The ancient Roman historian Tacitus said that the Germans of his day had a strong tendency to folk assembly government, and that big decisions were decided by the whole tribe. The men of the whole tribe. Women could speak up and their opinions were heard.

He also said that priests inflicted the punishments.

Germany hasn’t changed much. They still have a propensity to tribal government – that is, when they haven’t given authority to a murdering nutcase – and priests are still inflicting punishment on the people of God.

What is the latest punishment these priests are cooking up like beery brats in the lardy frying pan?

I mean, of course, the Really Bad Idea that the German Church is going to undertake to have a “binding Synod”.

How bad is this idea? This idea is so bad that even Francis warned about it! And he wants a Synodal church. That’s how bad.

CNA got hold of the draft document for this Really Bad Binding German Synod Idea.

[…] The text would create a “Synodal Way of the Catholic Church in Germany” which “aims to address and clarify key issues such as: ‘authority and separation of powers,’ ‘sexual morality,’ ‘the priestly mode of life,’ ‘women at the service of ecclesiastical offices’ over a two-year period. The Synodal Assembly would be given the authority to pass resolutions in the name of the Church in Germany. The assembly will have up to 200 members, with the largest block, 70, coming from the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). German priests, religious, deacons, pastoral workers and other lay groups will also be represented. The 69 bishops who form the German bishops’ conference will be a minority of the membership. Each member – whether a bishop, a priest, or a layperson – will possess a single vote. […]

Does anyone think that this doesn’t fit, claw in glove, with the machinations of the Germans in the upcoming Amazonian Synod?

Does anyone think that this doesn’t connect to the loony Bishop Franz-Josef Bode’s promotion of homosexuality and Communion for everyone, adulterer or not? He’s, after all, only VP of the Caput Malorum Omnium (aka Germany) Bishops Conference.

Some things don’t change.

Returning to the ancient world for a moment, consider the ongoing influence of the ancient Roman limes.

The limes – not to be confused with what you put into your large and numerous Gins and Tonic after you’ve read about the antics of the Germans – was the boundary between the regions controlled by Rome and, on the other side, those controlled by the barbarians. The Romans fortified a frontier stretching some 3000 miles from Britain to the Black Sea. In Germany there were two massive sections along the Rhine and the Danube. You can visit interesting museums and reconstructions when you travel there today, as I did many years ago when I was studying archaeology and history.

Their impact today? It is interesting to note that – and this is a useful generalization – on the Roman side, people today still tend to drink wine, cook with olive oil, and the Catholic Church stayed relatively intact. On the barbarian side, people tend to drink more beer, cook with lard, and the Protestant Revolt took a strong hold.

It still has a strong hold, it seems, and the beery, lardy, revolt is still going on today.

Ubi vinum ibi Ecclesia Romana, as my old pastor used to quip. The Tyrolean, he, to the Prussian, me.