SYNOD DIARY and

VIEW FROM THE SYNOD

Dear CLC Friends,

Father Charles sends us the most recent Synod Diary from "America Media: A Jesuit Ministry", and an article by Christopher Lamb of the "Tablet".

I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) people first signed with the British Crown in 1725. The treaties did not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognized Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations.

Synod Diary: Will the Synod change its members?

By Gerard O'Connell

After a heartrending testimony in the synod hall, Father Timothy Radcliffe said: “I hope it changed us.”

As I write on Oct. 18, we are now halfway through the synod’s first session, which several of its 365 members have described to me as “a marathon.” It demands energy, concentration and the will to keep going to its conclusion on Oct. 29.

Some had to drop out of the marathon, including Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who had to return to Jerusalem following the attack on Israel by Hamas and Israel’s declaration of war. Likewise, the two bishops from mainland China departed from the synod early this week because of “pastoral needs” in their dioceses.

Each synod member can address the plenary assembly briefly, and I understand that already more than half of them have availed of that possibility in the first two weeks. Commenting on these public interventions, one member characterized them this way: Several gave in-depth interventions, while others sought to firmly reassert the church’s teaching on doctrine, especially on moral questions, when they sensed this was being challenged in some way in their group.

But I learned that the speakers who had the greatest impact on the assembly were those who spoke “from experience.” I was told that there was “a shocked silence” when one member gave a heartrending testimony. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., referred to that same testimony this morning when, seeking to remind the synod members that “we are called to embrace a deeper sense of who we are as the improbable friends of the Lord, whose scandalous friendship reaches across every boundary,” he said, “Many of us wept when we heard of that young woman who committed suicide because she was bisexual and did not feel welcomed.”

“I hope it changed us,” he added.

In my first synod diary, I reported that one speaker reminded the assembly, “We discern experiences, not ideas.” In fact, the synod itself is an original experience for the participants and a totally different one from previous synods. The Nigerian theologian Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J., put it this way at a press briefing: “This is a privileged moment because we’re part of an experience and process of the church making and remaking itself. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that calls on theologians to deepen the process and bring out something new in how we live.”

 Father Orobator is convinced that “the process is more important than the outcome.” He added, “There has been no shortage of divergence and differences. The process has allowed these to exist. And it has allowed the conversation not to devolve into animosity.”

Father Orobator explained that “[f]ocusing on the mechanisms and frameworks of listening and dialogue—these are the things that will lead us to a new way of being, where people, no matter who they are, are able to be heard and contribute to our discernment.” Looking ahead, he said: “The work of the synod will begin when the gatherings here end. This will be tested in the years to come.”

While the synod experience, and especially the methodology, was new for many participants, the Irish Loreto sister Patricia Murray, I.B.V.M., remarked at a briefing that “as a member of a congregation, I feel we’ve been putting synodality into practice over 20 years…. It’s a joy to see it unfold in the universal church.”

She rejoiced that “this discernment journey is not just this month. I’m happy there are two stages because as things come up from different perspectives, we’re holding our unity in diversity. We’re allowing it all to nourish us through voices and differences of opinion. But we need to go deeper in the months ahead.”

She said each synod member is “called to do personal preparation before we engage. You’re asked to speak deeply about your voice. And you can feel your own position being broadened, widened because of the diversity of opinions, ecclesiologies, etc. Naming the tensions is important in this process. Time is a gift, and we have to use it together, but also the time between our synodal assemblies for further prayer, reflection and discernment.”

The synod is now in the second half of the marathon. Only 12 more days to go. Then, as Father Orobator said, the work begins again.



 Gerard O’Connell is America’s Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.

VIEW FROM THE SYNOD

by Christopher Lamb   October 19, 2023  from "TABLET"

TENSIONS ARE emerging at the Synod. In the Paul VI Hall inside the Vatican, the small groups have been addressing the role of women in theChurch, including the question of the female diaconate. Topics such as the role of the bishop and digital culture have also been on the agenda. It’s safe to assume not everyone was going to agree.

Before focussing on mission last week, the Synod had addressed the theme of communion, including the question of how to reach out to those who feel excluded by the Church.

I understand that there was disagreement inside the hall about welcoming LGBTQ Catholics, which led to heated debate. Some participants, including some from Africa, Eastern Europe and Australia, questioned whether there should be a specific outreach to gay or trans people, and spoke against the use of the term “LGBTQ”. There were also strong interventions calling for a greater welcome and recognition of LGBTQ people.

“There were those who called for greater discernment on the Church’s teaching on sexuality and others who said there was no need for this further discernment,” Paolo Ruffini, the Holy See’s head of communications, said at one of the daily briefings to reporters. “More or less everyone who spoke on these issues said that we must reject all forms of homophobia,”he added.

