OUT OF AFRICA: THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WRITING WITH CROOKED LINES TO CORRECT A FAULTY EMERGING THEOLOGY

We all know that the very, very rich and corrupt, co-opted  hierarchy of the German Church pushed mightily hard to impose its amorality on the Synod on the Family. Cardinal Kasper was eventually humiliated by his very own negative, and some would say racist remarks, about the African Church not having anything to teach the rich west who hold progressive views.

To make matters worse, Cardinal Kasper then lied about what he had said, typical of politicians, only to have the reporter play for the world the recorded words of Cardinal Kasper making his racist remarks.

This then led to calamity for Pope Francis who went into damage mode, placed some high ranking African Cardinals in places of real authority in the synod and to distance himself from the very one he had promoted, Cardinal Kasper.

I think the Holy Spirit was involved in the course correction!

I copy this from the Deacon's Bench:

Africa’s “Catholic moment”

January 7, 2015 by Deacon Greg Kandra

From George Weigel via The Pilot: 

According to an old Vatican aphorism, “We think in centuries here.” Viewed through that long-distance lens, the most important Catholic event of 2014 was the dramatic moment when Africa’s bishops emerged as effective, powerful proponents of dynamic orthodoxy in the world Church.

The scene was the Extraordinary Synod of 2014, called by Pope Francis to prepare the Synod of 2015 on the theme, “Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization.” The dramatic tension was provided by northern European bishops (principally German) and the Synod secretariat, who worked hard to reframe Synod 2014 as an inquest on a question long thought settled by the rest of the Church: the question of admitting the divorced and civilly remarried to holy Communion. The subplot in the drama came from the fact that the Church in Africa–rich in evangelical energy, firmly committed to orthodoxy, but very poor–is funded in large part by German Catholic development agencies (themselves the beneficiaries of the “Church tax” collected by the German federal government). 

So it took considerable courage for African bishops at Synod 2014 to challenge the Germans and their allies. It’s not a big secret that there’s a lot of racism left in Europe, where the best and the brightest often imagine themselves beyond the “taboos” that beset Africans (as one German cardinal inelegantly put it). Nor is it a secret that African prelates are too often regarded by some first world Catholics as second-class citizens: charming, you know, but not-quite the A-team. Thus it doubtless came as a surprise to those pressing to change-what-cannot-be-changed in the Church’s ancient sacramental discipline when the African bishops declined to defer to their former European masters and determinedly made two points.

Read on to learn what those points are.