Iona Institute Talk on the Synod: Fr. Vincent Twomey speaks on Church of Mercy, Church of Standards

From the Iona Institute:  The Iona Institute: Fr. Vincent Twomey: Church of Mercy, Church of Standards

Synod on Family was gravely irresponsible for causing confusion

An article from the Irish Times by Fr. Vincent Twomey SVD, Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology in Maynooth

This Synod is extraordinary in more ways than one. It is extraordinary in the simple sense of being merely preparatory to the actual or ordinary Synod that will take place in 12 months’ time.

But the Synod is also extraordinary in the more colloquial sense of the term. Cardinal Kasper’s address to the February meeting of cardinals in preparation for the Synod set the agenda. It was widely publicised in various languages and actively promoted by the author in interviews and talks around the world. It expressed his life-long campaign to allow divorced and civilly remarried faithful receive Holy Communion in certain restricted circumstances. He has not come up with one convincing answer to the theological critique that has been made of his essentially casuistic position.

The issue of remarried divorcees is a real pastoral problem in Western Europe and North America but is not the only one, nor the most pressing one. And yet it became the focus of an intense pre-synodal debate, distracting attention from more central issues such as widespread cohabitation, child welfare, and pornography in the West, polygamy in Africa, or interreligious marriage in Asia. What is most strange is that the whole area of so-called artificial reproduction (IVF, surrogacy, etc) never surfaced in any report.

Above article from and continued here:  Irish Times - Synod feeds secular agenda hostile to traditional family

The Christopher Inn International - Working for the Catholic Priesthood

In an age in which the Church is discovering the full meaning of the co-responsibility of the laity, in continuity with the whole history of the Church and in consonance with the Church’s divine constitution, many lay faithful are asking: what can we do to help our shepherds? Seeing the great good that so many priests do, and appreciating the irreplaceable role of service that those in ordained ministry carry out, a small but dedicated group of lay faithful are seeking to provide a space in which priests and bishops can find the encouragement and sustenance they need – a place apart – and yet created with a view to helping priests in their vital service of shepherding the faithful: a place they are calling the Christopher Inn International.

Link:  Christopher Inn Website