Two days ago, on Oct. 21, two men stole four statues of Our Lady of the Amazon from the Santa Maria in Traspontina Church in Rome and knocked them into the Tiber River. One of the statues had been presented to Pope Francis by the indigenous Catholic woman who lead the tree planting ceremony in the Vatican Gardens on Oct. 4, and he had blessed it.
I found out about the theft Monday morning, when I happened upon Taylor Marshall's YouTube video on the event. He was up in the middle of the night, sitting in the dark, with only his computer screen illuminating his face, and whispering his joy to the world. (Certainly that doesn't seem like the behavior of a conspiracy theorist...) I didn't spend any time watching his video once I ascertained what had happened. Highly disturbed, I clicked on the link he provided to the video footage of the crime. Then I went back and left a comment shaming the deed and Taylor's celebration of it. Of course, yesterday he and Timothy Gordon were arguing that stealing property from a church was not theft in this case. I didn't watch this video either. The verdict was contained in the headline.
I took all the hyper conservative, Pope Francis-bashing YouTube channels off my subscriptions and favorites list, and I'm thoroughly detoxing now from all of it. In addition to Marshall, this includes Michael Voris/Church Militant, The Remnant, Patrick Coffin, Lifesite News, and any of the other junk that kept coming up on my YouTube recommendations. I'm sure these guys all mean well, but as Mr. Knightley scolded, "Badly done, Emma! Very badly done!"
This admonishment goes for the cowardly men who stole the statues, anonymously, as well.
This stuff can become addictive, like a train wreck you can't take your eyes off. It can cause extreme anxiety and interfere with sleep. People's faith is being ruined by irresponsible, biased reporting and commentary. This cannot be of Our Lord. I strongly encourage anyone who has been likewise disturbed by the hysteria to put your gaze on something uplifting. Seek out Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Trust in God's sovereignty and his Vicar on Earth. As I've been saying, pray without ceasing. Offer up your suffering. Then it will not be wasted.
I do want to discuss Our Lady of the Amazon, and how she is not the goddess Pachamama, and the deeper implications of folks celebrating the yellow-bellied stunt of the thieves. But I'm going to do that in a separate post. All I wanted to say to all of these men, now notorious in my eyes, is "Badly done. Very badly done."
Oh Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother's breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul.
(Psalm 131: 1-2, RSV-2CE)
For now, the only commentary I'm following about what's going on in the Catholic Church, and especially regarding the Amazon Synod, is the Where Peter Is blog (wherepeteris.com), and Bishop Barron's YouTube channel. Taylor Marshall is still going on about the carved wooden statue of Our Lady of the Amazon being the pagan goddess Pachamama, Michael Voris is still sewing despair, and I can't listen to the disharmonic voices anymore. I want the quiet soul of the song of King David.
It seems that certain vocal members of the Church, once representing a centrist, conservative element, are becoming increasingly hyper conservative, taking a hard right toward the "rad trad" position. While stopping short of saying that Vatican II, Pope Francis, and the Ordinary Form of the Mass are invalid, some traditional Catholics nevertheless come across as wanting to erase the teachings and changes of the Council; and to shed doubt on the conclave that elected Francis as Benedict XVI's successor.
I'm not a theologian, and I don't think you have to be one in order to live as a faithful Catholic. Sometimes we strive to comprehend things that are perhaps a bit beyond us. We lean too much on our own understanding, and we forget that we will know what we need to know in God's time. During a period of confusion and uncertainty, it's beneficial to go back to the basics. Focus on prayer, Scripture, and the Fathers of the early Church.
This ressourcement, or a "return to the sources," is what the late Cardinal Henri de Lubac and his Communio school sought to accomplish in the aftermath of Vatican II. Faced on the one hand by a small number of bishops who wanted to reject the council, and on the other hand with a larger, too liberal faction, the Communio bishops persevered in a conservative but not regressive "middle path". This is the path continued on by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, which we see Pope Francis developing in his unique way.
Believing that Francis is actually working more along the excessively liberal lines represented by Karl Rahner, hyper conservative Catholics likewise lump Henri de Lubac into the category of heretics. Their solution to every ill of the Church is a return to the pre-conciliar traditionalism represented by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, which means jettisoning most of Vatican II and reverting, across the universal Church, to the Tridentine Mass and the pre-conciliar disciplines that go with it; ie., no female altar servers, receiving Communion on the tongue only, the predominance of the Latin language, no Eucharistic ministers, etc...
