I recently joined our parish council. At last night's meeting, I heard about the pope's plan for a Synod on Synodality. Rather than unpack that horrible name, I'll just say that the pope wants to see the Church become more inclusive and so he wants us all to have listening sessions.
That's not going to end well. When our very own Bishop McElroy did it, he discovered that his flock and he didn't see eye to eye. I guess there's a price to be paid for leaving your mansion and mingling with the rabble.
Bishop McElroy has visited a couple of churches in his diocese to allow the unwashed masses to speak with him about the Church's abuse scandal. The first one turned into a riot as people blew up at him and since then, the events have been scripted like a straight jacket.
But my despair over the whole inclusion effort isn't about a few evenings of rancor. It's that the outcome of the thing is perfectly predictable. At my work, "inclusion" is a big deal. It's all rubbish. Inclusion means accepting sexual degeneracy and bagging on straight, white men. They aren't subtle about it, either.
Inclusion can't possibly work. We all have different world views and many of them can't be reconciled. For example, it came as a surprise to the inclusion gang that the Taliban weren't interested in diversity and went right back to oppressing women and killing gays as soon as they had power in Afghanistan.
Duh.
Given the pope's recent attacks on traditionalists in the faith, it's a given that inclusion will mean the same in the Church as it does at my work. Inclusion will be acceptance of sexual degeneracy and bagging on straight, white men. Our diocese is shot through with SJWs so there's no chance this turns out any other way.
If the people running the Church had a lick of sense, they let each of us approach God in our own way, guided by the Catechism as much as possible.
Nah.
Bonus Snark: This is one more example showing that Pope Francis is the King of Unforced Errors.
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| An idea whose time has come. |
So, what I pick out of this is that:
ReplyDelete1. The higher-ups in the church have lost touch with what the average parishioner wants;
2. They are calling for "inclusion", but the only people you see being "included" are the people you disapprove of;
3. An unspecified, but apparently large, fraction of your fellow parishioners are basically completely opposed to everything that you stand for.
4. You don't see any potential for this to be turned around.
And then, you close with "let each of us approach God in our own way", and "all we ask is to be let alone". Which, as far as I remember, is pretty much what the various strains of Protestants said as they split off to make their own churches.
And at this point, I have to ask why you are staying in the Church in the first place? Surely there is something there that makes it worthwhile to put up with all the rest? And if there isn't, why are you still there?
1. Out-of-touch is the general condition of the Elites these days across almost all organizations. Hence the yelling.
ReplyDelete2. Nah. I don't disapprove of people. I disagree vehemently with ideas, however. If you want to get your breasts cut off and jack yourself up with testosterone, well, that doesn't change your value to me as a human being. Just don't force me to call you a man.
3. Who cares what they think? It's not about them thinking the right thing, it's about helping them get closer to Christ. Here in deep blue California, it's a good bet that a whole bunch of them disagree with me. Heck, wife kitteh does. So what?
4. My argument is that it's doomed from the start. The only thing you're going to get is an awareness of how screwed up the person in the next pew is compared with you. Good Lord, imagine what they'll think if they find I've got pictures of Lee and Jackson in my garage. It will be almost as bad as when I find out they voted for Biden.
;-)
My suggestion: stop trying to sell people on inclusion because that only means a hopeless effort to induce conformity. Instead, meet them where they are and love them for that.
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ReplyDeleteAnd at this point, I have to ask why you are staying in the Church in the first place? Surely there is something there that makes it worthwhile to put up with all the rest? And if there isn't, why are you still there?
ReplyDeleteThe pope isn't the church nor are the nincompoops here in SD. They are a passing annoyance. We've had plenty of them in the last 2000 years. I remain in the Church because, as Jordan Peterson once said, it is the closest thing to sanity that mankind has ever created.
OK, fair enough. It's just that lately, the only nice things you have been saying that relate to your church is hanging out with your Cursillo buddies. The things you have said about the church itself have painted it as mostly just a source of annoyance and frustration.
ReplyDeleteIt might be good for your peace of mind to sometimes think about the things you actually like about the church, not just dwell on the parts you dislike.