Pope Francis has often said that when there are disagreements within a family it is sometimes necessary to let the “plates fly”. So it has been at the Synod; listening and discerning in small circles of a dozen or so delegates isn’t always plain sailing. Sources have told me that at least one high-ranking prelate stomped out of the hall. In some respects, this is a healthy sign. It suggests the process – which invites open debate and the airing of differences rather than the recital of platitudes –is working.

It’s worth remembering that participants do not always sit at the same table but move around from session to session as topics change. Mixing groups up makes simmering disagreements less likely to explode. ALTHOUGH two Chinese bishops have left the Synod due to “pastoral needs” in their dioceses, by the start of the third week no one had stormed out and not come back.

There have been striking images of delegates holding very different viewpoints talking to each other. Fr James Martin, known for his ministry to gay Catholics, was pictured with Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former Vatican doctrine prefect who has described blessing same-sex couples as “blasphemy”. They exchanged gifts: Cardinal Müller gave Fr Martin a book on Gustavo Gutiérrez, the father of liberation theology, and the American Jesuit gave the German cardinal a copy of his book on Jesus.

THE NEED urgently to address the role of women in the Church is coming through loud and clear. “Men and women receive the same baptism and the same Spirit,” Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the synod coordinator, told the delegates. “I have never read anywhere that the baptism of women would be inferior to the baptism of men. How can we ensure that women feel they are an integral part of this missionary Church?” Sister Liliana Franco, the president of Clar (Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean Religious), emphasised that ministry is not an “ambition for power” but a “desire to serve”.

The Synod has taken vital steps to include women. Of the 365 voting delegates, 54 are women. In previous synods, only bishops (and some priests and religious brothers) voted. Due to Francis’ reforms to the process, women oversaw the Synod sessions on this topic. This hasn’t happened before either.

The Mexican Sister María de los Dolores Palencia Gómez, Superior General of the Congregation of St Joseph of Lyon, became the first woman to take on the role of “president- delegate” last Saturday. She was followed by Momoko Nishimura, a consecrated woman from Yokohama, Japan. They presided in the name of the Pope and sat at the same table. Sr Patricia Murray IBVM, the executive secretary of the International Union of Superiors General, said that the discussions were not simply “questioning the roles and functions” of women in the Church but went into “the mission and role of the baptised today”. So the synodal process is focused on changing culture as well as structures. Sr Patricia is the sole woman on the committee which will oversee the drafting of the final document synthesising the discussions of the Synod. She expects it to identify “areas where movement might take place” and outline steps for action” but also to point to “where deeper reflection and study are needed”.

It’s hard to see this Synod, or the one in October 2024, resolving all disagreements. Fr Vimal Tirimanna of Sri Lanka, a theological adviser to the process, told journalists the contested topics can only be addressed “once the firm foundation of the synodal way is laid”.

MEANWHILE, in some parts of the English-speaking Catholic media, it is claimed that the Synod is being “secretly manipulated” to reach a predetermined outcome. It is suggested that the process adopted by the Synod 21 is skewed because only those holding certain views – on women’s ordination, for example – have been invited to take part, or that the organisers are trying to ensure that long-held teachings will be reversed. Intriguingly, journalists at The Pillar, a USbased Catholic news site, reported that they had been able to access confidential documentswhich had been posted to an unsecured server. They had discovered which topics small groups had been given to discuss and who would be addressing them. They were also able to read some of their summary reports, which the Vatican has not released because the Pope has asked that the details of the conversations be kept confidential. These revealed, according to The Pillar, that “while some working groups emphasised doctrinal fidelity, t least one report [called] for the Church to reconsider doctrine on sexual morality”. The Pillar notified Paulo Ruffini’s office of the security breach. He explained to journalists that due to some Synod members’ difficulty with accessing documents, it had been decided to “create an open link”, but they had now ensured that a username and password would be needed. However, claims that the processcan’t be trusted continue to be pushed.

NUMEROUS Synod participants know the horrors of war from firsthand experience. On 12 October, Margaret Karram, a Palestinian who is president of the Focolare movement, offered prayers for the Holy Land, as did Cardinal Louis Sako, the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, from Iraq. Cardinal Stephen Ameyu of Juba, South Sudan, spoke in the hall of the “destructive war” in Sudan. Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, Cameroon, a country that has experienced violence since 2016, said that, “with the problems we have in Africa sometimes we feel isolated and abandoned”, but the Synod is “a chance for the voice of Africa to be heard”. Karram hoped the Synod process and its ethodology could be offered to those seeking to resolve political differences.

It is appropriate that halfway through the Synod, as disagreements over contested topics started to bubble up, the Pope published an apostolic letter on St Thérèse of Lisieux. Francis pointed out that the Carmelite nun shows what is “central, essential and indispensable” for the Church: confidence in the love of God and charity. There is a “hierarchy among the truths of the Church” and some “teachings and rules” are “more urgent and more foundational” to the Christian life. It was a message to the Synod and to the wider Church.