If there's one thing history teaches us, it's that we can't turn back the clock. As Catholics, we must hold to the traditions, both oral and written, left to us by Jesus and his Apostles. This is biblical. It's also a matter of Scripture and oral Tradition that we would see a development of doctrine over time. And that Jesus left us his Church as the ultimate pillar and foundation of Truth (1 Timothy 3: 15). Where Peter (the pope) is, there is the Church. This is what I cling to in these difficult times.
So my next step is to read some of the works of Henri de Lubac and prayerfully discern the orthodoxy of his theology. I will follow his lead in returning to the sources as a way of putting the history of the Church in its entirely into perspective. I'll cease hurting my brain with those current arguments "too great and too marvelous for me." I'll keep following St. Therese's little way and the humble wisdom of the Holy Father.
There are some testimonies that may prove helpful
and inspiring, but that we are not meant to copy, for that coud even
lead us astray from the one specific path that the Lord has in mind for
us. The important thing is that each believer discern his or her own
path, that they bring out the very best of themselves, the most personal
gifts that God has placed in their hearts (cf. 1 Cor 12:7), rather than
hopelessly trying to imitate something not meant for them.
-- Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate
In a recent post (see Sept. 21 article), I expressed concern about the then upcoming Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region and the dialogue over the interpretation of paganism in its working document. I'd been following various conservative Catholic news outlets and commentaries, especially the Dr. Taylor Marshall Show on YouTube and Michael Voris of Church Militant. Then came an indigenous Amazonian tree planting ceremony on Oct. 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, two days before the opening of the Synod on Oct. 6. Pope Francis has dedicated the Synod to the patronage of St. Francis.
I don't want to completely dismiss the concerns of faithful Catholics about Pope Francis and the Amazon Synod, but the reactionary firestorm I've been witnessing is leaving me cold. At a certain point I began to seek out other perspectives, wondering if the narrative I've been hearing is completely accurate and factual. Today I found the Where Peter Is blog and read Pedro Gabriel's article "Paganism in the Vatican? Hermeneutic of Suspicion at its Peak."
The author presents evidence that the tree planting ceremony was not indeed pagan, and that the much decried, carved wooden statue of a pregnant woman represents the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Amazon. The 2nd pregnant figure is believed to be St. Elizabeth, with the two women representing The Visitation. These are not, as the accusation has been put forth, fertility goddesses. I recommend reading Gabriel's complete article: https://wherepeteris.com/paganism-in-the-vatican-hermeneutic-of-suspicion-at-its-peak/.
I've become increasingly uncomfortable with what seems to me to be blatant disrespect for Pope Francis. I agree with Gabriel that a hermeneutic of suspicion, of treating every little thing the pope says and does through a preconceived, negatively critical lens, is at work here. I've also learned since publishing my Sept. 21, "three bad things" article that the working document for the Amazon Synod, Instrumentum Laboris, is not a magisterial document, but rather the blueprint for discussion during the Synod.
Language used in the working document that seems to signal an acceptance of paganism might instead be a reflection of the spirituality of the Amazonian peoples whom the Synod seeks to understand, help in their various needs, and evangelize. It seems more likely that what we have here is an approach of inculturation rather than religious syncretism. News reports have stated that Pope Francis intends to eventually destroy Instrumentum Laboris, and he has indicated his reliance on the Holy Spirit to guide the Synod and its outcomes.
Yes, the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is real and horrifying, and we can't sweep it under the rug. Perhaps Pope Francis could have responded to it better, but maybe he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Has the pope truly been using "weaponized ambiguity" to undermine the traditional teachings of the Church, as he has been accused? Is he really a Marxist, or does he simply have a deep devotion to helping the poor, the marginalized, and the migrant? As for his intentions in the realm of education, there might be cause for concern, but this remains to be seen.
I refuse to be worked into a frenzy over the narrative being presented by the anti-Francis, hyper conservative Catholic media. Theirs is one perspective, one side of the story. I recently viewed the YouTube video from Bishop Barron on his theological process, in which he presents his "middle path" between the radical Catholic liberals on the one hand, and the traditionalists who want to disregard Vatican II and return to a pre-conciliar version of the Church on the other. I think Bishop Barron's viewpoint is well worth looking into (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB6w4miLEc8).
The Catholic Church needs unity right now; and as she has always been, the Church founded by Jesus is unified under the authority of the pope, the successor of St. Peter. We would all do well not to forget that.
