If you look at all of history’s great converts (St. Paul, St. Augustine…) you will see that they are characters who were fine where they were, but who ended up feeling a little stronger than them themselves and their constructs: the proofs . Or the truth, as they called it. And since then they’d rather get themselves killed to proclaim it. I too am a convert. Not great of course, but I was fine too before having to face hordes of trolls, critics, haters, and abusers (some of which you can find below in the comments).
I followed Pannella before hitting Via di Damascus. And like Saint Paul and Saint Augustine, who knew nothing of what had hit me, I needed someone to explain it to me, to tell me what to do now, how to behave, how to live (now I know why). I discovered that this was the purpose of the church. If we want to count him among the great founders of religions, Christ left nothing written. He had merely built up his own staff, which he trained for three years before leaving. That is, he had created a church. He had entrusted every task to him. With the help of the mind. In fact, many things were left out during the three-year training. And immediately the apostles decided on something about which Christ left no instruction: Should Gentiles who became Christians be circumcised or not? After consulting the spirit, the apostles decided not to do so. And we guys are grateful to them.
Well, I was fortunate enough to convert when the church was still a church Council of Trent, who had the gift of speaking little and clearly: “Si quis dixerit…anathema sit”. “If anyone says such and such, let him be an abomination.” In fact, the life of a Christian who wishes to behave in this way is already difficult without being complicated by vagueness and vagueness. Yes, no, boh, you do it: that seems to be the current style. The most important thing is not to proselytize (ecchevvordi’?) and to get along with everyone. The last council was only “pastoral” and tried to do justice to the modern man of seventy years ago. AND From the concise language we passed to the catechisms of eight hundred pages, while the previous one had ten. We have also moved to a Mass that everyone can understand, so that when you cross, I don’t know, Spain, you hear it in Catalan, in Castilian, in Basque. I listen to it in Italian and since what I hear is always the same, it makes me think of the Beatles’ songs, which their lack of English made full of charm (they were silly lyrics otherwise). But be it.
We’re here at the famous synod, which is going to last, think about it, two years. Will it be open for gay weddings? Will he open the priesthood to women? Will it open at the pincopallino as long as it’s ecological? And isn’t it like the synod fathers – and mothers – are going to make a damn profit from all these openings? Bah, the important thing is the synodization. Even the famous Instrumentum laboris (and who knows why Latin is used here instead of tons of national languages; are you trying to discriminate?) seems to have been deliberately designed so that only they can read it. Can you see an ordinary believer sitting with clasped hands on a cold subway bench intending to buy a copy? And if so, what might answer the question: what about? Clerical language, nuanced, rounded, the important thing is to love one another, to set processes in motion, two steps forward and one step back, and then we’ll see, unlucky that we’re doing another synod in three years. But then what does “synodality” mean?
What needs to be exhausted in more or less permanent conferences? It will be the rainbow synod (journalists ask)? Personally I don’t think they will leave all routes open as usual. Yes, because if you let some in, it is certain that the others will leave. For Bertoldo, the question remains: why do gays attach so much importance to marriage? Why also priests? Why can’t women wait to be priests? Oh that there was someone happy to be in his place.
I close. I have kept the “Saint of the Day” column in the Giornale for thirty years and I know that the great reformers of religious orders made dry plants bloom by pruning them and restoring them to their original austerity. Were those who followed St. Francis and his extreme severity drawn to animals and the environment? Did Padre Pio draw crowds for his synodal approach? Hm.
Rino Cammilleri, June 22, 2023