A Synod on Synodality. Sometimes a good advertising firm should be called in to help. The Synod on Synodality is a really big deal for the Catholic Church, but the terminology is unfamiliar to a lot of Catholics and may not signify anything at all. Here is what it means. A synod is a Greek word for an assembly or a meeting. It is a term commonly used by Lutherans and Presbyterians and other Protestant denominations for their annual meeting. Every few years since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s, there has been a Synod of Bishops in Rome. These church leaders from around the world have met around a particular topic, offered the Pope input, and then produced a document outlining their conclusions and recommendations. In 2021 Pope Francis decided to do things a little differently. For the next Synod of Bishops, he wanted to gather input not just from church leaders but from every individual who desired to participate. Our pastoral council and our Servite community submitted a response, and, at the time, I told you there was a portal for individual input. All this material from all the parishes was filtered into a document which the Archdiocese submitted to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, which prepared a summary of all that material from all the dioceses for the international assembly that will gather in October. This particular synod will also meet in 2024.

What makes it a Synod on Synodality? While it is still technically called the Synod of Bishops, the assembly will include 70 non-bishops (half of whom are women), who will have voting rights in the assembly. So, there will be broader input not just from the documents presented but from the actual people present. Because Pope Francis believes that there is nothing that cannot be discussed, there will be conversation around the role of women in ministry, married clergy, and the inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics. Synodality denotes a particular style of operating, bishops and laity listening together for the voice of the Holy Spirit. The aim of this Synod is not to produce a document (although one will undoubtedly be produced) but to set the tone for how the Church should operate everywhere. To quote from one of the Synod documents, “Participation is based on the fact that all the faithful are qualified and are called to serve one another through the gifts that have each received from the Holy Spirit in baptism. In a synodal Church the whole community is called together to pray, listen, analyze, dialogue, discern, and offer advice on making pastoral decisions which correspond as closely as possible to God’s will.” The long-term goal is to do away with voting entirely and to lean on the process of discernment, recognizing that each person has something to contribute. A decision reached through discernment is one that everyone in the assembly can accept and live with. By the way, our own pastoral council has used discernment as a decision-making process since we began. We have never held a vote on anything. 

Still confused about synodality? The preparatory document for the Synod released last week attempts to describe what a synodal church would look like. Here is what it says. “A synodal church is founded on the recognition of a common dignity deriving from baptism. We are all inhabited by the one Spirit and sent to fulfill a common mission.” It “cannot be understood other than within the horizon of communion, which is always also a mission . . . nourished in the common participation in the Eucharist.” It “is a church that is increasingly synodal in its institutions, structures, and procedures.”  It is a place “where our common baptismal dignity is not only affirmed, but exercised and practiced” It “is a listening church”  A synodal church “desires to be humble, and knows that it must ask for forgiveness and has much to learn.” It “is a church of encounter and dialogue.” It “is not afraid of the variety it bears, but values it without forcing it into uniformity.” It “is open, welcoming, and embraces all. . . . It confronts honestly and fearlessly the call to a deeper understanding of the relationship between love and truth.” It “is able to manage tensions without being crushed by them.” It “exhibits a healthy restlessness of incompleteness.” It “nourishes itself at the source of the mystery it celebrates in the liturgy.” It “is a church of discernment.”

If this does not sound like the Catholic Church that we have known, remember that this synod is more about changing our way of thinking than changing things. Do not expect a list of decrees. Pope Francis himself has said that the Synod is not a Parliament but a listening session. A Synod document states that the purpose of the Synod is “to plant drams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, wave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create a bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands.”

                                                                                                    Fr. Joe