Leave the Synod, Take the Cannoli, by Randall Smith

By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing, Oct. 30, 2024

Randall B. Smith is a Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. His latest book is From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body.

I suppose I would have been comforted by Pope Francis’s comment that “the Church is not a democracy” and that the Synod is not a “parliament” if it weren’t for the fact that so many people intent on reversing the Church’s teaching on women’s ordination and homosexuality have been so hard at work lobbying members of the synod for their causes.  Thus, although I welcome “dialogue” from all quarters, I am slightly puzzled by the headline: “Outreach hosts LGBTQ Catholic dialogue for Synod delegates in Rome.”

So this group has a big conference on LGBTQ issues right while the Synod is meeting? That’s convenient timing. And then they invite all the synod delegates to attend? Was there a big conference on “The History and Value of the Extraordinary Form of the Liturgy” across town to which the synod delegates were also invited? Maybe next time, since “synodality” is now supposed to be our new way of “being Church,” and if the lobbyists don’t get what they want this time, we know they’ll keep synod-ing (synodalizing?) in some way or other until they do. …

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