Lame. Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 52nd Edition.

That being the responses of university heads from Harvard, M.I.T. and the University of Pennsylvania to easy questions, or really even a question, from Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, somebody who, when she appears here, normally appears here for selling her soul for Donald Trump.

Here, Stefanik, who asked the presidents of the three major universities  if calling for the genocide of Jews violated the code of conduct at their schools.  All three couldn't do it without massive qualification, which basically amounted to saying that calling for mass murder is okay, as long as you don't actually attempt it.

Liz Magill of Penn State had a particularly difficult time. As the New York Times has summarized it:

Much of the criticism landed heavily on Ms. Magill because of an extended back-and-forth with Representative Stefanik.

Ms. Stefanik said that in campus protests, students had chanted support for intifada, an Arabic word that means uprising and that many Jews hear as a call for violence against them.

Ms. Stefanik asked Ms. Magill, “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct, yes or no?”

Ms. Magill replied, “If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment.”

Ms. Stefanik pressed the issue: “I am asking, specifically: Calling for the genocide of Jews, does that constitute bullying or harassment?”

Ms. Magill, a lawyer who joined Penn last year with a pledge to promote campus free speech, replied, “If it is directed and severe, pervasive, it is harassment.”

Ms. Stefanik responded: “So the answer is yes.”

Ms. Magill said, “It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman.”

Ms. Stefanik exclaimed: “That’s your testimony today? Calling for the genocide of Jews is depending upon the context?”

Let's be clear, it's only "context-dependent" if you have allowed your status as a lawyer to completely rot your brain, but then, a lot of lawyers have done just that.  The easy answer to this is this:

Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct, yes or no?”

Well if it doesn't, it sure ought to, there's no room for that sort of thing whatsoever and anyone calling for genocide of anyone ought to be expelled from higher education and run out of town on a rail.

It's just this sort of left wing muddy mindedness that has led us to the situation where a lot of Americans now feel it'd be better to appoint a Caudillo than elect a President. If the nation's academic, and mostly left wing, elite can't figure out that murdering Jews is bad, there's an existential problem in the American intellectual left.   This is exactly the sort of thing that makes some people think that Mike Johnson declaring himself to be a latter-day Moses might not be so bad.

Last Prior Edition:

Why specific movements on the left always end up being disregarded. Sense and Solidarity. Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 51st edition.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 48th Edition. Freaking out over the Polish election.

Goodness we live in strange times.

Lex Anteinternet: 2023 Elections In Other Countries.

: 

October 16, 2023

Left and center left parties took   248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of the Polish parliament, compared to the 200 taken by the governing Law and Justice party and 12 by a right wing partner.  

The government of Poland will accordingly change in the first European defeat of the king of right wing populism/National Conservatism that most notably emerged in Hungary and recently can be imperfectly argued to have gained ground in several other European countries.  It had made statements about openly following Hungary's lead.  As recently as 2019 it was gaining ground.

And it might still be.  Parliamentary politics are not the same as republican politics. The Law and Justice Party still was the largest vote getter, and the number of votes for it increased.  Effectively, it has 212 seats to 248 seats held by various other opposition parties that cross a political spectrum.  A government still has to be assembled and it will remain a major voice in the parliament.

If you read Twitter, amongst a certain group this is being portrayed as the end of the world, or more particularly Europe.  Now Muslim hoards and liberal sworms will eliminate European civilization from the face of the earth.

For goodness’ sake, no matter what you think of this, this is a pretty closely run election, and the Law & Justice Party has lost the government before.  To at least some degree, it seems some Poles feared it was going down Trump Lane, or more particularly Orvan Lane, towards contempt of democracy itself, and it lost for that reason.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part X, Declarations

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Matthew, Chapter 24.

The flags of Israel, apparently Hamas, and the crest of the Palestinian Authority.

We'll first bring this edition up to date with some entries from the last one:

October 7, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Hamas launched a large scale offensive against Israel yesterday, sending both ground forces and rockets across the border.  Israel has termed it a war and has called up reservists.

October 8, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Russia bizarrely called for a ceasefire between the warring parties.

Civilian casualties are about equal so far, each standing at about 250 persons.  Hamas took hostages back into Israel.

October 9, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

In something, we just don't see occur anymore, but which we really should, Israel has actually issued a Declaration of War, of course against Hamas.

