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Pope Francis' challenge to become a synodal Church

 

The Synod on Synodality which concluded in Rome on 27 October has not issued stunning documents quite like the Second Vatican Council in 1965 with ‘The Church in the Modern World’, or its Declaration on Religious Freedom. However, Pope Francis wanted to promote something just as significant; he wanted the Church everywhere to learn or relearn the processes of participation involved with synodality. In its ‘Final Document: For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission’ the Synod identified ‘three practices that are intimately connected: ecclesial discernment, decision-making processes, and a culture of transparency, accountability and evaluation.’ (#11).

If I may use an analogy, the Church can be compared to a motor vehicle in urgent need of repairs. Instead of sending the car off just for minor repairs, panel-beating and a service, it is as if Francis is pulling out the old petrol-guzzling engine entirely, and replacing it with the best of electric engines fitted with the latest electronics so that it runs more smoothly and without damaging the environment with carbon emissions.

Francis is promoting synodality to renew the inner workings of how the Church should operate today, carrying forward the vision of the Second Vatican Council. He wants every part of the Church to work through the implications in their different circumstances, while of course still remaining in communion with the wider Church.

Australia had a first run at learning this process with the Plenary Council during 2021-2022 with widespread consultation and discussion at parish, diocesan and national levels. Anyone could join in, have their say in the listening sessions, and make recommendations for action. The Australian experience was closely watched overseas, and helped in the design of the Synod, including the practice of having round-table meetings, with lay men and women sitting as equals in conversation with leading churchmen and theologians, even the Pope himself, along with representatives from other churches and observers.

Pope Francis did not expect the Synod to make dramatic doctrinal changes, though there was definite progress on many issues, particularly recommendations for

  • support for expanding leadership roles for women: ‘There is no reason or impediment that should prevent women from carrying out leadership roles in the Church: what comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Additionally, the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open.’ (#60).
  • enhancing the equality of women: ‘‘Inequality between men and women is not part of God’s design… The widely expressed pain and suffering on the part of many women from every region and continent, both lay and consecrated, during the synodal process, reveal how often we fail to live up to this vision.’ (#52).
  • rejection  of clericalism: ‘Clericalism is based on the implicit assumption that those who have authority in the Church are not to be held to account for their actions and decisions as if they were isolated from or above the rest of the People of God.’ (#98).
  • wider participation: Participatory bodies  must ‘include the baptised who are committed to living their faith in the ordinary realities of life’, and not just those who serve in Church ministries. It may also be appropriate to invite representatives from other churches or religions. (#106).
  • Diocesan synods, parish and diocesan councils: ‘we insist that they be made mandatory, as was requested at all stages of the synodal process… in ways appropriate to their diverse local circumstances.’ (#104).
  • an ecumenical journey: ‘The path of synodality, which the Catholic Church is travelling, is and must be ecumenical.’ (#23).
  • openness to other Christians and religions: ‘A synodal church commits itself to walk this path alongside the believers of other religions and people of other beliefs wherever it lives.’ (#123). ‘Dialogue, encounter and exchange of gifts, typical of a synodal Church, are calls to open out to relation with other religious traditions, with the aim of “establishing friendship, peace, harmony and sharing moral and spiritual values and experiences in a spirit of truth and love.”’ (quoting the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, 9 March 2016). (#41).
  • In dialogue with cultures: ‘Being in the world and for the world, they walk together with all the peoples of the earth, in dialogue with their religions and cultures, recognising in them the seeds of the Word, journeying towards the Kingdom.’ (#17).
  • fuller recognition of the authority of episcopal conferences acting as a body. (#125).

 

The Synod asked local churches to continue using this ‘synodal methodology of consultation and discernment’ so they become the normal way of operating in the Church. This synodal process does not end with the Final Assembly, but can be implemented through the entire Church, bringing about a ‘tangible synodal conversion’, with ‘participation of all the baptised’. (#9).

 

'The Synod is possibly the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council, and we have barely begun to look at its implications. Pope Francis sees synodality with new forms of participation, engagement and transparency as being decisive in equipping the Church for its central mission, helping prepare our world for the coming of God’s Kingdom, including through work for justice and peace.'

