Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Second synod intervention at the synod of bishops on youth, Rome
By Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Philadelphia
Oct. 4, 2018
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Brothers,
In his opening Mass homily, the Holy Father described Jesus as “eternally young.” When I heard this, it reminded me of a song by the artist, Jay-Z, that was popular a few years ago. The song was entitled “Forever Young,” and it was a remake of a popular tune by the German group, Alphaville, from the 1980s. Jay-Z sang for the young — and for all of us — “I want to live forever and be forever young.”
The image of Jesus as “eternally young” is not only beautiful but powerful. As we deal with the many outside pressures on the Church today, and the problems we also face within our believing community, we need to remember that Jesus is alive and vigorous, and constantly offering his disciples an abundant new life. Thank you, Holy Father, for reminding us of that.
[hotblock]
Of course, the Jesus who came into the world as an infant did not end his mission as a youth. He matured into an adult man of courage, self-mastery, and mercy guided by justice and truth. He was a teacher both tender and forceful; understanding and patient — but also very clear about the kind of human choices and actions that would lead to God, and the kind that would not.
The wealthy societies of today’s world that style themselves as “developed” — including most notably my own — are in fact underdeveloped in their humanity. They’re frozen in a kind of moral adolescence; an adolescence which they’ve chosen for themselves and now seek to impose upon others.
The instrumentum does a good job of exploring the roots of that underdevelopment and the challenges to young people that flow from it. But it needs to be much stronger and more confident in presenting God’s Word and the person of Jesus Christ as the only path to a full and joyful humanity. And it needs to do this much earlier in the text.
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I believe that the Holy Spirit picked the Bishops, . If people keep on tearing down the Church and demanding answers that they want to hear ; are they not better off in the reformed churches. This is where people decide themselves out-with guidance from Holy Mother Church and the Holy Spirit. The oath, I believe ….. if you do not accept the Hierarchy , even with the errors that appeared , please shut up and join the Protestants and let the Faithful continue on our journey to salvation. It will be a long and rocky road, with bloody feet and torn nails. This is from a Scottish Catholic from Irish decent and left of centre Politics. I know what it is like to live in a secular hateful environment. We are catholic and we are here to stay. God Bless His Holiness Pope Francis and our Catholic Church
“please shut up and join the Protestants and let the Faithful continue on our journey to salvation” … wow …
Just a few relatively minor things:
1. The Truth must be fought for, and this cannot be done by ‘shutting up’.
2. Telling faithful Catholics to ‘join the Protestants’ seems a little hypocritical … shouldn’t you be convincing us to stay with the one true church?
3. If those questioning faithful think ‘your journey to salvation’ is misguided, wouldn’t you like to know the Truth?
Finally, our creed (‘oath’ as you put it) doesn’t state that we believe in and accept the hierarchy … it says that we believe God and the one holy catholic church that He created for us … and as shown throughout our 2000 year history, we’ve had some very misguided hierarchy that have been removed by good people questioning and demanding answers.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing …
This not the first crisis in the Church and it won’t be the last. During any crisis it is up to the laity to strengthen the Chuch, not weaken it. The sins of the Cardinals, Priests, Deacon and all involved in this great sin perpetrated on the innocent fall on their heads and they will answer for. We must pray for a cleansing from all involved in this matter and put an end to the hypocrisy occurring. The Church will survive this for we collectively are the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church established by Jesus the Christ, and the gates of the nether world will not prevail against it. GOD BLESS ALL WHO STAY FAITHFUL TO CHRIST TEACHINGS, and may all be forgiven for their falling away to the secular world.
Where is our archbishop??? Yes, I know that he is at the Synod on Youth. However, he and perhaps his auxiliary bishops should be out among the Catholics of the archdiocese. Our bishops need to hear from us. Are they hiding? The current church scandals have really angered and disillusioned many. Many parishes have held brief prayer services and then discussion sessions. Why are bishops not doing this? If not every parish, why not clusters of parishes?
These sessions will not be easy but we need to see them and they need to hear from us directly. Otherwise, all looks too controlled and managed. At the moment episcopal management is certainly at a low point.