Concern about the Outcome of the Synod (2)

The Synodal Imposture

In the August 28 issue of Crisis Magazine, journalist Eric Sammons doesn't mince his words, stating bluntly “Why Synodality is a Sham.” He writes: “Synodality isn't a process in which the laity's concerns are heard; it is a process by which they are ignored.

“Last month, a social media intern working for the General Secretariat of the Synod posted a poll on on X (formerly Twitter). The yes/no poll asked: ‘Do you believe that synodality as a path of conversion and reform can enhance the mission and participation of all the baptized?’

“One can imagine the thought process of this young intern. He (or she) is surrounded by people obsessed with All Things Synod. These people have been living and breathing the Synod on Synodality for years, and likely believe it is revolutionary in the life of the Church.

If this poll were taken in the Secretariat’s offices, I’m sure the ‘Yes’ votes would have approached 100% of the total. I’m sure this poor intern was expecting similar enthusiasm from the common folk. So what was the result [...] when actual Catholics in the real world were asked?

“Not so rosy. Out of 7,001 votes, the ‘No’ votes accumulated an astounding 88% of the total. Many of the replies to the poll included pithy remarks such as ‘Please preach the Gospel’ and ‘We just want the TLM.’ The response was so embarrassing to the Synod that it deleted the poll.”

Eric Sammons logically concludes: “The irony just oozes out of this overwhelmingly negative response. Synodality, after all, purports to be based on the idea that the Church should listen to the people, to respond to their hopes and desires. The Church need no longer be run in a top-down fashion, we are told. Power to the people!

“Yet when the people spoke, the Synod officials shut them down because what the people said didn’t go along with what they wanted to hear. [...] Church leaders promote synodality as the cure for all that ails the Church because synodality is a cover.

“What is really going on is that progressive factions in the Church failed to implement what they want. What do they want? Just look at what the Anglican church has done for the past century for your answer: official acceptance of contraception, married priests, women priests, looking the other way at divorce, an embrace of homosexuality, and other, mostly pelvic-related, demands.

“Progressives are smart enough to know that simply declaring these teachings reversed from on high won’t work; there’s too much history behind the traditional teachings. Perhaps too they see how the Anglican church has fallen apart by doing that. So these progressives need a faux process to garner support among the laity and make them think it was all their own idea: synodality!”

He adds: “This push for synodality isn’t brand new, either. Church officials have been trying it since the close of Vatican II. The progressives saw that the Council itself didn’t give them everything they wanted, so they created an official process to implement the ‘Spirit of Vatican II.’

“Thus, the modern synod process—synodality—was born. [...] Catholics in the pews instinctively distrust the synod process because they sense it is a cover for injecting progressive poisons into the Church’s bloodstream. Synodality isn't a process in which the laity's concerns are heard; it is a process by which they are ignored.”