 

Nevertheless, the Synod acknowledged that the Church has failed badly at times: ‘We identified our sins: against peace; against Creation; against indigenous people, migrants, children, women, and those who are poor; against failures in listening and in building communion.’ (#6).  

The Church has indeed been rocked in recent decades by the extent of sexual abuse by clergy and Church members, and the crisis loomed large at the Synod, which declared: ‘The Church must listen with particular attention and sensitivity to the voice of victims and survivors of abuse. This includes sexual, spiritual, economic and institutional abuse, as well as the abuse of power and conscience by members of the clergy…’ (#55). The Synod insisted it was ‘imperative’ that the Church everywhere ‘promotes a culture of prevention and safeguarding, making communities ever safer places for minors and vulnerable persons.’ This commitment must be strengthened, and safeguarding processes ‘constantly monitored and evaluated.’ (#150).

 

But is it an exercise in navel-gazing?

Some people were worried that the Synod was overly focused on internal Church matters and neglecting the wider social and cultural contexts. However the Synod was confident that by learning these new processes of synodality, the Church could more effectively engage with the great social and moral issues facing us – poverty, refugees, inequality, hunger, climate change and war.

Through his writings, diplomacy and personal connections Francis himself has been closely involved in efforts to end the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East especially. Some participants in the Synod came from these conflict zones. The Synod lamented the acute suffering in many countries, witnessing ‘the face of war-stricken terrorised children, weeping mothers… refugees who face terrible journeys, the victims of climate change and social injustice.’ The Synod joined with the Pope in ‘repeated appeals for peace, condemning the logic of violence, hatred and revenge and committing ourselves to promoting the logic of dialogue, fellowship and reconciliation.’ (#2)

‘We live in an age marked by ever increasing inequalities; growing disillusionment with traditional models of governance; disenchantment with the functioning of democracy; increasing autocratic and dictatorial tendencies; and the predominance of the market model without regard for the vulnerability of people and of creation. The temptation can be to resolve conflicts by force rather than by dialogue.’ (#47).

The Synod is possibly the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council, and we have barely begun to look at its implications. Pope Francis sees synodality with new forms of participation, engagement and transparency as being decisive in equipping the Church for its central mission, helping prepare our world for the coming of God’s Kingdom, including through work for justice and peace.

The Synod summed up concisely: ‘The themes of the Church’s social doctrine, such as commitment to peace and justice, care for our common home and intercultural and interreligious dialogue, must also be more widely shared among the People of God so that the action of missionary disciples can influence the construction of a more just and compassionate world. The commitment to defending life and human rights, for the proper ordering of society, for the dignity of work, for a fair and supportive economy, and an integral ecology is part of the evangelising mission that the Church is called to live and incarnate in history.’ (#151).

‘The Church’s synodality, thus, becomes a social prophecy, inspiring new paths in the political and economic spheres, as well as collaborating with all those who believe in fellowship and peace in an exchange of gifts with the world.’ (#153).

At the conclusion of the Synod on 26 October, Francis said he would not write another document to accompany the Final Document, which he said was to be considered part of the magisterium (full teaching authority) of the Church.

 

 


Bruce Duncan is a Redemptorist priest who lectured on Catholic social thought and movements at Yarra Theological Union for many years. 

 

Topic tags: Bruce Duncan, Pope Francis, Synod, Church

 

 

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Existing comments

Engaging as equals in conversation is more complex than many of us may envisage. The impact of two, or more, people deeply listening to each other and showing respect to often deep differences can be profound on a personal level. Can it be as profound at an institutional level? Pope Francis is an inspirational leader and I sense his love of people: from his writing and from the look in his eye. Synodality can only succeed though if the wounded, sometimes inarticulate, person who has sought refuge in a wounded Church experiences acceptance and validation. In a world which values dialogue change can occur through a look or a gesture. After Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem and after he entered into the temple he looked round about upon all things (Mark 11:11 KJV).


