Synodality and the Continued and Deceptive Use of “People of God”, by Larry Chapp

By Larry Chapp, Catholic World Report, Aug. 8, 2024

Dr. Larry Chapp is a retired professor of theology. He taught for twenty years at DeSales University near Allentown, Pennsylvania. He now owns and manages, with his wife, the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Farm in Harveys Lake, Pennsylvania. Dr. Chapp received his doctorate from Fordham University in 1994 with a specialization in the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar. He can be visited online at “Gaudium et Spes 22”.

There is an air of play-acting at real theology and of a cynical insouciance toward the actual truth of the Council, a mendaciousness that is the product of a set of foreordained conclusions in search of an argument.

Johathan Liedl, a reporter with The National Catholic Register, has written a very important article on one of the more influential theologians of the upcoming Synod on synodality in October. The article got some traction on social media early on but deserves heightened attention, which is why I wanted to comment on here.

The theologian in question is Rafael Luciani, a lay Venezuelan theologian who has been an advisor to the organizers of the Synod. Liedl gets right to the point and highlights the following: ….