Does the heresy of gradualism inform the Synodal documents?
source : A Blog for Dallas area Catholics Weekend Reading: Does the heresy of gradualism inform the Synodal documents? Reader JF sent me a link to a very good post by Bones of That The Bones You Have Crushed May Thrill at the Guild of Blessed Titus Blandsma blog. It’s about the synodal documents and the heresy of gradualism. Gradualism in this case concerns the idea that God just doesn’t love us enough, or provide with adequate means of Grace, to keep us from sinning. We can only, at best, be expected to maybe gradually wean ourselves of grievous sin. This is the foundational error underlying the Kasperite position at the Synod, and it appears to have seeped directly into both the Relatio from last year’s Synod (which was not approved by the bishops) AND the new Instrumentum Laboris (statement of work) for this year’s Synod. I quote quite a bit of Bones’ analysis below, but there is much, much more at the link. Do go read it all, it’s very good: However, Cardinals Erdo, Baldisseri, Marx, Nichols and many others, as well as the later #Relatio and now the #Instrumentum laboris misrepresent this Law of Graduality and instead make it appear as if the law of Graduality also refers to ‘Gradiuality of the Law’ – i.e. the Principle of Gradualism – a Gradualist stategy (actually a heresy) – which is ironically exactly what Pope St JPII condemns in Familiaris Consortio 34, as well as in the beginning of Evangelium Vitae but most specifically in Veritatis Splendor 68. This was a direct response to the Bishops of Synod 1980 who wished active homosexuals, co-habiting couples and the divorced/civilly remarried to have access to the sacraments.