Declarations are a formal legal document and really without one, at least legally, a state of war does not exist.  This is, therefore, not only a throwback (which it shouldn't be) to an earlier era, but an important legal step.

Israeli ground troops have not yet entered Gaza (we anticipate that it will) but Israel has placed Gaza under siege.  Nothing is coming in or out.

The US has moved ships closer to the region.

In acts of supreme stupidity, some members of Congress or others who are simply opponents of Joe Biden are blaming him for Hamas' actions.  Truly, that's really off the wall.  Look to see for some of those who rally to Israel's defense to be the same parties who are opposed to Ukraine's, and look for cries of US support to Israel from some of the same who would dump support for Ukraine, even though Ukraine is a democratic country, like Israel, also fighting for its existence.

Worth noting, one of the Hamas targets was a "rave" party, perhaps accidentally, in support of peace at which young Israeli's were gathered. Reports indicate that not only were attendees gunned down in cold blood, but at least two young women were raped next to the dead bodies of their friends and then viciously murdered.

This gives us two recent examples, which should not be forgotten, of armies using rape and murder as weapons against civilians, one being Putin's Russian army in Ukraine, and now Hamas, which claims Islam as part of its founding principles, in Israel.  Any army doing that loses all claims to legitimacy.

Hamas controls 74 seats out of the Palestinian's 132 in their parliament, giving them the majority.  How this war plays out is yet to be seen, but it has to call into grave question the land for peace strategy that Israel followed starting at the time of the Camp David Accords.

It is worth noting that Hamas' funding comes from donations, Gaza in particular being economically unviable.  Presently, a large percentage of that comes from Iran, which is somewhat ironic due to the traditional hostility between Sunni and Shia Islam. Hamas is primarily Sunni.  Other regional Sunni states are major economic donors as well.  Iran is also a backer of forces opposed to the US in Syria.

cont:

Israel has called up 300,000 reservists.

October 10, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Hamas operations in southern Israel expanded yesterday, and the IDF fought Hamas in thirteen locations on the West Bank. Hezbollah crossed Israel's northern border in a rocket supported raid.

This is all contrary to news reports, which have largely failed to mention that guerilla operations are expanding.

Hamas has called for a general mobilization for Friday.  This is unlikely to occur.

cont:

I think people will not believe the reports of what happened in Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Beeri. Even though Hamas posted photos and videos on their own Telegram channel. Because these are ISIS tactics. Beheaded babies and burned corpses. Yes, I saw the photos.

Lisa Goldman, Canadian journalist. 

This assertion is hotly disputed by Palestinians.

October 11, 2023

Russia v. Ukraine

Russia lost a bid, not surprisingly, to regain a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.  Its obtaining a seat would have rendered the Council a complete joke. 

It was suspended last year.

The Ukrainian offensive is back down to proceeding at a snail's pace.  There's really no way to put a happy spin on this.

October 11, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

US advanced weaponry has begun to arrive in Israel.

There are additional reports today that Hamas killed children and infants.

cont:

Liz Cheney has repeated the item about Hamas murdering 40 babies.  I note this, as Cheney has been a source that I trust, and whom certainly turned out to be correct about other foreign policy matters.

cont:

U.S. intelligence indicates that Iran, just like Israel (and the U.S.) was surprised by he Hamas assault on Israel.

That's likely because they would have tried to call it off, knowing that the falling chips would lead to a disastrous Hamas result in the end.

October 12, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Israel hit the Aleppo and Damascus airports in airstrikes, one just before an Iranian diplomat was set to land. His plane turned around back to Iran.  The plane apparently also contained members of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Russia v. Ukraine

Ukraine is apparently working on port arrangements with Romania in order to ship grain from that country.

cont:

Hamas has called for a global day of jihad to take place tomorrow.

cont:

The Royal Navy, like the U.S. Navy, has now deployed in assistance to Israel.

October 14, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Israel notified the United Nations early today that the 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza should relocate to the enclave's southern 12 miles within the next 24 hours.

This points out what I've stated elsewhere, but which very little of the media seems to be grasping. By the Palestinians giving their allegiance to Hamas, they're effectively doing the same thing that the Germans did by having given their allegiance to the Nazis.  They've invited destruction to rain down upon them.

