Divorced – Remarried and Disenfranchised

Church Current, Matt.15:8-9 November 4, 2014

“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt 15:8-9

What will they do?
Roman Catholic Church reforms continue as this website of the Outcast Eagles has forecast it would. Bishops from around the world are scheduled to meet at the Vatican for the October 2014 Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

The two week meeting of select bishops from around the globe is the first of its kind as church leaders will be putting their heads together, working through what is being dubbed as: Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization.

As The E.O.E reported, the Pope’s taking of the name Francis was a portent of a broad sweeping array of reforms to get the Catholic Church up to speed with modern humanistic societies on every continent. This reform of divorce in the United States especially, is just the beginning of this worldly action on the part of Francis the First. Issues that the Church has held fast to for more than a thousand years like abortion, contraception, sex outside marriage, divorce, single-parent families, homosexuality and same-sex marriage will fall by the wayside in short order. Francis is paving the way for this.

By way of his absolute monarchical power, Francis, the reformer is in the process of turning upside down church law, dogma and institutional organization as he conspires to reposition the Roman Church into worldwide conformity that will give it political as well as religious voice among the nations of the world. The world’s humanistic demands weigh heavily upon the antiquated church and Francis knows if the Vatican is to become the leader of the new world religion, a suitable mouthpiece for the coming international unity of faiths and governments, then big changes have to come.

Family
The family holds the core values and is the starting point of security for every culture throughout the world. Because it has seen dramatic change in the last few generations (a sign in itself of the end-times) they are the place for the Pope to begin. These changes have reflected the social climate of a more apostate world governed by an increased rejection, even at times a hatred of God. Most churches around the globe have made concessions never thought of in order to keep pace and keep members. The Roman Church can no longer withstand the pressures being brought to bear by worldly voices in the secular world and anti-christ religions of humanism. Francis has exhibited moves toward church reform that are likely to come with a greater stir than any that surrounded his predecessor Pope Paul VI of the Second Vatican Council. Giving homilies and making prayers, approaching leaders of religions that reject the divinity of Christ, praying with them with respect for humanistic pressures has been only the precursor to his program of worldly ecumenism. His Church which he lords over must conform. The recent group wedding of 20 couples which he presided over was a grandstand move that made headlines having the flavor of the late heretical Sun Myung Moon rather than a Christian wedding. The carefully selected “modern” couples represented the different social backgrounds of Catholics who are likely to cohabit before marriage, use contraception freely and divorce and remarry without seeking an annulment. They represent the future growth of the Catholic faithful. The reforming pope has the power to act arbitrarily but he is doing this with the full support of the Cardinals who elected him and have raised him to the heights of absolute power on the throne of Rome. He can get away with anything he wants to do.

He will continue to move on with his “who am I to judge”. The rank and file parishioners not only are ready to follow him, they are the ones who demand that he takes them into the 21st Century. He knows he must make changes to move away from the stagnant times of an old separated world into the new fluid times that a one world society is producing through instant travel, high speed internet and world economy. The religion forming out of this demands that the Roman Church keep pace, listen to the voice of the people which now can be heard instantly. The Pope lives in a fluid world, an ever-changing society where the people are inclined to listen to themselves on social media rather than him. He knows he must get their ear and he must cater to the demands of the real world.

The October 2014 Synod is not likely to produce immediate change through encyclical decree or by a Papal Bull (though it could). But that will not mean there is no change. The Papacy always gives license by example as Francis has done already in his sixteen month reign. Turning a blind eye, the ongoing operating reform filters down through the bishops to the clergy and then is stamped with approval by synods, homilies, or blessings from the Pope. Francis, saying who was he to judge a homosexual, gave license for every archbishop, bishop, priest, nun or congregate to say and live the same thing. The change has already been announced; the operation of it is just a matter of time and form.

Looming in the air right now are sweeping changes. Questions about Communion for the divorced and remarried, how to make the process of annulment less stringent and more expedient, the use of artificial contraceptives, sex for a man and woman living together outside the sacrament of marriage. Tougher questions draw attention when gay marriage is recognized in a country and how priests minister to same-sex couples, including how churches can respond when gays seek a religious education or Holy Communion for their children. Announcements on any and all of these are in the offing. When the Pope makes a statement on these, even when he is just holding a service, then it is something unlikely to be overturned by the synods that are scheduled. There is an ‘Extraordinary Synod’ this October’ and already scheduled is next year’s October 2015 General Synod when decisions will begin to be made and announced. They will have been decided before the archbishops convene. Benedict stepped down to let Francis take over. The Enclave of the Curia of Cardinals voted him in unanimously. What Francis says goes and he doesn’t say things without thinking about it first, anymore than a savvy politician is inclined not to think before he speaks.

After decades of outdated traditional Catholic dogma dictating the personal lives of adherents, the Pontiff as “bridge builder of Rome”, stands poised and ready to bring about needed changes that the pressures of society have been demanding and make way for the alienated to return. He is building a bridge to the world so that Catholics can have a leading voice in the world. He recently returned from the Far East where his whole mission was to till new ground for sprouting up economic and religious harvests for Rome and the Pope.

Francis will symbolically mark the conclusion of the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family on October 19, 2014 when he will perform a beatification ceremony for Pope Paul VI bringing him one step away from official sainthood. Paul VI established the Synod of Bishops “to make ever greater use of the bishops’ assistance in providing for the good of the universal Church.” This symbolic motion of Francis says that Paul VI was instrumental in the changes now being brought to bear by Vatican II and Francis I. Each radical move by Francis the revolutionist signals that even bigger change is coming