It has been instructional to observe the dynamic at grocery store checkouts over the past decade or so. The helpful assistants who stood by, smiling, as we shoppers learned to navigate the self-serve checkouts, appeared to be blissfully unaware that their days were numbered. Over the years, the bugs in the process have been ironed out so that self-checkouts have evolved from being somewhat unreliable to providing an efficient, if impersonal, user experience. The helpful assistants, always standing ready to log in with their employee ID are no longer needed in many places, having been made redundant by the system they so graciously helped to introduce.
A similar scenario is playing out in the Catholic Church. The bishops and other clergy members who are even now praising and helping to launch the Synodal Church seem unaware that they will soon become superfluous. Their role, which already embodies a symbolic element, will soon be reduced to nothing more than that, and at worst, could be just an embarrassing reminder of a Church which is no longer required or appreciated. The mitres, vestments and rings could one day be simply faded symbols of the Church Redundant.
Like their grocery store counterparts, the bishops do not seem to care for their own futures.
But, like their grocery store counterparts, the bishops do not seem to care for their own futures. Such is the case with Anthony Fisher, Archbishop of Sydney, who was invited to give an address at Sydney's Great Synagogue last June. Fisher, who has been somewhat critical of the Synodal process, holds no scruples about subscribing to the Modernist ecumenical agenda which is one of Synodality's fundamental planks.
When interviewed by EWTN in October, the Archbishop said Catholics must “hold on to the deposit of faith, the apostolic tradition .... In fact, this is a tremendous treasure that we’ve received from generation after generation before us, all the way back to Our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles. And we are here to transmit that faithfully to the next generations after us.”
Yet, when giving his address at the Synagogue, the Archbishop, who is always dressed in his white Dominican habit, did not wear his pectoral cross; it is difficult to square that decision with his commitment to holding on to the deposit of faith. It seems obvious that this was to avoid giving offence to the Jews who consider the cross to be an idol. Historically, some Jews have even refused to use a plus sign in mathematics due to its resemblance to a cross. In his speech, Archbishop Fisher mentioned that Jewish input had been required before the Australian World Youth Day in 2008 to make sure the Stations of the Cross "did not mislead or offend."
The main theme of the Archbishop's address was the apparent familial relationship between Christians and Jews. He said that "Some might say Christianity has proved to be a wayward son, an ungrateful daughter, a bastard child," reminding listeners that the Prodigal Son "causes his father a lot of grief."
He recalled the words of Angelo Roncalli, later to become Pope John XXIII, when he claimed that “We [Christians] realise that the mark of Cain stands upon our foreheads," and then pleaded with the Jews for forgiveness.
One can only wonder how a church cursed by this 'mark of Cain' could have grown to become the largest denomination on earth, evangelising every continent and building a culture which became the bedrock of Western civilisation for a millennia.
One of Fisher's strangest remarks was to refer to the concept of supersessionism as a "heresy". Supersessionism is the belief that Judaism was replaced or 'superseded' by Christianity. Even if one believes that the principal of supersessionism was revoked by the Second Vatican Council, as many erroneously do believe, it has certainly never been designated by the Church as being a heresy. Supersessionism was, in fact, the traditional approach to Judaism by Catholics for hundreds of years and as Fr. Brian Harrison explains, the reformed liturgy proves that this remains the belief of the Church.
Archbishop Fisher and prelates of his ilk are acting under a misapprehension if they think they can separate ecumenism from Synodality. The broader picture here, though, is that ecumenism is only one of the ways in which the Synodal Church is in direct conflict with the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of old.
Fisher sought to shore up his opinions by quoting St. Paul " 'To the Jews belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the Law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them' came Jesus (Rom 9:4-5)."
It is a common mistake among Modernists to use this quote from St. Paul to justify a lasting affirmation by God of the Mosaic covenant. However, it is the Covenant God made with Abraham which remains in effect, and not the Covenant with Moses.
While it is of course true that from the Jews came Christ, and that God made a covenant with them through Moses, Christians are supposed to believe that the Mosaic Law is no longer pleasing to God. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that "The mystery of the redemption of the human race was fulfilled in Christ's Passion: hence Our Lord said then: "It is consummated" (John 19:30). Consequently the prescriptions of the Law must have ceased then altogether through their reality being fulfilled." (Summa Theologiae, Q 103, Art 3.)
If Archbishop Fisher really loves the Jewish people as he purports to do, if he really believes that we are all 'children of Abraham who adore the one Creator-God', as he said in his talk, then he should tell his Jewish friends the truth. Namely, that " ... all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Catholic Church before the end of their lives..." [Council of Florence, Session 11.]
Despite his protestations, Archbishop Fisher and prelates of his ilk are acting under a misapprehension if they think they can separate ecumenism from Synodality. The broader picture here, though, is that ecumenism is only one of the ways in which the Synodal Church is in direct conflict with the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of old.
The throw-away culture so often decried by Pope Francis is a metaphor for the Synodal Church. What is valued as a spiritual treasure today will be tomorrow's trash, once it has been subjected to the vagaries of the Synodal process.
In a re-imagined church, whose marks are dialogue and discussion, no doctrine, no role and no rank is safe from being dismantled by a future set of dialogue partners. What is necessary today may be superfluous tomorrow - and this includes the office of bishop. This is a process which began before the term 'Synodality' was coined, when Pope Francis was just a twinkle in the eye of the St. Gallen Mafia.
The heterodox priests who are now fighting so hard for the sacramental ministries to be opened up to women may one day find themselves without a job - and a retirement package - if their efforts prove to be successful. Future generations, catechised solely by 'Synodal' liturgies and social media posts from heretical priests, will lose sight of any connection between the Mass as sacrifice and an exclusively male priesthood. Who could blame them for preferring the pastoral approachability of a woman 'priestess' over her masculine counterpart?
Similarly, by continuing to indiscriminately promote dialogue between Christians and Jews, the hierarchy is confirming its expendability. It is a sign of naivete to expect to fill the pews of Catholic churches whilst simultaneously claiming, at least implicitly, that a Synagogue can provide the same spiritual nourishment. Following this mindset, if one believes that the age of a religion dictates its legitimacy, then the Jewish religion could even be seen by some to be superior, and not merely equal, to Christianity. Why associate with the 'bastard child' when one could align with the apparently legitimate 'older brother'?
The throw-away culture so often decried by Pope Francis is a metaphor for the Synodal Church. What is valued as a spiritual treasure today will be tomorrow's trash, once it has been subjected to the vagaries of the Synodal process. Redundancy is a feature and not a bug of the Synodal Church, and any cleric who fails to denounce Synodality, by his words and by his actions, is a creator of his own demise.
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