Pam | 14 November 2024  
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The proof of the proposed synodality's viability will be in its local acceptance.
The dot-pointed priorities listed are not those of many of "the baptised who are committed to living their faith in the ordinary realities of life" - especially those who experience marriage and parenthood as unsupported, if not under attack, by secular ideologies incompatible with the Gospel of Christ.


John RD | 14 November 2024  

Hi John RD, re the Gospel of Christ: after the verse I quoted in Mark 11:11, Jesus curses a fig tree, cleanses the temple, we learn the lesson from the withered fig tree and Jesus's authority is questioned. These are the ordinary realities of life for the faithful - inside and outside the temple.


Pam | 19 November 2024  

What is the definition of Synodal?
"An ecclesiastical governing or advisory council: such as : an assembly of bishops in the Roman Catholic Church."
Doesn't say anything about women in the definition, which is also pretty true of this church.
These synods are designed to preserve the status quo within the church. Nothing more, nothing less.


Francis Armstrong | 15 November 2024  

Not to hit the negative button but a timely critique is necessary.

Yesterday +Justin Welby was forced to resign on the abuse issue. How many Catholic bishops, with prior knowledge of abusers, actually resigned?

Instead, the Church moved straight into safeguarding, intended to secure the safety in our schools and other institutions of minors and other vulnerable persons among whom are undeniably some LGBTQIA+ students as well as adults enrolled and employed in them.

However, safeguarding, perverted, as it were, against its original intentions, is now employed as a device to pursue a 'Don't ask; don't tell' policy, cunningly crafted to placate its critics (who include two prominent archbishops) as well as to offer a supposedly 'safe-place' for the excluded.

How does this 'add-up' at the end of a year in which those who lead the Australian Catholic Church and who proudly proclaim that 'we teach who we authentically are' supported the very forces inimical to the removal of anti-discrimination exemptions?

Wasn't this also 'constructed' to secure the inflow of public revenue to our schools and other institutions?

And finally, where precisely did Jesus say or show that half the population are to be excluded from the ordained Catholic ministry? (And when will the enormous task of cultural change in this regard begin?)


Michael Furtado | 15 November 2024  

The Synod Final Document commits to a listening Church, replacing the autocratic patriarchal structure and culture with a truly synodal approach of listening to and respecting the sense of faith of the faithful. That is a seismic shift.

And the report supports expanding leadership roles for women: “There is no reason or impediment that should prevent women from carrying out leadership roles in the Church: what comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped . . .” A real consequence of that would be complete equality for women with men in roles of governance and ministry.

The report also commits to Diocesan synods, parish and diocesan councils, insisting “that they be made mandatory, … in ways appropriate to their diverse local circumstances.’ There was a similar commitment at the Australian Plenary Council and there is already provision for such synodality in canon law but there has been no commitment in Melbourne and many other Australian dioceses.

The Church has always been good at expressing fine sentiments in its documents, sentiments that often remain just that: words. The test of the Synod on Synodality will be implementation by bishops throughout the world without delay. The Pope has already endorsed the Final Document as “part of the magisterium (full teaching authority) of the Church”.

Let's hope and pray that the Church's synodality truly "becomes a social prophecy, inspiring new paths in the political and economic spheres."


Peter Johnstone | 16 November 2024  
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Women in most Australian dioceses already enjoy employment in influential leadership roles in areas such as media; education; charities; pregnancy, child, and aged care; marriage counselling.
However, Pope Francis, following papal precedent, reserves priestly ordination to men. No proposal for women's ordination is included in the Synod's "Final Document". To claim that the Holy Spirit desires the ordination of women to the priesthood would be presumptuous and lacking in the support of the magisterial authority that Francis claims in principle for synodality. Moreover, the invoking of the Holy Spirit and prophetic claims dissociated from Christ's incarnation, the revelatory basis of the Catholic sacraments, have been historically discerned and rejected for their incompatibility with sacred scripture and apostolic tradition in the life of the Catholic Church - the Montanist movement is a case in point.


John RD | 20 November 2024  

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