Accompaniment: Part I - The lay of the Land…
When “journeying together” means walking in circles while the sanctuary burns.
“We accompany everyone.”
Translation: Everyone except those who still believe the Creed.
I. The New Creed of Comfort
The twentieth century gave us the atom bomb; the twenty-first gave us accompaniment.
Once, the Church taught truth; now she teaches tone.
Once she converted pagans; now she forms committees to “dialogue” with them.
The word accompaniment has become the sacred fig leaf covering the nakedness of a Church terrified of her own doctrine.
It is the theology of permanent adolescence, where every moral demand is postponed until “further discernment.”
The Council of Trent declared that grace heals and elevates nature (Sess. 6, ch. 7). Modern accompaniment declares that grace validates emotions.
And St. Paul’s command to “preach the word, in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2) has been re-translated to “facilitate a small-group conversation about people’s journeys.” Well, get ready because we’re going on one such “journey.”
II. Everyone Gets a Hug—Except the Faithful
In the parish of perpetual tolerance, sin gets therapy, dissent gets applause, and orthodoxy gets escorted to the parking lot.
If you’re in open rebellion against the moral law, congratulations: you’re the prodigal we’ve been waiting for! Come on in and walk through the Holy Door!
There’s a banner, a committee, and a PowerPoint just for you.
But if you kneel for Communion, quote Aquinas, or prefer the Te Deum to Table of Plenty, you are “rigid,” “divisive,” or—worst of all—“pre-Vatican-II.”
Accompaniment, it seems, is the art of walking with everyone away from the altar.
In diocesan newspeak, “inclusive” means everyone except those who actually believe.
III. Secularism in Vestments
The slogans of secular activism now parade in chasubles: dialogue, empowerment, building community.
The altar has become a TED stage; the homily, a therapy session.
Aquinas taught that charity wills the good of the other (ST II-II, q. 23, a. 1). Modern accompaniment teaches that charity wills the comfort of the other. The first saves souls; the second saves budgets.
When every truth must be “re-imagined” and every dogma “contextualized,” the only doctrine left is “don’t offend anyone.”
The Church that once instructed emperors now apologizes to bloggers.
IV. The Theology of Spinelessness
Today’s hierarchy fears two things more than hell: controversy and reverence.
Ask for chant? —fanatic.
Quote the Catechism? —Pharisee.
Suggest that the Mass is about God rather than community?—and the ushers will accompany you to the door.
This is not pastoral sensitivity; it is theological cowardice dressed in polyester.
The shepherd’s staff has been traded for a focus-group clipboard.
Instead of confronting wolves, we’re offering them coffee and a “welcome packet.”
V. What Accompaniment Actually Means
Scripture gives one true model: the Road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35).
Christ listens, yes—but He also rebukes: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe.”
He interprets the Scriptures, leads them to the Eucharist, and disappears once they recognize Him.
The journey ends in worship, not in perpetual wandering or “dialogue”.
Authentic accompaniment means patience without compromise, compassion ordered to conversion.
It is not moral relativism with better branding.
It is not exiling the reverent because their presence exposes the lukewarm.
The Council of Trent taught that justification requires cooperation with grace—faith working through love (Gal 5:6).
Modern accompaniment preaches justification by vibes alone.
VI. Relearning Courage
If accompaniment were genuine, priests would accompany the lost toward confession, not toward self-expression.
Bishops would accompany parishes toward reverence, not toward another “listening session.”
But that would require courage—the willingness to be hated for the truth.
Instead, we manage decline with pastoral buzzwords. We “journey together” through empty pews, “dialogue” our way out of vocations, and “listen” our way into irrelevance. The smoke of Satan has long since stopped being smoke; it’s the incense substitute in the average parish.
VII. The Real Call to Walk Together
To accompany someone in the Catholic sense is to pick up a cross beside them.
Anything less is counterfeit.
Let the Church accompany the sinner—but toward repentance.
Let her accompany the wounded—but toward the sacraments.
And let her finally accompany the faithful—those inconvenient souls who still believe the Creed—toward the altar where Christ, not consensus, reigns.
Until then, the laity will have to accompany the hierarchy—back to the Faith they forgot.
Notes
Council of Trent, Sess. VI, ch. 7: Grace “heals and elevates nature.”
St. Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, q. 23: Charity wills the good of the other.
Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium §169–173: Genuine accompaniment leads to discernment and maturity in the Christian life.
Galatians 5:6: Faith working through love—not feelings—justifies.