Laying claim

...this is hardly a valid excuse Why not lengthen the time of preparation, or, if need be, entrust the synodal proceedings to a committee of bishops and theologians chosen by the synod, and then reconvene later to is>sue the final statement9 The synod of bishops owes it to the church to take their role and work seriously What would have happened to the church after the epochal Council of Jerusalem (which also had its detractors who wanted to undo it) if Paul had said ' 'Here are some notes, why don't you issue a statement in my name on that 'Judaizer question'7' " Instead, Paul issued his own statement and "withstood Cephas to his face" (see Gal 2 11 ff) Right now we could do with a little more of that spint PAUL SURLIS (Father Paul Surhs is an associate professor of theology at St...

...this is our council...

...It made headlines when the council was prorogued because the bishops refused to accept the lists of names submitted to them by curial officials from which drafters of documents were to be chosen If the bishops had accepted the Curia's lists they would already have forfeited in advance many, if not most, of the reforms wruch later were achieved By refusing, the bishops said m effect...

...LAYMG CLAIM THE SYNOD MUST DEFINE ITSELF As THE special synod draws near and we continue to reflect on items for its agenda we ought to consider that the very nature and function of synods and the synodal process stand in need of clarification and reform It is dear that the intention of the Second Vatican Council in recommending the institution of a synod was to provide a system of checks-and-balances against curial bureaucracy which should be die civil service of the papacy and (be universal episcopate, but which in practice functions as a bureaucracy over the college of bishops Witness the U S hierarchy petitioning' Rome three times for permission to administer Communion in the hand' It mil be recalled that one of the most decisive events for the self-understanding of the bishops as participants in die Second Vatican Council occurred ul the very first days of the council...

...we make the decisions together with the pope The college of bishops now needs to claim the synod as theirs in a similar fashion At all times the synod has been greatly circumscribed in « its scope and function and this raises the further question vKho is the appropriate legislator for a system of checksaad-baiahces>> It is hardly the body whose very power is 'being curbed , , The synod did function as a somewhat independent , body for a time* and to it we owe the statement, "Justice 4b Jfce-World1' <PH)> which is to action on behalf of justice and concern for social transformation in our time what Chalcedon and Nicaea were to chrjtstology in theirs...

...John's University in New York ) 15 November 1985 629 black Amenca All the rest is but the contagious, contiguous step up from his "gutter" commentary Like false nationalism, this disease degenerates not only its fabricators but its hearers Julius Lester is correct when he says that no amount of poverty, deprivation, or suffering justifies hatred What little pottage, Maummar el-Qaddafi's $5 million pledge to the Reverend Farrakhan, for which to sell one's soul They are courageous who have spoken out clearly against the "filthy religion" of racial and religious bigotry They are prudent who have condemned it before it is sown in their community like weeds in the night And those are wise who, realizing the heart of the times, have not only condemned such hatred, but have instead watered that languishing garden which the Reverend Farrakhan seeks to invade and confiscate for his own SAVINGS BY FAITH Early during Mr Reagan's first term, a luncheon discussion of the economy took place at New York City's Lehrman Institute The discussion was off the record, but prominent among the participants were three individuals of very distinct political persuasions yet having in common the same initial letter of their last names Let us call it, for purposes of convenience only, K K'One was a young neohberal writer, now the editor of a major political weekly He led the discussion off with some cutting comments on the administration's tax favors for the rich K-Two was an older neoconservative intellectual, indeed a gentleman sometimes considered a "godfather" of the neoconservative movement He urbanely pooh-poohed K-One's allegedly pnggish (if not downright envious) concern with the opulent life-styles of the rich and infamous K-Three was a left-liberal, an economics writer, today a regular contributor to K-One's journal He kept pushing K-Two on the likelihood that the administration's supply-side economics were going to succeed Rich people save more money th,an poor people, savings equal new investments, new investments equal greater productivity, greater productivity equals more jobs and well-being all around K-Three appeared skeptical about each stage in this tnckle-up, then trickle-down chain of theory At one point, K-Three turned to K-Two and asked what measure K-Two would accept as a definitive test of whether the Reagan economics program was a success or failure K-Two did not hesitate Savings, he replied — whether the savings rate goes up as supply-siders predicted The savings rate did not, of course, go up In fact, it went down Most recently, it has gone down precipitously Has K-Two concluded that the administration's policy has been a failure, and withdrawn his support** Not to our knowledge Is this surprising** Not really When the world does not end on the day the prophet had foretold, the followers hardly ever abandon the prophet They make adjustments, they find new reasons for the old faith The pattern is familiar If it is particularly noteworthy in this case, that is only because Mr K-Two would be the first to deride this pattern when it is transferred from the Last Things to politics and economics Like so many neoconservatives, he is a scorner of "ideology" — up to a point Commonweal 630...

...The, same thing happened — more crucially — with the 1977 synod on the family We recall ArchbishopQutnn's initial attempt to call for reconsideration of^he papal teaching on the morality of artificial contraceptives and how quickly -'• Quinn retracted, presumably under pressure Again, the bishops issued no final statement as a body,'but the pope issued it for them, while taking care to restate his position on contraception as if it were that of the entire synod...

...However, the synod forfeited its (limited) independence in 1974...

...Then it entrusted to Paul VI responsibility for "its" Final statement on evangelization Thus-we got the "Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization/' Evangelu Nuntiandi, a document which, ironically, speaks about mculturating the Gospel more fully in local churches' The point at issue is not whether Evangelu Nuntiandi is a good or a bad statement, the point is what should have been a synodal statement became a papal-curutl one...

...The reason usually given by the synod for its failure to formulate d final statement is lack of time But...