Meet the New Synodal ("Walking Together") Mascot! "BLATHER"!

What a brilliant idea for a mascot for the heretical talking shop that the so-called 'Synod on Synodality' has turned out to be, not that I ever expected anything else.

From Fr Z's Blog

From my good friend and the Official Parodohymnodist of the blog, Fr. Tim Ferguson about a matter of great importance for the synodal (“walking together”) process (emphases added):

I was thinking this morning (dangerous occupation) about the Synodal Synod on Synodal Synodality, and the recent graphics issued. I’m sure there will be more, and probably even more artwork issued (who will take Fr. Rapenik’s place as artist laureate?).

But, thinking of the Olympics, what’s missing is a synodal mascot.

Since a mascot needs to exemplify the event, but also drum up interest and support in it, a mascot should be cute and cuddly.

Since the synod is largely useless, the mascot should be similarly useless. It should be something that makes little evolutionary sense and adds next to nothing to the ecosystem in which is dwells.

My first thought to propose for a synod mascot was a panda – cuddly, cute, endearing, but totally and entirely useless (I was sorely disappointed on a recent trip to Green Bay to find that the ubiquitous chain, Panda Express, offers absolutely no panda-based entrees, express or otherwise). But, upon reflection, a standard panda would not be a good mascot for the Synod, since their coloration is black and white. And if there is anything we are learning from the synod is that nothing is black and white anymore.

That led to consideration of the red panda, but it has a problematic name. For most in the world “red” is associated with socialism, and while the synod has many seemingly socialist tendencies, I’m not sure the organizers want that aspect of synodality to be widely known. Here in the States, red has become synonymous with the Republican party, and that would hardly be appropriate for an association with synodality.

So, back to Wikipedia to look for a more appropriate mascot. Then, I happened upon the quokka. It is cute, cuddly, and entirely useless. It provides little food, it has a very narrow habitat. While it appears to smile and be friendly, like the synod, these appealing aspects are largely a lie. It does not smile, it’s face is just made that way. When threatened, a mother quokka will throw her offspring in the way of the predator and make her escape. It is willing to throw the children under the bus, as it were, in order to preserve itself. Much like the synod.

Many celebrities have taken selfies with quokkas, they just love the little buggers, but again, its just for show.

Quokkas are also quickly going extinct, their population declining by half in recent decades, and are down to just a few thousand wild members, mostly in the brush around Perth.

I propose that we name him (or her) Blather, the Synodal Quokka.

He added.

I have no artistic skill, but by googling, I found this page of quokka pictures that are freely reproducible. Perhaps someone with better artistic skill than I could develop a cartoon for the synodal mascot Quokka.

Rhymes with “wokka”?

This rendition seems good, down to the selfie-stick.   It’s there for others… also.