There will be comments that the Israeli counteroffensive is disproportionate to what occured, but that misses the point.  It's not what should happen, it's what will happen.  Israel will go into Gaza and 1.1 million Palestinians will not be able to relocate. There will be numerous civilian deaths.  Palestinians, who excel at playing the wrongfully aggrieved party, will howl with remorse in the way common to Middle Easter people, but the end of Gaza as an effective entity is probable, and it's very likely that the end of Hamas will occur.

Things are going to get much worse, no matter how you look at it, before they get better.

North Korea v. South Korea

North Korea complained about a U.S. aircraft carrier being in South Korea.

Russia v. Ukraine

Russia has launched an offensive in the north, around Avidiivka.

Ukrainian offensive actions continue on elsewhere, but are slow.  As noted elsewhere, the Ukrainian offensive never really advanced at a significant rate and while it recently gained significant ground, it's bogged down again.  There are those trying to put a happy face on it, but what has been demonstrated is that the Ukrainian military, at present, is incapable, or unwilling to sustain the massive losses it would require, to advance at a rate that will bring it victory.

The Russians, for their part, are incapable of the same.

We're entering a World War One style stalemate.

Russian authorities are forcing dioceses of the Kremlin-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate. to join the Russian Orthodox Church.

cont:

The Jerusalem Post can now confirm based on verified photos of the bodies that the reports of babies being burnt and decapitated in Hamas's assault on Kfar Aza are correct.

May their memory be a blessing.

The Jerusalem Post. 

cont:

Right in the middle of this map is a brown strip called the Gaza Wadi.  Everyone north of that line, which is everyone in Gaza city proper, has been told to evacuate by tomorrow.

It likely cannot happen, but the fact that the instruction has been given is telling.

Also telling are some of the facts and figures on this map, including the 46% unemployment rate and the 60% poverty rate.  Obviously, the entire Gaza Strip is untenable. It can't, and never will be able to be, anything more than sort of a welfare state.  Israel has not wanted it. Egypt, whose border with it is closed (something other countries seem to have no problem doing) tells us all we need to know about Egypt's view about Gaza.

A situation in which the Palestinians are impoverished welfare clients of the world, and more particularly of the Arab world, armed in order to give Israel grief by the Muslim nations of the Middle East, can't go on forever.  They will not overcome Israel and this situation cannot go on.  None of the options are comfortable, but they should be discussed.

Of note, over 6,000,000 non-Saudi nationals are employed in that country.

600,000 non nationals work in Bahrain.

4.9 million non nationals work in Dubai.

The entire Palestinian population of Gaza could be taken in by Arab states that need workers.  Yes, they may not want to go there either.  But to remain, they'll have to live how to accommodate themselves to reality, or this will go on and on. They should not be removed, of course, by force, but that may be just about to happen.

October 15, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Republican Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who is Jewish, was arrested Friday for carrying a firearm at a pro-Palestinian rally on Thursday.  There have been calls for her removal from office as a result.  

Frankly, her carrying a handgun at the event, which she was observing, was perfectly rational and fits exactly within the Second Amendment.

Egypt has completed a concrete barrier to block Palestinian entrants from Gaza.  Their border is very small, so they will be able to enforce it.

Qatar has refused to take Palestinian refugees.

Russia v. Ukraine

Russia has not conducted an airstrike against Ukraine since September 21, indicating that they are likely storing missiles for a winter offensive.

Afghani Civil War

A bomb outside a mosque killed fifteen people in the country yesterday.

Last Prior Edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part IX, Late Summer.

Related Threads:

Governor Gordon Orders Flags Be Flown at Half-Staff Statewide Until Sunset on Friday, October 13 in Honor of Lives Lost in Terror Attack on Israel

Hamas v. Israel. Some observations, and How did we get here?

And a further note.

Some additional observations on the Hamas v. Israel War

The Third Phase of the Synod on Synodality

Churches of the West: The Third Phase of the Synod on Synodality: 

The Third Phase of the Synod on Synodality

October 4, 2023

The Third Phase of the Synod on Synodality begins today.

The first phase was to gather information at the pew level.  Only something like 3% of Catholics responded to that.  That information was to be taken in, refined, and developed in diocesan, national, and continental stages. 

Those have all occured.

The third phase is split into two parts, the first part starting today, October 4, 2023, at the Vatican.  It will run until October 29.  The second part will be in October 2024. The third phase is to advise the Pope on the topic “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.”

