{"id":3774,"date":"2014-10-14T14:27:16","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T18:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/?p=3774"},"modified":"2014-12-28T14:01:32","modified_gmt":"2014-12-28T19:01:32","slug":"synod14-see-how-they-hate-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2014\/10\/synod14-see-how-they-hate-each-other.html","title":{"rendered":"#Synod14 — See How They Hate Each Other!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There has been lots <\/a>of thoughtful <\/a>commentary <\/a>about the Relatio<\/a>. Sadly, it\u2019s mostly been drowned out by panic or fist-pumping.<\/p>\n

It seems to me that many on both sides have quickly forgotten the substance of the Relatio (not to mention its context<\/a>) in favor of finding the best ways to dismiss the other \u2014 at least on social media. Social media being what it is, we all tend to reduce other people\u2019s positions to soundbites, GIFs, or memes. It makes them easier to swallow and spit back out. But this Synod is pretty serious stuff. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an exaggeration to say that souls hang in the balance, and souls shouldn\u2019t be easily dismissed.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2014 there have been careful<\/a>, thoughtful<\/a> responses <\/a>on both <\/a>sides<\/a>. But there has also been an undeniable tendency to be reductive of the other side.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a convert, like many who write at the Patheos Catholic Channel. I confess that I\u2019m a little confused by the genuine distress the Relatio has wrought among many of my fellow Catholics \u2014 but more than that, I\u2019m perturbed by the distress I\u2019m seeing.<\/p>\n

It brings me no pleasure to see my fellow Catholics express genuine fear, much less abandonment and betrayal. Cradle Catholics are my elder brothers and sisters in the faith\u2026without them, I wouldn\u2019t be here. They have safeguarded the teachings of the Church all this time, in spite of the decay of society all around them. I owe them more than snark and condescension. We all do.<\/p>\n

Despite leaving the fold to search for the one lost sheep, the shepherd did not abandon the 99 to the elements. He didn\u2019t leave the gate open and say, \u201cto hell with you, I only care about the one who didn\u2019t follow the leader.\u201d The lost sheep matters because each soul matters\u2026it doesn\u2019t matter because it\u2019s worth more than the 99 already safely ensconced in the fold.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think<\/em> that the Synod is doing that, leaving the gates open and abandoning the faithful to the elements\u2026at least not intentionally. I do, however, know that many of my friends, many of my brothers and sisters, feel abandoned. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s funny, and I don\u2019t think it should be taken lightly.<\/p>\n

I suspect that we converts are having an easier time with this Relatio, regardless of where we stand on the content of it, because most of us jumped into the Church feet-first, willing to leap but not quite head-first. I know I thought the Marian teachings were a crock of borderline pagan nonsense for a few years. But converts are told to trust, to have faith, and to accept the wisdom of Christ\u2019s Church, protected always from error by the Holy Spirit \u201ceven unto the end of the age.\u201d Most of us do just that, because we\u2019re not John Henry Newman and we don\u2019t have the time or intellect or Latin prowess to think our way into the Church. And we find, to our surprise, that it all makes sense in the end \u2014 or that we believe it, anyway. Which is good enough.<\/p>\n

Part of assenting to the Church is having faith that the Church will prevail, as Christ promised \u2014 not as a stunted, withered remnant hiding out in an Arkansas bunker, but as the Holy Catholic Church. Sometimes there are going to be horrible detours to assbackwardville along the way (Cadaver Synod<\/a>, anyone?). I don\u2019t think this Synod is one of those detours, but there are plenty who do. Furthermore, they seem to feel so marginalized by the sneering and jeering of their fellow Catholics that they no longer recognize this Church as their Church, and they feel they have no place in it. Is that really what we want\u2026to be so eager to bring lost sheep into the fold that we shove out the sheep already here in the process?<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s not the best idea to try and explain to those in doubt or despair why they\u2019re modern-day Pharisees worthy of our streetwise-yet-enlightened disdain. I know it\u2019s a difficult temptation to resist, since\u2026well, since so many of us were craptacular sinners and only John Henry Newman (oh fine, and Scott Hahn) reasoned their way into the Church. The rest of us were loved into it, or went to a 40\u2019s night at UD and woke up Catholic and confused. Nevertheless, we\u2019re here now, and we think the Synod is on the right track because Catholic is the best place we\u2019ve ever been, and the place we don\u2019t ever want to leave, and we want everyone else to be Catholic with us, too.<\/p>\n

But it should be at least as important to us that the Catholics who were here before stay here, and not feel chased off into the borderlands of the SSPX. The Church being for everyone means that the Church IS for everyone\u2026not just for those of us who happen to sin the trendy way. It\u2019s hypocritical to make a big show of extending one hand out in love to those in need of mercy without also extending the other hand in love to our brothers and sisters in need of solace.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be better than that. If our goal is to show love to the culture, let\u2019s remember that the best way to do that is to show the culture how we love one another.<\/p>\n

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There has been lots of thoughtful commentary about the Relatio. Sadly, it\u2019s mostly been drowned out by panic or fist-pumping. It seems to me that many on both sides have quickly forgotten the substance of the Relatio (not to mention its context) in favor of finding the best ways to dismiss the other \u2014 at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[40,73,72,69,70],"class_list":["post-3774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholic-church","tag-cathrumbles","tag-relatio","tag-synod","tag-synod-for-the-family"],"yoast_head":"\n#Synod14 -- See How They Hate Each Other!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There has been lots of thoughtful commentary about the Relatio. Sadly, it's mostly been drowned out by panic or fist-pumping. 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