Synodal Workshop in Uganda: Modernist Subversion of Seminary Formation
The Vatican News portal (November 13, 2025) reports on a two-day formation workshop at Uganda Martyrs’ Major Seminary, organized by the African Synodality Initiative (ASI). The event promoted “synodality as a way of life” under the guise of fostering “communion, participation, and mission.” Facilitators included Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, Fr. Marcel Uwineza, SJ, Sr. Anne Arabome, SSS, and lay practitioners who employed methods like “Conversation in the Spirit” to advance communal discernment. This initiative, part of ASI’s continental program, aims to prepare African clergy and laity for the 2028 Ecclesial Assembly, openly rejecting the hierarchical and doctrinal integrity of the Catholic Church.
Rejection of Hierarchical Authority Under False Pretense of “Journeying Together”
The workshop’s emphasis on “synodal pastoral leadership” directly contradicts the sine qua non of Catholic ecclesiology: the divine constitution of the Church as a hierarchical society. Pius XII’s encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi (1943) unequivocally states that Christ “established His Church as a perfect society, external of its kind and perceptible to the senses, which should carry on in the future the work of the salvation of the human race, under the leadership of one head.” By promoting “communal discernment” and “inclusive participation,” the ASI undermines the apostolic authority of bishops and priests, reducing the Church to a democratic debating society.
The facilitators’ backgrounds reveal their hostility to Tradition: Fr. Orobator, a delegate at the Synod on Synodality, has long advocated for doctrinal fluidity, while Sr. Arabome’s focus on “women’s vital role in ecclesial life” defies Pope Leo XIII’s condemnation of female encroachment on sacred offices (Acta Sanctae Sedis, Vol. 28). The very term “Conversation in the Spirit” parodies the Holy Ghost’s role, replacing divine guidance with subjective group consensus—a practice condemned as “modernist immanentism” in St. Pius X’s Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907).
Naturalism Masquerading as Spiritual Renewal
Nowhere does the article mention grace, sacraments, or the salvation of souls—the Church’s primary mission. Instead, it prioritizes secular objectives like “peacebuilding, gender, and social cohesion,” echoing the errors of the Sillonists condemned by St. Pius X: “They dream of a Christianity… which would allow a sort of sympathy to exist between all apostles of social reform” (Notre Charge Apostolique, 1910). The workshop’s methodology—”participatory and experiential”—exposes its roots in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s collectivist philosophy, not Catholic asceticism.
Ms. Ndanu Mung’ala’s focus on “listening to the signs of the times” inverts Christ’s command to “preach to all nations” (Matthew 28:19), reducing the Church to a passive observer of worldly trends. This aligns with the Modernist heresy that “truth changes with man” (Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors, Proposition 58). The absence of any reference to the Kingship of Christ—central to Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925)—confirms the workshop’s apostasy: “When men have given up the hope of eternal blessings, they will strive after earthly ones” (St. Augustine, City of God, Book XIX).
ASI: Trojan Horse for Continental Apostasy
The African Synodality Initiative’s workshops in Rwanda, Ivory Coast, and elsewhere are not pastoral formation but ideological colonization. By training seminarians in “synodal values,” ASI subverts priestly identity, transforming alter Christus into mere “facilitators” of human dialogue. This corrupts the very purpose of seminaries, defined by Pope Pius X as places where “young men must be prepared to fight for the Church” (Pieni L’Animo, 1906).
The 2028 Ecclesial Assembly—presented as a culmination of this process—aims to formalize a parallel “church” devoid of dogma, where “communion” replaces conversion and “mission” means social activism. This echoes the Masonic ideal of a “universal religion” synthesized from human opinions, condemned in Leo XIII’s Humanum Genus (1884).
Omissions That Condemn
The article’s silence on the following exposes its diabolical disorientation:
– No mention of the Mass, Confession, or Eucharistic adoration—the means ordained by Christ for sanctification.
– No warning that “Communion” in post-conciliar structures constitutes idolatry due to invalid rites and intentions.
– No acknowledgment of the Church’s duty to condemn error (2 John 1:10-11), replaced by a false “humility” that tolerates heresy.
Pius XI’s warning in Mortalium Animos (1928) resounds: “The union of Christians can only be fostered by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ.” This workshop, however, fosters apostasy—and souls formed in its image will be fit not for altars but for the abyss.
Source:
Uganda Martyrs’ Major Seminary hosts formation workshop on Synodality (vaticannews.va)
Date: 13.11.2025