I am enclosing an update to the Roman Catholic Church’s Synod on Synodality. Many of you know that this has been a process unfolding over the past several years. In October 2023, once all the documents were reviewed by the working groups, selected Cardinals, bishops, priests, and laymen and women gathered for a three-week conversation in Rome. Based on the roundtable discussions, additional work was done in committees from November 2023 until September 2024. The second gathering of the same group of people will reconvene in Rome in October.
The Synod will convene in Rome on Wednesday, October 2nd and will conclude on Sunday, October 27th. Is it the end? No. The Synod is mean to become a way of life for the Church. It is meant to start again, adapt to the times, adjust itself, and continue to learn how to go forward.
What’s the point?
The whole point of the Synod is to implement a process of dialogue and listening at all levels of the church. Pope Francis has often spoken about a culture of encounter where we see the humanity in each other and find commonalities during a time of loneliness, disconnectedness, and tribalism. The church realizes that it is nearly impossible to govern a worldwide communion, where Catholicism is growing in Africa and Asia and is receding in the Western world. The goal is decentralization in order to respect the diversity and cultural practices of various regions.
The Church has been known for its ability to speak on certain dogmatic and moral issues within society. It is known less for its ability to listen meaningfully to discern the signs of the times. The Synod begins a process of walking together, learning from one another, and resolving issues locally yet in line with Scripture and church teachings.
The Church today encounters a secularity and realizes that God is operative in cultures. It is also looking at the other Christian denominations and seeing the need for a growing partnership and encounter. Ecumenism is a new frontier for the Church.
Only a change in style?
It is a big deal. The Church is adjusting its view of its place in the world and its responsibility for ecumenism, interfaith relationships, and improved relationships with nations. The Church continues to emerge from Vatican II that effectively put an end to the Church acting as a European monarchy. Today, it engages with diverse cultures as it seeks to promote expressions of worship within one’s local culture rather than imposing a culture that emerged out of its European roots.
This is what a change in style and vocabulary looks like:
Former way: command, laws, threats, coercion, monologue, ruling, exclusion, rivalry, hostility, distrust, and so on.
Current way: invitations, dialogue, cooperation, collaboration, partnership, freedom, inclusion, holiness, conscience, dignity, and so forth.
The Church is in a learning process because it is now listening to various voices, and especially to the voices that come from empty chairs. To be faithful to the Gospel, Church leaders are realizing they are not just responsible for those who sit in the pews, but also to those who do not feel welcome. The Church is getting out of its building and is learning to engage with those outside the walls of the Church.
Mostly, the Church collectively is trying to listen to the invitations of the Holy Spirit.
An end to clericalism, elitism, rigorism
A result of the Synod is to be pastorally sensitive and a Church that is known for its mercy, most especially to the poor and the marginalized. A consequence to listening, responding, and walking together is the dismantling of the structures of clericalism, elitism, and rigorism. Those ideologies can no longer exist when the Church truly listens and engages the needs of the time.
We want more. We want action.
We want results. In some ways, many will be sorely disappointed. Changing one’s style takes many years and great diligence. The Church first must learn to listen without judgment and then to encourage dialogue, which promotes compassionate understanding. It will take a long time, and we want results quicker. Well, this learning process will take decades and generations, and it is the only way forward. We are used to a Church that makes authoritative decisions and pronounced judgments. That is the way of the past and the Church realizes a new way is being created.
I get it. You want change in some areas of Church practice. You deserve to be heard, and you deserve to have the change realized. For instance, the Synod realized that it cannot simply talk about women’s roles and women’s equality, and then suggest that women wait a bit longer. This is an area of great deliberation.
Women Deacons?
A tangible easy fix for many is to ordain women to the diaconate as it can be a restored ministry within the history of the Church. Pope Francis established a commission in 2016 that ended up with the question: Were women who historically served as deacons ordained? This question is still under deliberation in this current Synod. The focus has shifted to baptized ministry. Pope Francis would like the current diaconate ministry to be focused less on liturgical functions and more on serving the poor and providing works of corporal mercy. Since there is no proof of ordination in historical precedence, Pope Francis is saying, “No,” to women as ordained deacons. This response surprises and hurts many people.
A Focus on Ministry
Pope Francis is focusing on baptism as the authority for ministry. More likely, the Synod may conclude that by virtue of baptism, laymen and laywomen may perform functions that are currently performed by male deacons. This could mean that the roles of Catechist that is present in many parts of the Church be elevated as an essential ministry. It may mean that properly trained laymen and laywomen preach at Masses, perform baptisms, funerals, and weddings, except for the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist. The Synod is trying to elevate the function and roles of ministry without dealing with the issue of holy orders. For some, this is not enough. For others, it is at least a way of looking at what ministry means and how the laity can be active ministers of the Gospel.
A Jubilee Year
At the start of the Church’s new year, December (Advent) 2024, a jubilee year will commence. The Church has a jubilee year every 25 years, and this year’s theme is Pilgrims of Hope. Jubilee years are embedded deep into the Judeo-Christian history when debts are forgiven, and prisoners are set free. This year, the Church urges nations to grant amnesty to prisoners and calls on the world’s most powerful entities to forgive the debts of poor countries.
It is also a year of ecumenism as the Church expands its friendship and cooperation with other Christian expressions of faith. The year 2025 marks the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, that established the Christian creed. It is designed to be a source of Christian unity, and the beginning of the path to unity with Orthodox Catholics as well.
The Church has much work ahead. Let us continue to pray to the Holy Spirit to lead us as we make our way forward so that we bring the mercy of God to our world.
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