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Thursday, October 6, 2016

Vatican: 2017 Synod on Married Priests Won’t Really Be On Married Priests (wink wink nudge nudge)

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Really...it won't be. Trust me! Really...it won't be. Trust me!

The rumor mill has been in overdrive recently that the next big topic of interest for the Pope and the possible topic of the next Synod will be married priests.

Today we learn, via Vatican announcement, that the topic of the next Synod will be “Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment.”

Huzzah! We’re saved!

Wait, there’s more!! Not only is the topic NOT married priests, we learn that the Bishops saved us from this fate by voting down the Pope’s preferred topic in 2014.

But according to one respected Vatican journalist, the synod – a meeting of bishops which will take place in 2014 – was nearly dedicated to a different theme: priestly celibacy.

Edward Pentin, Vatican correspondent of the National Catholic Register, reported that Pope Francis was “known to be keen” for the next synod to examine “priestly celibacy and a possible push to allow married priests”.

However, Pentin wrote, “That proposal was understood to have been voted down by the majority of members on the XIV Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops.”

Double Huzzah!! Boy, that was a close one, eh?

When I read this, my heart sank. You know what the real topic of the next Synod will be if they follow the playbook (and they always follow the playbook)? Priestly celibacy. Yup.

Let me take a moment to remind you that the topic of the previous Synod was not communion for the divorced and remarried or homosexual unions, but “family.”

All it took to twist this topic towards the Pope’s preferred topics for him to appoint a willing Cardinal to give a speech including those elements. Bingo, bango, presto!! Your synod is all about merciful sacrilege! And when the Bishops voted down this language in the first Synod cries of “Huzzah!! We’re saved” flooded the halls of the gullible. And then Pope included it anyway. And then after the second synod where they didn’t even get a vote, the seeds for what was to come were planted by the Pope, to be watered by the Pope in the awful Amoris Laetitia, and now the fruit is being born in diocesan instructions around the world.

This is the playbook folks and progressives follow the playbook.

So before you start cheering "Huzzah! We're saved!" even as the egg is headed for your face, do yourself a favor and duck.

The topic of this Synod includes the word "Vocations." All the Pope needed to be done in the topic selection has been done. Now the next step is as follows. The Pope selects from among those Cardinals that have proven themselves loyal, obsequious, and faithless. The appointed Cardinal can address the next consistory to kick off the next synod. In his speech on vocations, he need only include a small section like this.

“Are we to believe that the Holy Spirit cuts off His call to the universal priesthood just because of the rigidity of our rules.   No, such rigidity of heart cannot cut off the Holy Spirit! For this is already true in the eastern Churches and in the history of the west.   We must accompany all persons who continue to discern their vocation even after marriage!”

And so on. Voila! Your synod on vocations is now a Synod on priestly celibacy. Then the rest of the playbook proceeds on plan. Put a little ambiguous language in the synod docs. Let the Episcopal intransigentsia out themselves in a big show of meaningless resistance. Then include the same ambiguous calls for discernment in the final docs. The Pope will, in mind-bending language, call for individual Bishops to discern in their own dioceses individual vocations and circumstances that may allow for the ordination of some married men. Then Pandora’s box is opened. Priestly celibacy dies on the vine. All thanks to your synod that had nothing to do with priestly celibacy.

These people at the top of the Church are not clever, they are relentless. There is a difference. They are ruthless in their persistence of their goals and follow the playbook almost every time. Because the playbook works.

And here is the most important part. There is nothing you can do to stop it other than praying the rosary non-stop for God to put a stop to this. Pray the rosary. Do the first five Saturdays. Pray for the consecration. Buckle up, it is going to be a bumpy ride.


Catch Patrick's regular column in the Print/E-edition of The Remnant 


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Last modified on Thursday, October 6, 2016
Patrick Archbold

Patrick Archbold is co-founder of Creative Minority Report and a Catholic writer on the intersection of religion, culture, and politics. When not writing, Patrick is director of information technology at a large international logistics company. Patrick, his wife Terri, and their five children reside in Long Island, N.Y.

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