The first part, of the third phase, has the objective to design a plan of study in a “synodal style” and to indicate who will be involved in those discussions.

An Instrumentum Laboris has been issued for this part. Such documents are not unique to this, but are generally issued for synods.  It is available online.  I thought about trying to post it here, but it's just too big to do so.  However, it's not too big to scan through.

I have done so, and I'll frankly say I’m not impressed.  It does recall, however, in a way one of the results of Vatican II which was to attempt to bring the laity more into the Mass, which did in fact follow Vatican II.  I've heard this called an attempt to carry out that aspect of Vatican II.  Having said that, I think something that's missed is that the overwhelming majority of laity of the largest Christian religion in the world spends most of their days trying to get through the day, rather than planning on answering surveys and the like.  Indeed, as earlier noted, people who have time to do that may not always be the people who are really the most likely to represent the real views and concerns of the laity.

None of this is, I'd note, the attitude that I should have.  At age 60, however, I'm jaded on big meetings that require volunteer participation of this type, or for which the participants are selected.  Fr. James Martin, S.J. has been selected as a member and I'd definitely not include him.

Martin is one of only 24 Americans selected for this group.  Our former Bishop Etienne is one who was selected and I would choose him.  University of Wyoming student music student Wyatt Olivas is one chosen, and I don't know anything about him other than he's presented as a youthful Hispanic.  I can't judge him, but does he represent the youthful Hispanics in our local parish who are actually from Mexico?  Based on photographs of him sitting in shorts in the mountains with a pride wrist band, probably not.

What about the youthful trads and rad trads I see at Mass on Sunday morning, such as the young woman, in her early 20s, who always wears a veil?

Catholics should pray for the success of the synod.  But we should also recall that success is not under our own terms.  I'd regard (and I'm certain not claiming that everyone should also hold this view) that if the synod just basically went away, that this was a success.  A synod that doesn't leave murky "this, but that" results damaging orthodoxy would also be a success in my view.  A synod in which the Eastern Rite, of which I'm not a part, took a large, even a lion's share, would be a success in my view.

May God grant the Synod a success on God's terms.

October 5, 2023

Cardinal Zen has written a letter to Bishops attending the Synod.  It states:

Dear Eminence, Dear Excellency,

          I am your confrere Joseph Zen from the far-off island of Hong Kong, a 91-year old man, ordained bishop more than 26 years ago. I write this letter because, conscious of being still in possession of my mental faculties, I feel duty-bound to safeguard, as a member of the College of Successors of the Apostles, the sacred tradition of Catholic faith.

          I address this letter to you, members of the…Synod on Synodality, supposing that you are as worried as I am about the outcome of this Synod.

          Synodality is a rather new term; from its etymology we can understand that it is a matter of a certain spirit, of “conversing together and walking together;” for the Catholic Church this term means “communion and participation of all the members of the Church in the mission of evangelization.” Understood in this way, the theme of this Synod appears to be useful and ever actual. The Synod will offer the opportunity to clarify how we must live synodality in the Church.

          Now there is a very recent document entitled “Synodality in the life and mission of the Church.” It is the fruit of the labors (in the years 2014-2017) of a sub-­commission of the International Theological Commission, whose ex-officio chairman is the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The sub-commission completed its work in 2017; the text was approved by the Commission in its plenary session of that year and was finally signed by the Prefect of the Congregation in 2018, with the favorable assent of Pope Francis.

          This document, in its first part, begins with the historical facts of Synods and Councils (the· meaning of the two terms is convergent), in particular the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), the paradigmatic figure of the Synods celebrated by the Church.

          The description of that Synod in paragraphs 20-21 of that document can be summarized as follows – In the spreading of the Gospel, a problem emerges: whether non-Hebrews, to become members of the Church of Jesus, should pass or not through the circumcision and the acceptance of the Law of Moses. The problem, acutely felt in Antioch, is referred to the Church in Jerusalem, which in its totality takes part in the development of the Council to solve the problem. “The initial diversity of opinions and the lively discussion, in the light of the prophetic word (see Amos 9:11-12), in the reciprocal listening to the Holy Spirit through the witness to his work (see Acts 15:14- 18), reached that consensus and unanimity which is the fruit of community discernment.” The Apostles and the Elders communicated the conclusions of the Council to the Churches with a letter in which it is said: “The Holy Spirit and we have decided.”

