Do Synod Doubters Really Trust the Holy Spirit? by Richard P. Maggi

By Richard P. Maggi, Crisis Magazine, Oct. 26, 2023

Richard P. Maggi, Esq., has been a litigation attorney for the past 40 years. He is also a commentator on religion and politics, having been published in Homiletic & Pastoral Review, First Things (web edition), Crisis Magazine, the Washington Examiner, Human Life Review, and Notre Dame Magazine.

History has demonstrated that the Holy Spirit has a way of confounding conventional expectations.

I have been struggling, as I am sure many of my fellow Crisis readers have been, between loyalty to the See of Peter and the seemingly woke direction of the current papacy which has convoked the Synod on Synodality. It is not that the pope has directly contradicted longtime magisterial teachings, although there are voices of faithful Catholics who argue he has. However, what seem to be ambiguities in some statements, his inconsistent treatment of troublesome clerics depending on whether they are from what is considered the right or the left of the Church, his appointments and close confidants, and his seeming dismissiveness toward Catholics who try to live in accordance with Church teachings create an atmosphere of distrust and anxiety about what will be the conclusions of the Synod on Synodality regarding long-standing Catholic teachings. Indeed, the very idea of a “Synodal” Church raises some concerns. …

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