Now that the church has gathered together reports from nearly the entire bishops’ conferences world wide, Pope Francis has declared the primary phase of the church’s two-year-long Synod on Synodality over. But that first phase of consultation with the faithful has been greater than just an exercise in gathering information. It has also offered some helpful lessons. It can be crucial to maintain these in mind in the course of the synod’s second phase—meetings of “continental assemblies” from January to March 2023—after which the third phase, the international assembly of bishops at a later date.
Three primary lessons will probably be most instructive in the approaching yr. First, we’ve got seen that shared governance of and responsibility for the church is feasible, but it can require humility from all quarters. Second, we have no idea all of the answers—and we could also be surprised by some which will emerge from the method.
Finally, a lesson we’ve got been taught again and again but need to recollect once more: Universality doesn’t mean uniformity. To be universal is to answer the missionary call of Christ; to be uniform is to stifle the Spirit Christ sent.
The synod reports are a way for participants to impart their very own wisdom to leaders whose governance may be improved by listening and learning.
Shared responsibility
Any reading of the synod reports that emerged from the US makes it clear that participants focused on priorities that will not be all the time reflected within the actions or policies of the U.S. bishops. To a certain degree, that is to be expected: The bishops are called upon to show, sanctify and govern, and none of those three charisms is fulfilled just by following the preferences of the bulk or sailing in accordance with the prevailing winds.
At the identical time, when laypeople—who’re, in spite of everything, the overwhelming majority of the members of the church—come to different conclusions about priorities on which the church should focus, can we see this for example of the people exercising a teaching charism? The synod reports are a way for participants to impart their very own wisdom to leaders whose governance may be improved by listening and learning.
In lots of cases, such listening will be enriched by learning tools which can be already available. The churches in Africa, for instance, have fully embraced the method, according to Cardinal Mario Grech, the overall secretary of the synod. “They’re saying, ‘Listen, it has been such a really interesting ecclesial experience, we would really like to proceed, to go forth,’” the cardinal told America. In South Africa, the church has begun addressing families which can be broken. In Asia, participants have recognized that the shortage of synodality just isn’t limited to the church, but additionally includes the family. Laypeople are desirous to accept responsibility for leading the church.
We should always not be surprised when any notion of the church as a societas perfecta just isn’t embraced by individuals who have real wounds and struggles.
Unexpected results
There isn’t any method to make certain of the final result of a process like a worldwide synod. Participants have to be willing to be surprised, disenchanted and even chastened by among the feedback that comes out of local and regional deliberations. In the US, for instance, it was clear from press reports after the initial release of the synod synthesis documents in September that some church officials and bishops were surprised at the extent of rancor and discontent to be present in the documents. Not enough, some felt, was manufactured from all the great the church does.
It could be true that all of us must be more attentive to excellent news, to be more cognizant of the ways during which all the great present within the church (and all the great the church does) will be used to uplift us all. However the synod is supposed to be a real deliberative process, not an exercise in public relations.
We should always not be surprised when any notion of the church as a societas perfecta just isn’t embraced by individuals who have real wounds and struggles. Will we have the ability to listen if large swaths of the church urge change on issues like married priests, L.G.B.T. ministries, women’s sacramental charisms and more? Can laypeople embrace the uncertainty which will come when questioning their leaders within the synodal process? Will church leaders not only take heed to young Catholics once they participate but additionally allow them to guide and implement their ideas? Will they listen if the perpetuation of clericalism in all its forms seems to be an object of worldwide lament?
This just isn’t a fourth-century campaign to drive Arianism from the church, nor should it’s a vehicle to impose our own ideological blinders on the eyes of everyone.
Universal, not uniform
All of us have a version of what “the church” is, and for many of us that idea is reified in our local congregation or diocese. But in fact the church is far larger than any area people. Because the days of St. Paul, the church has been diverse in composition and in gifts. It is sensible that the synod reports from across the globe reflect a church that’s removed from uniform in its priorities and concerns. It could be that even the continental assemblies will express different desires and concerns. But this just isn’t a design flaw; it’s a possibility.
It might be disastrous for our global communion if any group within the church sought to realize a uniform, one-size-fits-all result from the synod process. This just isn’t a fourth-century campaign to drive Arianism from the church, nor should it’s a vehicle to impose our own ideological blinders on the eyes of everyone. That is an especially essential lesson for Catholics from North America and Europe—long accustomed to having the dominant voice within the church—to recollect in the approaching yr. The Amazon and the Nile flow into the Tiber just as much because the Rhine does.
We cannot tell what fruits the synod process will bear ultimately; there may be all the time the chance that we’ll not recognize them for a long time to come back. But throughout this process, the church must remember Jesus’ promise to send an advocate to be with us all the time (Jn 14:16).
It’s that promise that Francis has repeatedly reminded us of during this process. It’s the Holy Spirit—and never any subcategory of the church—that’s the protagonist in the worldwide synod. “The Holy Spirit guides us where God wants us to be, to not where our own ideas and preferences would lead us,” Francis said because the synod began. “Without the Spirit, there isn’t any synod.”
The synod is removed from over, and our journey together has only just begun. May we, as Francis calls us to do, place our trust within the Holy Spirit, who’s now and all the time will probably be our advocate and guide.
