Russ Douthat's Letter to 'the Academy'

I referenced this letter in an earlier post today, but it's soooo good, it deserves its own post.

First, because if the church admits the remarried to communion without an annulment — while also instituting an expedited, no-fault process for getting an annulment, as the pope is poised to do — the ancient Catholic teaching that marriage is “indissoluble” would become an empty signifier.

Second, because changing the church’s teaching on marriage in this way would unweave the larger Catholic view of sexuality, sin and the sacraments — severing confession’s relationship to communion, and giving cohabitation, same-sex unions and polygamy entirely reasonable claims to be accepted by the church.

Now this is, as you note, merely a columnist’s opinion. So I have listened carefully when credentialed theologians make the liberalizing case. What I have heard are three main claims. The first is that the changes being debated would be merely “pastoral” rather than “doctrinal,” and that so long as the church continues to say that marriage is indissoluble, nothing revolutionary will have transpired.

But this seems rather like claiming that China has not, in fact, undergone a market revolution because it’s still governed by self-described Marxists. No: In politics and religion alike, a doctrine emptied in practice is actually emptied, whatever official rhetoric suggests.

BAM.

We are experts in the stunt Pope Francis is trying to pull.

At the end of this post observing the chaos and destruction, our friends at Rorate ask "Why, why is the Pope doing this?"

We'll probably never know.

He seems to believe surrounding our families with effeminate priests and bishops spewing heresy is more clever than the catechetical practices of 2000 years of pope's before him.


All you can do is explain Catholic theology, show them their rotten fruit and ask them to stop. Just like we did when they did it in our schools, parishes, apostolates, at the Chancery and USCCB when they destroyed tens of millions of souls.

I couldn't count the number of times I did it. Maybe 1000. Out of all those times, only a few dozen or so ordained men approached the conversation because they were executing a stupid idea in good faith and wanted to know the truth.

The others respond with insults and slander and continue on their course.

Pope Francis appears to be the latter.

Scalfari revealed today that Pope Francis has told him his 'exhortation' will make claim that unrepentant adulterers are admitted to Communion.