Dutch bishop, Robert Mutsaerts, is questioning the presence of God in the Synodal process, saying the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with it.
“God is out of the picture in this damned synodal process,” he says.
Mutsaerts is the auxiliary bishop of Den Bosch in the Netherlands.
Critical of the working document for the Continental Phase of the Synod process, Mutsaerts, writing in Rorate Caeli, says the Synod “process provides a megaphone for non-Catholic views” and is “a path of recognition for those who do not feel adequately recognised in the Church.
“Among those who call for a more meaningful dialogue and a more welcoming space, we also find those who, for various reasons, feel a tension between belonging to the Church and their own loving relationships, such as: remarried divorced people, single parents, people living in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ people, etc.”
Mutsaerts says it is those who agree with the teachings of the Catholic Church are the ones who are excluded!
Concerned that the teaching office of a bishop is being reduced to simply implementing what is ultimately the greatest common denominator as the outcome of a raffle of opinions, Mutsaerts dismisses the listening sessions as “evaporated faith,” the process as “blasphemous” and the Working Document as a “sociological experiment”.
“What is becoming increasingly clear is that the synodal process is going to be used to change a number of church positions, with the Holy Spirit then also being thrown into the fray as an advocate,” he says.
“How unpastoral, how unloving.
“People want sincere answers. They don’t want to go home with more questions.”
Taking his lead from Jesus walking with the apostles on the way to Emmaus, Mutsaerts says Jesus took a different approach to that proffered by Pope Francis’s Synod.
“He listened to the two disappointed disciples who were on their way to Emmaus. But at one point He took the floor and made it clear to them that they were going astray. That led them to turn around and return to Jerusalem.
“If we don’t turn around, we end up in Emmaus and are even further from home than we already are.”
Mutsaerts accuses the Synodal process of being without empathy for traditionalists and has ‘dropped out’ of the Synodal process labelling it as a “process that prevents people from Salvation.”
Mutsaerts is an opponent of Pope Francis’ apostolic letter, Traditionis custodes, that restricts use of the Latin Mass.
In July 2021, he described Traditionis custodes as a “declaration of war”.
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