Editor’s note: This text by Bishop Marian Eleganti was written in German and translated by LifeSiteNews with permission from the bishop.
“Slogan, slogan, slogan!” (Words, words, words!)
(LifeSiteNews) — The letter of the synod participants repeats ad nauseam the known and widely repeated slogans, which in the end become meaningless because of their generality, especially if they are measured against the generated expectations. They do not bring clarity to any of the burning questions. The Church continues to be systematically eroded from within. The latter is intentional because one wants to break up its previous structures and soften its traditional modus operandi (through the priestly powers).
“Parole, parole, parole!” [“Slogan, slogan, slogan”] sang Adriano Celentano in one of his popular songs. Words, words, words! One longs for nothing other than the Gospel instead of the wordy documents that are supposed to accompany, summarize, and advance the synodal processes everywhere and en masse, but do not have the power of the spirit of a single parable of Jesus.
Instead of God’s words and God’s wisdom, we have to read ad nauseam man’s words and man’s wisdom, paraphrases of the Gospel instead of the Gospel itself.
READ: Dutch bishop criticizes Synod on Synodality, says he will ‘obviously’ not bless sinful relationships
The Church must change! So far, we have had to! But it cannot be reformed with the desired obviousness and speed, as the reformers would like. Therefore, it needs laborious, persistent, lengthy processes, oiled with the prescribed semantics, to be repeated everywhere so that they do not stop. By “reforming,” I mean at the same time the historical connotation of a “Reformation 2.0.” For the emphasis on authority and action by virtue of baptism and the new egalitarian “synodality” associated with it repeat Reformation axioms and lead to nothing other than an Anglicanization of the Roman Catholic Church. Its sacerdotal modus operandi through the binding and empowering special ministerial priesthood is laicized and desacralized despite warnings even from Protestants that we should not make the same mistakes as the reformers. Synodalization and Protestantization are synonyms in this respect.
Again and again, we are greased with the anodyne ecclesiastical new-speak so that the processes do not stop, and finally, the new facts (I do not enumerate the postulates anymore) can be created.
READ: Cardinal Zen blasts ‘confused’ Synod on Synodality, Chinese communist-linked bishops
It is already becoming apparent that some of these demands will not be met in the future, such as the priesthood of women and the abolition of celibacy or women as cardinals. But this does not mean that a “dirty” (dirty because not openly declared) schism will not continue to spread: in terms of the realities on the ground. The practice, not the words, ultimately rule, after all.
These practices are incrementally established, regionally and locally, because it cannot be done universally, namely in the parish, in the committees with their new, tailor-made liturgies and decision-making processes: “Here we do it this way!” One must comply, otherwise, one will be segregated according to local church policies that implement the new synodality, even if it contradicts canon law and Church teaching.
The pioneers of this movement in Germany say it openly: one must act locally! There is no other way. In my opinion, however, this is nothing other than a creeping schism, which is being veiled, anointed, and legitimized, no, promoted with the new “synodality.” It will prove more and more to be such a schism as soon as the frustration of the reformers begins to boil over if, even in 2024, the reforms do not go far enough for them and once again prove to be merely words. They will then have had enough of words, words, words, and will follow them up with actions, which they are already doing now.
READ: Swiss bishop: Pope Francis is undermining Church teaching under ‘democratic’ pretenses