Motu Proprio – Pendulum swings and a “Reboot”

In yesterday’s reporting on the Motu Proprio, the article in Die Welt made a point of stating that their will be no “reboot”. In effect, trying to warn people that it won’t magically become 1962 again and we all get a “do over”. Like it all never happened. I guess it is human nature to wish for some sort of magical restoration to all that is good and holy. But I can’t help but wonder if that is really what the “reform of the reform” types really expect or even want. I saw an interesting quote today on CWNews.com:

Luther surely spoke very good sense when he compared humanity to a drunkard who, after falling off his horse on the right, falls off it next time on the left.
— C.S. Lewis

It is certainly not my intention that we get back on the horse from the left only to fall off again on the right. Most of the commentary (not all but most) that I have read in the past year as we have been waiting on the Motu Proprio seems to strike the proper balance. Actually, the longer we have waited the more balanced it has become. It has primarily focused on the “hermeneutic of continuity” and re-orientation rather than “reboot”. It is my expectation that after the champagne corks have been popped and the celebratory toasts are offered that a mature sobriety will set in as the real work of a generation begins.

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