Mini-homilies at the beginning of Mass, anthropocentricism and iconoclasm, priests making up their own words during the prayers, irreverent and banal music – all of this (and more) has led many a youth to explore the rich heritage of our Church’s liturgical tradition.
We are Millennials with a breviary app on our iPhones. On social media, we share quotes from 18th-century saints. Though we are in the world, we resist being of it. Or, as St. Thérèse of Lisieux put it, “the world is thy ship and not thy home.”
Our desire for traditional, beautiful, and reverent liturgy should not be seen as disregarding issues of social justice. If anything, traditional liturgy fosters a more integral and authentic Christian social ethic.
If we cannot worship and revere the Body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, then we will never be able to truly revere and honor the Body of Christ in the world.
Countless saints who have had a passion for serving the poor and marginalized have simultaneously adored the Lord in a spirit of awe and reverence. Consider St. Francis of Assisi and Mother Teresa, both of whom expressed the need for Eucharistic reverence while stretching out their arms to the poor and needy. Traditional liturgy and the Church’s social teaching are not mutually exclusive.
Faith
A key responsibility of the Petrine Office is to uphold the teachings of the Church. As the First Vatican Council declared:
The Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles. (First Vatican Council, Pastor aeternus, cap. 4.6)
Now, there are many definitions of faith. In a biblical sense, faith is a radical trust in God, as seen in our father in faith, Abraham, who left the comforts of what he knew to be led by God’s promise. In a systematic theological definition, we see how Aquinas defined faith as “an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace” (Aquinas, STh II-II,2,9).
Regardless of one’s definition, the youth understand “faith” to be a total submission to God and His Truth. There is a personal and communal act of faith, especially in our profession of the Creed at Mass. Throughout the Church’s history, many have defended the faith, even to the point of death. We celebrate and honor the martyrs of the Church, who abided in the Faith despite threats to their bodily health and well-being. If the martyrs teach us anything, it is that it is better to die for the truth than live comfortably in a lie.
Therefore, we youth desire truth, clarity, and right teaching regarding matters of faith and morals. Because what we believe has eternal consequences, we look to you, Holy Father, as the point of unity, the shepherd for Christ’s flock.
We youth find orthodoxy liberating us from the chains of self-idolatry and arrogance. And so, when various issues emerge regarding sexuality, marriage and the family, and ethics, we tend to hold fast to the truth as taught by those who have gone before us, for we strive to “not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings” (Hebrews 13:9).
Even when the Church was rocked by scandals (and continues to be), we remained in the Church, because we believe it to be true. Still, we desire accountability, justice for victims of clergy sex abuse, and greater transparency regarding Church affairs.
Vocational discernment
In terms of vocation, many of us seek to generously respond to the Lord’s call, whatever that may be. Whether it be marriage, priesthood, or religious life, young people desire to serve God and to know His will for our lives. Fundamentally, our vocation is rooted in our baptism, whereby we are permanently configured to Christ for service in the Church’s mission.
Discerning a vocation in today’s world is difficult. We live in a world that replaces contemplation with activism, speaking before thinking. Even in the most turbulent times, God continues call men and women to radical holiness. But in order to respond to God’s call, we must first hear and discern it. Therefore, I propose three S's which can help young people in this endeavor: silence, support, and sanctity.
As Cardinal Sarah has repeated countless times, we need silence to hear God’s voice. Given our constant news cycle, seductive social media, and perpetual busyness, we are bombarded by the clamoring of noise and agitation. Silence in prayer, and sacred silence within the Sacred Liturgy, is irreplaceable. Like Elijah, we stand on the mountain, observing the violent storms and patterns of our day. Yet it is in the gentle whisper where we can encounter God most powerfully.
If we seek to know the Lord’s will, we need support. We need families of faith, parish communities, priests and consecrated religious to support us and help us in our journey. Young people cannot be seen as strange for wanting to follow the Lord in a more traditional way.
Holy Father, you have expressed “worry” at the booming numbers of men and women entering more traditional orders, claiming that these men and women are “Pelagians [who] want to go back to asceticism, do penance. They seem like soldiers ready to do anything for the defense of faith and morals.”
In a world that considers morals relative and faith pointless, we need the countercultural witness of these congregations. There is nothing “Pelagian” about asceticism and penance; such practices were observed by numerous canonized saints of our Church.
Lastly, we need sanctity. Young people are more inspired by men and women who pursue holiness than those who see holiness as burdensome. Young people, in discerning a vocation, are able to also discern the sheep from the wolves; as our Lord counseled, we know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-16).
In our world today, many leaders promise worldly comfort and success at the expense of our souls. Now, more than ever, young people need examples of radical holiness in the Church to help us, inspire us, and work with us as we help make Christ known and loved.
Holy Father, I write these words after much prayer and reflection. I pray that the Holy Spirit guides and protects you and the Synod 2018. May it be a time of great renewal of the Church’s mission for the salvation of souls. And may we, the youth, serve at the vanguard.
Humbly,
John A. Monaco
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Alas for the Church, none of these ideas and sentiments will ever get across to the coming synodal assembly - unless we are surprised, as we were in 2014 and 2015, by the number of orthodox bishop participants who continue to defend the faith as it has been taught to properly-catechized Catholics before March 13, 2013 (and which, we hope, is still taught, such as to produce young people like John Monaco).[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/04/2018 05:23] |