Tohu wa-bohu on the Tiber

Then there are Tohu wa-bohu (Jer. 4:23, citing Gen. 1:2): a Hebrew phrase that can be rendered as “chaos and confusion.” What we have emanating from Rome today is Tohu wa-bohu. Chaos and confusion, of the sort suggested by those three headlines, disturb the peace and unity of the Church, especially among its most devout people. Chaos and confusion are impediments to vocation recruitment: Many are willing to take up the burdens and challenges of priestly or consecrated life for the sake of a mystery of divine love; few are going to give their lives for a question mark (and those who do are almost certainly heading for trouble). Chaos and confusion are grave impediments to evangelization: Who wants to join the Church of Maybe, which is just the Church of the Zeitgeist, the Spirit of the Age tarted up with smells and bells?