OPINION: Mental Gymnastics Wear Me Out

(CHRISM NEWS/ CHRIS POTRATZ) Reading through the commentary coming out as the Synod on the Family continues to shake up the Catholic faithful, one finds several prominent voices urging us to essentially perform mental gymnastics in an attempt to justify, explain, and rationalize what we can see plainly unfolding in Rome.

First, let's be clear – being faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church does not equal defending that which should not be defended. There is, and never has been, anything "un-Catholic" about having serious questions and concerns about the motivations of Cardinals, Bishops, and priests.

The laymen most certainly have a right to fairly and publicly debate the course we are on. We do so not because we are opposed to the Magisterium, but exactly because we care so much that it remains faithful to the tradition of the Catholic Church.

Examine closely the oath taken upon entering the Papal office:

I vow to change nothing of the received Tradition, and nothing thereof I have found before me guarded by my God-pleasing predecessors, to encroach upon, to alter, or to permit any innovation therein;

To the contrary: with glowing affection as her truly faithful student and successor, to safeguard reverently the passed-on good, with my whole strength and utmost effort;

To cleanse all that is in contradiction to the canonical order, should such appear; to guard the Holy Canons and Decrees of our Popes as if they were the divine ordinance of Heaven, because I am conscious of Thee, whose place I take through the Grace of God, whose Vicarship I possess with Thy support, being subject to severest accounting before Thy Divine Tribunal over all that I shall confess;

I swear to God Almighty and the Savior Jesus Christ that I will keep whatever has been revealed through Christ and His Successors and whatever the first councils and my predecessors have defined and declared.

I will keep without sacrifice to itself the discipline and the rite of the Church. I will put outside the Church whoever dares to go against this oath, may it be somebody else or I.

Novelty, therefore, does not hold a place of honor over established Tradition. The very foundation of the Catholic Church, and what sets us apart so clearly from our separated brethren in other Christian communities, is the fact that we adhere to the faith of the Apostles, and the revealed truth which has develop over the centuries.

The development of doctrine is a reality, no fair minded Catholic will deny this. But there is a chasm of difference between organic developments of doctrine (the rosary developing out of centuries of popular piety) and modernist ideals being thrust upon the Church in attempt to appear fair and politically correct for the world.

And, yet, here we find ourselves on the brink of contradicting the very words of our Savior who established marriage as an indissoluble sacrament of the Church. If this does not set off alarm bells, I am not sure what would. And performing mental gymnastics to try to defend such a position is simply too taxing.

Further, let's take this out to its logical conclusion as we consider that no alteration in Church practice over the last 50 years, which even though sold as "exceptions to rule", never actually became exceptions to rule.

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, for example, were meant to be "extra" ordinary – not a necessity for a Mass with an attendance of 10 people. Or, the elimination of Gregorian chant, Latin and so on and so on. All of these things have become the rule, and never were supposed to be.

So it will go with marriage. Despite the assurance that divorce will only be considered "ok" in "certain circumstances" all fair minded Catholics should be able to use the changes over the last 50 years as a touchstone to understand what happens what vague ideas and modern novelties are adopted in Church practice. They run wild.

Many, then, are looking at the Synod with a critical eye and cannot help but wonder if we are bordering on changing 2,000 years of Church teaching. We all should pray that we do not. If such is the case, though, vocal opposition must be presented to help the Cardinals on the Synod Council more clearly understand how we feel, and what we need. That is, in fact, the entire reason this Synod was convened in the first place.

#opinion