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Monday 8 February 2016

My Chicken Little Moment, and the See of Peter

My dearest husband is a worry-wort. Yes, Himself is anxious over many, many things, yet always has time to include another scenario in his Litany of Terrible Things That COULD Happen.

Not that "seem likely to," note - but no matter how unlikely still could.
(And he almost always believes them to be more likely than they are, I should add.)
Most of them have to do with politics, and many, many, many of them seem to be inspired by political thrillers he watched an an impressionable age, Manchurian Candidate, 8 Days in May sort of stuff.

He grew up ducking and covering, (how sad that I was born too late to share in that....) and worrying about missiles in "Cuber," and he is not above remarking to people that what didn't happen could've happened, if it had happened, even though... well, it didnt - e.g. a coup by Nixon and his cronies? Could've happened.

"End Times" has just never been the future which my mind's eye envisious when awful occurances loom.
I simply never imagined apocolyptic results of elections, disasters, atrocities....

So whence the dread as I read this?
Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops...and the synod secretariat will be hosting a symposium Saturday through Tuesday to “build a discussion” on the topic [of decentralization]... the nature of the Pope’s speech [on the topic] one that aims to pay more attention to the concerns of bishops and their faithful and offer them greater autonomy — has caused some concern. If inappropriately devised and executed, critics say, it could threaten unity and possibly even lead to schism.
Why did I see the dissolution of the Church and the End of Days?
I am not one of nature's pessimists, I don't live my life in fear of judgement day, I know the gates of hell will not prevail against God's Church...
So what is this foreboding?
I can tell you, I don't want to be a member of the American Church, still less of the Church of Gary or the Church of Newark or the Church of Venice, I don't even consider myself particulalry bound to Rome nad its rite, (going to a liturgy in Aramaic soon, as a matter of fact,) but I do consider myself bound to Peter's succesor.
I put not my faith in princes, even, or perhaps especially, princes of the Church.
a major concern about the proposed reform is that it could be especially vulnerable to abuse, particularly if it facilitates national or regional conferences gaining authority to approve pastoral practices that are not coherent with doctrine.
I see the promulgation of doctrinal developement and the handing on of teachings and Tradition becoming like some massive game of telephone.
It is hard enough to trust in Pete's successors, trying to muster confidence in the successors of all the apostles just multiplies my doubts by 12.

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