In a report last Friday, LifeSiteNews added to the news of apostasy in Ireland, the first same-sex civil unions in Rome, and the unsurprising report about a secret meeting of German bishops looking for a way to dispense with the Sixth Commandment. This time, they shed some light on the bishops of Switzerland — not as neutral as you might care to think — who are apparently also great fans of the zeitgeist:

In a highly controversial May 5 release, the Swiss Bishops’ Conference published a report on the results of the questionnaire they received from the Synod of Bishops on the Family concerning questions of marriage and the family.  The report to be sent to Rome in preparation for the upcoming Synod of Bishops in Rome, in October of 2015, suggests radical departure from the Catholic faith. It demands communion for remarried divorcees, calls for blessing on homosexual relationships, and even disparages the Holy Family of Nazareth as a model for families.

The press release notes that the majority of the participants of the discussion groups whose responses formed the basis of the report are involved in the pastoral care of the faithful and in catechetical instruction and also members of parish women’s and youth groups.  And while that demonstrates the poverty of the Church in Switzerland, faithful Catholics there have contested the report and its compilation as agenda-driven and manipulated.  For instance, of the 570 submissions for the report, a conservative group of Catholics representing more than 60,000 members was counted as only one report, whereas left-leaning parish groups of 11 were also given one report.

Here are some of the shocking proposals and statements given without negative comment by the bishops’ report:

• Only a small minority of the submissions show the desire to adhere strictly to the present teaching of the Church and her strict discipline.
• The exclusion of remarried divorcees from the Sacraments has to be terminated.
• Partnerships of male and female homosexuals should have their place within the Church.
• Even if the majority rejects putting the homosexual partnerships on the same level as sacramental marriages, there is  still a strong approval for the Church’s extended blessing upon such partnerships.
• The Holy Family does not appear at all as an ideal form of the family, but rather it is regarded more in its Biblically described brokenness.
• The Holy Family does not at all correspond to the Church’s ideal of a family.

Supporting the faithful Catholics outraged by the report is Bishop Marian Eleganti of Chur in eastern Switzerland. In a statement on the website of his diocese, Bishop Eleganti writes: “Do we have to give our blessing [as bishops] to everything people do nowadays?”

The answer to that last question appears to be yes, at least if many of the bishops are to be believed. You may recall what I said recently about the coming persecution? The speed of this demonic surge is breathtaking, and far too many successors of the apostles are in on it.

I can’t help but take note of Archbishop Martin of Dublin’s rhetorical musing about the overwhelming passage of pro-sodomite marriage laws in his country last week – laws he refused to campaign against as the leader of Dublin’s Catholic Church.

I think really the church needs to do a reality check right across the board, to look at the areas in which we’re doing well and see have we drifted away completely from young people. …We’re becoming a church of the like-minded, and a safe space for the like-minded, rather than the Church which Pope Francis is talking about which reaches out.

Yes, your excellency, the Church does need to do a reality check. But it’s not the one you’re thinking of. Something a tad more… eternal, is what I have in mind.