Austin Ivereigh, in a Commonweal article makes much of the fact that the Synod for the amazon is a territorial synod, the first ever, he says. Doing so and focusing more intently than customary on Amazonian conditions, he helped me understand the push for a ministries structure peculiar to the Amazon. I rely on this article for much of what follows. Despite charges of paganism, pantheism, and other heresies from “superannuated cardinals” and some Catholic news outlets, Ivereigh sees, on… Read more

For any group that wishes to stand apart from the rest, identity is a major issue. The Church’s identity crisis of the last few decades is coming to a head with recent developments. These include Pope Francis’ emphasis on compassion and his push to the margins and the push against Francis by some, of whom Cardinal Burke is a leading example. The latest scene in the identity wars is the Amazon Synod. The Bible records a similar identity crisis in… Read more

The Synod of Bishops for the Amazon opened Sunday with a Mass and a call from Pope Francis to “fight fire with fire.” The fires include nearly 80,000 burning in the Amazon rainforest, inflammatory moves in some Church circles in opposition to Pope Francis and the synod, and the fire of the Gospel. “Jesus did not come to bring a gentle evening breeze, but to light a fire on the earth, ”the Pope said. He could have extended the quote… Read more

The timing couldn’t have been better for me. Got up for morning prayer on the Feast of St. Francis, and instead found Pope Francis planting a tree, live on my computer. The event marks the close of the month-long Season of Creation. Also with remarkable timing, this ceremony dedicates the upcoming Amazon Synod to St. Francis. The tree Pope Francis symbolically planted – it’s a Holms Oak, supposed to be the species on which birds perched to listen to St…. Read more