          In paragraph 5 of the Commission’s document, it is said: “The novelty of the term ‘synodality’ demands a careful assessment of its theological significance.” In paragraph 7, it is said: “While the concept of synodality points to the participation of the whole people of God, […] the concept of collegiality expresses with precision the theological significance and the form of exercise of the ministry of bishops […] through the hierarchical communion of the episcopal college with the bishop of Rome.” A little later it says: “Every authentic manifestation of synodality by its very nature demands the exercise of the collegial ministry of bishops.”

          In its second part, the document proposes the theological foundations of this doctrine which are found especially in Lumen Gentium, where Vatican II specifies that, at the service of the people of God, in which all are priests and prophets, there is an ordained, ministerial priesthood, that serves the people of God, guiding it with the service of authority.

          I have been not a little surprised when, reading the wordy documents emanating from the Synod Secretariat, I have found very few references to the above-mentioned document.

          But there is more:

          1. I am confounded by the fact that, on the one hand, I am told that synodality is a constitutive element of the Church, but, on the other hand, I am told that this is what God expects from us for this century (as a novelty?). How can God have forgotten to make his Church live out this constitutive element in the twenty centuries of her existence? Do we not confess that the Church is one, holy, catholic, apostolic, intending by this that she has also been all along synodal?

          2. Even greater confusion and worry I feel when I see the suggestion being made that finally the day has come to overturn the pyramid, that is, with the hierarchy

surmounted by the lay people. In the Preparatory Document, from the very beginning, it is said clearly that, for a synodal Church, it is necessary to re-establish democracy.

          3. Worry to worry is added for me when I note that, while this Synod (presented as a thing without precedents) was being convoked, there was already under way in Germany the so-called “synodal path” in which, with a strangely complacent mea culpa for sexual abuses in the Church, the hierarchy and a group of lay people (Central Committee of German Catholics [ZdK], it is not clear how representative it is, but we come to know that most of the group are Church employees) propose a revolutionary change in the constitution of the Church and in the moral teaching about sexuality. More than a hundred Cardinals and Bishops from all over the world have written a letter of admonishment to the German bishops, but the latter have not acknowledged their error.

          The Pope has never ordered that this process of the Church in Germany to stop. On the occasion of their visit ad limina, it is known that the Pope dialogued for two hours with the German bishops, but the speech of the Pope, normally published in L’Osservatore Romano…was not published. Instead, L’Osservatore Romano published the speech of Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, who asked the German bishops not to proceed with their synodal path, but to wait, instead, for the conclusions of the Synod on Synodality. A clear refusal was what he received, “because”, they said, “it is pastorally urgent to proceed”(!?).

          An alarming symptom is the ongoing numerical decrease of Catholic faithful in Germany. According to official data, the decrease has been of more than half a million in 2022. The Church in Germany is dying.

          This reminds us of the painful misadventure of the Church in the Netherlands. From the peak of constituting…40% of national population, today she has fallen to an almost complete disappearance. It is not difficult to see the cause of this: a movement, almost identical to the one in act in today’s Germany, that in Holland began almost immediately after Vatican II.

          I think it is not out of place to mention here the great schism that is threatening the Anglican Communion. The archbishops of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) have written a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, telling him that, unless he converts (the Church of England has approved homosexual marriage), they (who constitute…85% of all the Anglicans in the world) will no longer accept his leadership (as primus inter pares).

          4. The documents of the Synod Secretariat quote the Gospel, but not always to the point. They speak at length of the episode of Peter and Cornelius (in Acts 10-11), as if this proved that the Lord can order any kind of change in the behavior of the faithful. But the narrative of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) shows that the change involved is not any change whatever. It is a development that implies different phases in the realization of salvation. The universalist phase of salvation, already prefigured in the Old Testament, is now finally realized after the resurrection of Jesus. In a similar vein, Jesus says that he has come not to abolish the Law, but to bring it to fulfillment. The Holy Spirit proceeds gradually, but never falls into self-contradiction. St. [John] Henry Newman used to say that the true development of doctrine is homogeneous.

          I think that I need not say anything more on the reasons why you should face your Synod work with deep worry. I feel, instead, the importance of bringing to your notice certain problems of procedure of the Synod. The Synod Secretariat is very efficient at the art of manipulation.

          Because of what I am going to say, I can be easily accused of “conspiracy theory”, but I see clearly a whole plan of manipulation.

