{"id":28443,"date":"2019-09-30T13:33:22","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T13:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=28443"},"modified":"2019-11-03T18:26:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-03T18:26:07","slug":"here-comes-the-synod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/here-comes-the-synod\/","title":{"rendered":"Here Comes The Synod"},"content":{"rendered":"

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[The synod\u2019s importance is obvious: if accepted in the Amazon, married priests may one day also be allowed in Europe, Canada, and the U.S., where there are also, or are about to be, similar priest shortages, made worse by the sex-abuse crisis. (In fact, the dearth of seminarians was one reason bishops moved problem priests around instead of laicizing them: they needed celebrants.) Meanwhile, the rise of deacons may also pave the way to consideration of clerical reconfiguration everywhere, until seminaries undergo radical transformation.\u00a0Stay tuned\u2026<\/em>]<\/p>\n

From Wikipedia:\"Pope<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region\u00a0is scheduled to meet in Rome from 6 to 27 October 2019.\u00a0Pope Francis\u00a0announced on 15 October 2017 that it would work \u201cto identify new paths for the evangelization of God\u2019s people in that region\u201d, specifically the\u00a0indigenous peoples\u00a0who are \u201coften forgotten and without the prospect of a serene future\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The obstacles to evangelization include the difficult terrain that makes native populations hard to reach,the great variety of languages spoken, and the resistance of landowners and business interests. The\u00a0Amazon basin, according to one Vatican report, covers some 6,000,000 km2<\/sup>, with a population of 2.8 million divided among 400 tribes that \u201cspeak some 240 languages belonging to 49 linguistic families.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Synod defines the region to include all or parts of\u00a0Bolivia,\u00a0Brazil,\u00a0Colombia,\u00a0Ecuador,\u00a0French Guiana,\u00a0Guyana,\u00a0Peru,\u00a0Venezuela, and\u00a0Suriname, most of which are countries where most of the population is Roman Catholic.\u00a0Pope John Paul II\u00a0called similar synods for the\u00a0Netherlands\u00a0in 1980 and for\u00a0Lebanon\u00a0in 1995.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Visiting Brazil in July 2013, Pope Francis said: \u201cThe Church\u2019s presence in the Amazon Basin is not that of someone with bags packed and ready to leave after having exploited everything possible. The Church has been present in the Amazon Basin from the beginning, in her\u00a0missionaries,\u00a0religious congregations,\u00a0priests,\u00a0laity\u00a0and\u00a0bishops, and she is still present and critical to the area\u2019s future.\u201d\u00a0Pope Francis\u2019 encyclical,\u00a0Laudato si\u2018<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(2015), focused on the need to defend the poor and their natural environment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[For Full Story<\/a><\/em>]<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From Catholic New Agency:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vatican City, Sep 21, 2019 \/ 12:00 am (CNA<\/a>)<\/span>.- Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communications in the Vatican, said that married priests will be a subject of discussion during the upcoming synod of bishops on the Amazon, which will take place October 6-27 in Rome, but noted that the synod does not have the power to make decisions on the matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe synod will discuss the possibility, for territories like the Amazon, to propose the ordination of married men. That is, the ordination of catechists, older persons who already have a role of responsibility in several communities. But it\u2019s not a decision already made, nor is it certain that they synod will arrive at that decision.\u201d Tornielli said in an interview Sept. 19.\u00a0\u201cIn any case it would not be a decision of the synod but it would be a decision of the Pope,\u201d Tornielli said in the interview, which was published on the Facebook page of the Brazilian bishops\u2019 conference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[For Full Story<\/a><\/em>]<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From National Catholic Register:<\/strong><\/p>\n

VATICAN CITY \u2014\u00a0Cardinal Sean O\u2019Malley of Boston, and Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego are among those chosen by Pope Francis as synod fathers in next month\u2019s Amazon Synod.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A full list of the 185 participants<\/a>in the Special Assembly for the Pan-Amazonian Region was published by the Vatican Sept. 21. The synod is set to take place Oct. 6-27.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among those taking part are 33 bishops nominated by Pope Francis, including Cardinal O\u2019Malley and Bishop McElroy, the only two U.S. bishops to be synod fathers in the Amazon Synod.\u00a0The three president delegates of the synod are Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, apostolic administrator of Caracas and archbishop of Merida in Venezuela; Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, archbishop of Huancayo in Peru and vice president of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM); and Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[For Full Story<\/em>]<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From Crux:<\/p>\n

