The Roman Catholic Church is taking hits on many fronts, even if many of those hits are coming from within the Church.
Proof of this is the current friction between Catholic conservatives and progressives with Pope Francis’ call for a worldwide Synodal Process (“A Church that Listens”). A prime example is the German Church where the Synodal Path has gone full radical tilt, in effect turning the Catechism of Catholic Church on its head. German Catholic bishops have called for a Rite for same sex blessings, the end of celibacy for priests, and the ordination of women as deacons. In addition, the League of German Catholic Youth, an official Church organization, has called for (sacramental) gay marriage, the ordination of women as priests and full support for abortion.
Catholic bishops in Belgium have already implemented a liturgical same-sex blessing despite the Pope’s disapproval.
Obviously, this is not the same Catholic Church that people used to say was “as unchangeable as a rock.”
Meanwhile, ordinary Catholics are in a state of confusion. Gay Catholics can revel in their sexuality and go to Dignity Masses where the liturgical language is fraught with pronoun ideology, while gays who adhere to the Church’s (current) position on homosexuality (the orientation is not a sin but acting on it, is) join Courage, a group that fosters celibacy. Yet as the Synodal Process continues and as more and more countries come around to the German Church way of thinking, the more Courage members will seem like outdated dinosaurs or self-destructive masochists who are hopelessly tied to an old doctrine that no longer means anything.
Ten years from now I can easily imagine a Catholic bishop telling Courage members: “Your theology is out of date. Stop drowning in Inquisitional mud!”
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