          They begin by saying that we must listen to all. Little by little they make us understand that among these “all” there are especially those whom we have “excluded.” Finally, we understand that what they mean are people who opt for a sexual morality different from that of Catholic tradition.

          In the small groups of dialogue of the continental phase, they often insist that “we must leave empty a chair for those who are absent, who have been emarginated by us.”  They also say: “The Synod must conclude with a universal inclusion, must enlarge the tent, all welcome, without judging them, without inviting them to conversion.”

          Often they claim not to have any agenda. This is truly an offense to our intelligence. Anybody can see which conclusions they are aiming at.

          They speak of “conversation in the Spirit” as if it were a magical formula. And they invite all to expect “surprises” from the Spirit (evidently they are already informed which surprises to expect). “Conversation, no discussion! Discussions create divisions!” Does this mean that consensus and unanimity happen miraculously? It seems to me that at Vatican II, before reaching an almost unanimous conclusion, they devoted a lot of time to spirited discussions. It was there that the Holy Spirit worked. To avoid discussions is to avoid the truth.

          You must not obey them, when they tell you to go and pray, interrupting the sessions of the Synod. Tell them that it is ridiculous to think that the Holy Spirit is waiting for these your prayers offered at the last moment. Before the Synod, you and your faithful must already have accumulated a mountain of prayers, as Pope John XXIII did before Vatican II, making pilgrimages to various churches, praying for the Council.

          During the Synod, the Holy Spirit will be busy working in your hearts, hoping that you all accept his inspirations.

          “Let us begin“, they say, “with small groups.” This way of proceeding is clearly wrong. What is needed is, first, to let all speak and to let all hear in the Assembly. In this way, the most controversial problems emerge, problems in need of an adequate discussion.

          In the small “language groups,” then, it is possible, using one’s own language, to deeply probe into the problems at ease, concluding with the formulation of concise deliberations. We should insist on the procedure followed in so many Synods, not because “it has always been like that,” but because it is the reasonable thing to do (to want to proceed differently justifies the suspicion that what is wanted is to avoid the discovery of the true inspiration of the Holy Spirit).

          On the Internet I see a lot of talk about “yes to voting, no to voting.” But if no vote is taken, how can one know the fruit of so much dialogue? To avoid voting is also to avoid truth.

          The voting. Without any consultation, in the proximity of the beginning of the Synod, the Holy Father adds a number of lay members with right of voting. If I were one of the members of the Synod, I would place a strong protest, because this decision radically changes the nature of the Synod, which Pope Paul VI had intended as an instrument of episcopal collegiality, even if, in the spirit of synodality, lay observers were admitted with the possibility to speak out. To you I do not suggest a protest, but at least a sweet lament with a request: that at least the votes of the Bishops and the votes of the lay people be counted separately (this has been granted to the bishops even by the “synodal path” of Germany). To give the vote to lay people could appear to mean that respect is shown for the sensus fidelium, but are they sure that these lay people who have been invited are fideles? That these lay people at least still go to church? As a matter of fact, these lay people have not been elected by the Christian people.

          There has been no explanation at all for the addition (halfway through) of another synodal session for 2024. My malicious suspicion is that the organizers, not sure to be able to reach during this session their goals, are opting for more time to maneuver. But, if what the Holy Spirit has wanted to say is clarified through the voting of the bishops, what is the need of another session?

          ….Old as I am, I have nothing to gain and nothing to lose. I will be happy to have done what I feel is my duty to do.

          I am aware that in the Synod on the Family, the Holy Father rejected suggestions presented by several Cardinals and Bishops precisely regarding the procedure. If you, however, respectfully present a petition supported by numerous signatories, perhaps this will be accepted. In any case, you will have done your duty. To accept an unreasonable procedure is to condemn the Synod to failure.

          …..I wish you a fruitful and, if necessary, courageous participation to this Synod that, in any case, will be without precedents.

I am, your humble brother,

+ Joseph Zen

October 6, 2023

On October 3 critics of the Synod, including Cardinal Burke, spoke at a conference in Rome.

Prior Threads:

Squaring off. Five Cardinals, the Pope, and the Synod on Synodality.

Lex Anteinternet: Difficult burdens. More on the Synod On Syodality.

Lex Anteinternet: Ezekiel and the Synod on Synodality.

Lex Anteinternet: Dread and the Synod on Synodality.