In their recent CWR article, titled “The Scandalous Synod Report: a Betrayal of Trust,” Theresa Farnan and Mary Hasson did us all a great service in shedding a spotlight on the dangerous thrust of the recent final report from Synod Study Group #9. Their analysis illuminates the implications of this “working document,” a report with no ecclesial authority, but one that they argue will probably have an impact on pastoral practices throughout the Church. That is no doubt absolutely true.
The authors tell us that the Synod report proposes a “paradigm shift” in the Church’s approach to “the most difficult doctrinal, pastoral and ethical questions,” a change that is needed, say the Synod Fathers, given the seemingly intractable moral questions plaguing the Church. Farnan and Hasson provide an excellent analysis, leading to the indisputable conclusion that the main concern of the report is an “appalling effort to normalize same-sex sexual relationships,” and to settle the other “emerging” issues that seem to challenge the moral framework within which the Church has operated for centuries.
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