Taking a Break, Again

(From NASA/ISS, used w/o permission.)

Like I said a week ago, I'm taking a week off. Maybe two. (September 28, 2015)

I figure I'll reset my 'vacation' clock so it starts today. Writing about last week's tragic mass killing at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, took me away from light reading and serious goofing off. (October 4, 2015)

Then the second half of Synod 14 started yesterday: along with the usual breathless mainstream news coverage.

I'll be writing about it — after it's over, most likely. I'm seriously considering taking the rest of the month off, but like I said before: I can hold my breath, or not write, for a while; but eventually I have to breathe or write again.

About the Synod: I'm not awash in angst, drowning in despair, or wailing like a banshee. That's because I kept wondering how the Catholic Church could possibly have survived for two millennia. Eventually I knew too much, had to join, and that's another topic. (September 13, 2014)

Where was I? Tragedy, writing, Synod, angst. Right. I'm not howling like a banshee because I know that bishops can't rewrite the Decalogue, or change anything else in the deposit of faith. (October 12, 2014)

The Holy Spirit has been holding us up for two millennia, and I don't think that'll change this year. We were around before Rome fell. We've kept going, in spite of wars, plagues, and occasionally-appalling leadership.

Saintly Popes impressed me: but it was the anything-but-saintly ones who helped convince me that the Church had outside help. Human institutions simply don't last this long.(July 13, 2014)

I prefer getting information about events like Synod 14 from outfits that have a clue about my faith:

• NEWS.VA
  • "Pope Francis: full text of remarks at Synod opening"
    Vatican Radio (October 5, 2015)
  • "Synod on the Family: Press Briefing Day 1"
    Vatican Radio (October 5, 2015)
  • "Address of Pope Francis at the Prayer Vigil for the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops"
    NEWS.VA (October 3, 2015)
• Vatican.VA (English)
  • Synod of Bishops

I'm reasonably certain that Synod 14's documents will not boil down to "everything's fine the way it was in 1950: let's all go back then."

I'm also reasonably certain that folks who see 'the good old days' through rose-colored glasses, or their parents' tinted specs, will be shocked and horrified by whatever the Synod does say.

Some may decide that they're the only 'real' Catholics left in the whole world, and set up their very own little mini-church. That's happened before, and that's yet another topic.

Me? I'll read documents — the final drafts — coming from Synod 14, and keep following the Pope. More accurately, I'll keep following the authority our Lord gave Peter, held by the current Pope: and that's yet again another topic.

More, mostly about family, Synod 14, and being human:

• "Sex, Satan, and Me: Getting a Grip"
  (July 12, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Satan, Sin, and Being Human
  • Not Living in the Past
  • Respect, Dignity, and Drunk Driving
• "Holy Family, Not '50s Family"
  (December 28, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility: Keillor's Got a Point
  • Looking Ahead
• "Doomsday Du Jour — or — Doing My Job"
  (April 19, 2015)
  Particularly
  • Fizzled Doomsdays
  • A Willingness to Think
  • A Simple Message, and Mark 13:32-37
• "Yeats, Cthulhu, and Synod 14"
  (October 19, 2014)
  Particularly
  • Waiting a Year
  • "Tensions and Temptations"
  • Change Happens
• "Synod 14: What I Expect, and What I Don't"
  (October 12, 2014)
  Particularly
  • The Rules: Simple, not Easy
  • What Not to Expect
  • Same Mission, New Techniques