The book, A Pastoral Revolution: Six Talismanic Words in the Ecclesial Debate on the Family by Guido Vignelli, focuses on six terms that are often misused by progressivists in the Church. These words are called “talismanic” words because they exert an almost magical influence upon a word’s legitimate meaning. The distorted word is then used repeatedly in this new context, until the new meaning favoring progressive ideas becomes commonly accepted.
The following excerpt briefly explains how the meaning of the word “pastoral” has been changed.
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What Is Meant by the Word Pastoral
In current ecclesiastical language, the word pastoral tends to gradually take on a different meaning and a much broader scope which unveil its possibly talismanic role.
In a first stage, pastoral is no longer understood as the art of evangelization and Church government but as the supreme rule of Christianity in all its dimensions: dogmatic, moral, liturgical, and canonical. Therefore, every truth and law is admissible only insofar as it is compatible with the supreme requirements of pastoral policy.
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Thus, a new pastoral policy is born, one that is understood not as the art of converting men to God by welcoming them in the Church, but as a pedagogy of dialogue and encounter among equals between the Church and humanity in its concrete historical and social situation, in order to achieve universal peace together. This is done in the name of a Christian realism which would impose a compromise between passively enduring the world and irresponsibly rejecting it.
In a second stage, pastoral policy takes a step forward and becomes the art of adapting the Church to the needs of modernity, by inserting it into both history, as the latter unfolds, and the evolution of the cosmos. For example, pastoral policy is supposedly endowed with the prophetic mission of adapting social and family realities to the present anthropological mutation.
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At the end of this process, a reversal takes place: Instead of adapting life to truth, truth is adapted to life, and therefore pastoral policy is no longer a way but a goal, not a means but an end. As a result, the evolution of pastoral policy as a talismanic word is likely to transship the faithful from Christianity to a secularized humanism: No longer God first, but man.
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As can be seen, the use of “talismanic” words can be dangerous to the integrity of the Fatih. For a more complete understanding, read this important book that can be purchased here or downloaded at no charge by using this link.
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