\"Amazonians<\/p>\n

SARAYAKU, Ecuador \u2013 Ever since Pope Francis convoked a summit of bishops on the Amazon, the question of ordaining married men has been both a cause for hope among some and a source of trepidation among others.<\/p>\n

Francis has been clear he\u2019s not doing away with priestly celibacy, but when it comes to the ordination of the so-called\u00a0viri probati<\/em>, meaning married men of proven virtue, he\u2019s been less definitive, allowing the Oct. 6-27 Synod of Bishops to ponder that question.\u00a0The Amazon region \u2013 technically a \u201cbiome\u201d \u2013 includes nine countries in Latin America: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.<\/p>\n

[For Full Story<\/a><\/strong><\/em>]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

From America:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since its release in June, the\u00a0instrumentum labori<\/em>s<\/em>\u00a0or working document for the\u00a0Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region\u00a0has provoked fierce criticism from some segments of the Catholic Church, with responses from influential cardinals and petitions against it circulating on the internet. But in Brazil, where most of the Amazon rainforest is located, there was little controversy about the aims and ambitions of the working document, \u201cAmazonia: New paths for the church and for an integral ecology.\u201d The reasons for that can be found in history, culture and language, say local theologians.<\/strong><\/p>\n

German Cardinals Walter Brandm\u00fceller and Gerhard M\u00fceller, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith until 2017, both presented extended critiques of the working document.\u00a0Cardinal Brandm\u00fceller objected to\u00a0the terminology\u00a0of parts of the document, particularly formulations like \u201cMother Earth\u201d and \u201cthe cry of the earth and of the poor.\u201d In his opinion, such choice of words reflects an anti-rational reproach of the Western culture, leading to a \u201cpantheistic idolatry of nature.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

[For Full Story<\/a><\/em>]<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From National Catholic Register:<\/p>\n

VATICAN CITY \u2014 Two cardinals have sent letters to fellow members of the College of Cardinals, raising concerns about the working document for an upcoming Synod of Bishops on the Pan-Amazon Region.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome points of the synod\u2019s\u00a0Instrumentum laboris\u00a0seem not only in dissonance with respect to the authentic teaching of the Church, but even contrary to it,\u201d Cardinal Walter\u00a0Brandm\u00fcller wrote to fellow cardinals in an Aug. 28 letter obtained by CNA.\u00a0The synod is scheduled to take place in Rome Oct. 6-27.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nebulous formulations of the\u00a0Instrumentum, as well as the proposed creation of new ecclesial ministries for women and, especially, the proposed priestly ordination of the so-called\u00a0viri probati<\/em>\u00a0arouse strong suspicion that even priestly celibacy will be called into question,\u201d the cardinal wrote.<\/p>\n

[For Full Story<\/a><\/em>]<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From Crux:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Key<\/strong><\/p>\n

ROME \u2013 Soon-to-be Cardinal Michael Czerny, one of Pope Francis\u2019s top aides who serves as both the public face of Francis\u2019s agenda for migrants and refugees and who is also playing a key role in organizing next month\u2019s Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, has said he\u2019s not worried about the criticism the summit is generating.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Czerny\u2019s view, the global attention the synod is getting, even if at times negative, is a sign of how important its agenda is.\u00a0Speaking to the press during the Sept. 20 presentation of a new \u201cAmazon: Common Home\u201d project, Czerny said, \u201cWe welcome the interest in this synod,\u201d adding that the buzz over certain talking points, such as married priests, is \u201calready something interesting.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

[For Full Story<\/a><\/em>]<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From Breitbart:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Vatican published the list of participants in its upcoming pan-Amazon Synod Saturday, which includes as \u201cspecial invitee\u201d Jeffrey D. Sachs, who is among the world\u2019s foremost proponents of population control.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In his 2008\u00a0book<\/a>\u00a0Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet<\/em>, Sachs argued for legalizing abortion as a cost-effective way to eliminate \u201cunwanted children\u201d when contraception fails.\u00a0Abortion, he wrote, is a \u201clower-risk and lower-cost option\u201d than having unwanted children born into the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[For Full Story<\/a><\/em>]<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From the National Catholic Reporter:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Included in Francis\u2019 personal choices as members of the Amazon synod are:<\/strong><\/p>\n