Archbishop Charles Chaput aligned himself with Cardinal Raymond Burke on Monday night as a severe critic of the Synod on the Family. According to this news reports from David Gibson at RNS, +Chaput was asked about the synod at a First Things symposium, and replied: “I was very disturbed by what happened” at the synod. “I think confusion is of the devil, and I think the public image that came across was one of confusion.” This will be the line of attack from the Tutiorists of our day, those who believe the only means of evangelization entails a rigoristic moralism, to the synod: It created confusion. Is that claim true? Was confusion the result of the synod?
Confusion may come from the devil, but the synod came from Pope Francis. And, I would note two recent comments from those who actually attended the synod did not strike this note of confusion being spread abroad by the discussions of the synod fathers. In a blog post at the archdiocese of Washington website, Cardinal Donald Wuerl spoke about the synod process, the frank discussions of various “hot button” issues, and reading +Wuerl’s comments, I do not think he was confused nor did he suggest confusion was the principal outcome of the synod. In an interview with La Nacion, Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez of San Juan, Puerto Rico, also spoke about being a synod father and he seemed to think the gathering was not only worthwhile, but was to be commended for its frankness, that it was "a new chapter in the history of the Church." Again, I did not detect any confusion in the archbishop’s answers, nor did he whine about the synod sowing confusion among the faithful.
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