Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission
We all have something precious to contribute to the Body of Christ. The lay faithful, the Religious, Priests, the bishops, the pope, all listening to each other, all listening to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, in order to know what Spirit of God is saying to the Church. It’s an invitation for the whole Church to have our voices heard. It is the time to gather the broken pieces and have an exercise of mutual listening.
1. Introduction:
Pope Francis has organized a synod in Rome
with the theme Synodal Church which focuses on Communion,
Participation and Mission. It is a new movement to engage church to
become a listening
church, to break out of our routine and pause from our pastoral
concerns in order to listen. This invites all the faithful, our leaders within
parishes, dioceses, hospitals, schools, universities and other church-related
ministries to do some soul-searching. We must grab this moment to
listen intently, especially to those who have been marginalized and neglected.
We must listen to those among us who experience rejection, exclusion and
unwelcome in their families, parishes and other Catholic backgrounds.
Listening is only the first step in this
synodal process. Those who hold positions of leadership and power within the
church, those who have the privilege and responsibility to lead the various
households where Catholics gather to break bread and share wine, must embrace a
new beginning. If there is a chance for transformation, now is the time to gather
the broken pieces, to heed the suffering and to heal the pain. Now is
the time to listen deeply to the stories of our crucified siblings in the body
of Christ and empower their hope-filled desire to experience resurrection
within the church and our Catholic families.
Catholics, our institutions and communities
are not immune from seed of distrust and destruction. Sadly, abuses of power,
manipulation of religious practices and misinformed theologies have been used
to further spread dissension. As the church undertakes this synodal process for
pastoral leaders to enact what Pope Francis has called an "apostolate of the
ear." The Transformational
listening requires humility on the part of our leaders and ministers to listen
to and learn from the stories of Catholics who have suffered at the hands of
church authorities. Failures to listen and learn have significantly impacted
the faithful, diminishing and even erasing their participation in the church
and its institutional life.
Pope Francis foresees this process as
"an
exercise of mutual listening, conducted at all levels of the Church and
involving the entire People of God. Will
we listen to and learn from the wisdom and struggles that come from the peripheries
or will we continue down the path of greater disconnect from the signs of our
times? Will this interactive process lead us to become a more attentive,
inclusive people of God? If we want change, then perhaps we first need to
join Pope Francis in invoking the Spirit of God,
open our hearts to hear the voice! We are being invited to listen to the
whispers of the Holy Spirit. It is a call to encounter, listen and discern.
2. What exactly is a synod?
A synod is a gathering, traditionally of bishops, that helps the
Church to walk forward together in the same direction. The word “synod” comes
from the Greek syn-hodos,
meaning “the same way” or “the same path.” Synods were common in the first centuries of the Christianity,
giving bishops the opportunities to meet and discuss issues of importance for
the life of the Church.
In 1965, Pope Paul VI instituted the Synod of Bishops at the
universal level of the Church. He wanted a way of continuing the fraternal,
collegial exchange that had been experienced at the Second
Vatican Council, where bishops from across the globe had gathered together
between 1962 and 1965. Since then, synods have been organized every two or
three years, bringing together bishops, experts, and various delegates to
discuss topics like the Eucharist, the Word of God, the new evangelization, the family, young
people and other matters of concern. In each case, bishops vote on a Final
Document, then the pope writes his own text – called an “apostolic
exhortation” – to open new pathways and shed new light on
what was discussed at the synod, so that it can radiate across the
entire Church.
3. What is special
about this synod?
This synod isn’t about addressing a particular issue but
about becoming who God calls us to be as a Church, all of us together, amidst
the reality of today’s world! The Synod started in October 2021 is
totally extraordinary, for at least three reasons.
- It is no longer only
a one-month Synod of Bishops but a two-year synodal
process for the entire People of God
and all the baptized Catholics! All are
invited and no one is to be left behind or excluded!
- It is a synod that aims
on giving the entire Church a lived experience of
synodality. It's not just about filling in a questionnaire, but gathering
the fruits of what the Holy Spirit is saying to us here and now by
listening to people.
- The aim of the synod is
put into practice from now on, in every diocese, parish, and
country across the whole world. This calls all of us, at every level of
the Church, to renew our way of being and working together and moving
forward.
4. What is
synodality?
Since we are all brothers and sisters and children of
God. The synodality is about journeying together. This happens
through listening to one another in order to hear what God is saying to
all of us. It is realizing that the Holy Spirit can speak through anyone to
help us walk forward together on our journey as the People of God.
Synodality is no passing phase! Rather, "walking
together", is at the heart of what the Church is all about, as the People
of God on pilgrimage in the midst of the world. In the days of the
early Church, Saint John Chrysostom said that for him "Church" and
"synod" were synonyms, since the Church is all about walking
together. In this sense, synodality is a way of renewing the Church from
her deepest roots, in order to be more united with one another and
better carry out our mission in the world.
Concretely, synodal is a way of being and a way of working that
takes to a more grassroots, collaborative approach, taking
time to discern the path forward together. It highlights the
fact that we all have something precious to contribute to the
Body of Christ. In this way, a "synodal Church" is a Church
that listens: "It is a mutual listening in which everyone
has something to learn. The lay faithful, the bishops, the pope, all
listening to each other, and all listening to the Holy Spirit, the
“Spirit of truth”, in order to know what He
is saying to the Church"
Yes, a "synod on synodality" may seem a kind of having/seeing a movie about movies or a book about books. But don't worry, this isn’t
just some complicated mind trick. Rather, it’s an invitation for the
whole Church to have our voices heard. We can only move forward if we work
and walk together. No Christian is an island! Every
member is necessary in the Body of Christ!
Through this synod, the Church is saying: the voice of EVERYONE matters
because God can talk through ANYONE - not only bishops,
priests, deacons, Brothers or Sisters but ALL OF US! Pope
Francis has stated that this collaborative, inclusive approach of synodality is
precisely the “the path that God expects of the Church in the third
millennium.” This is truly a revolution of the Holy Spirit towards
the Church that God is calling us to be for tomorrow, starting today!
Find out what's going on in your diocese and
your parish to experience the Synod at a local level. Each
diocese is called to facilitate local synodal meetings to involve all the
faithful in this journey undertaken by the entire Church.
Of course, synodality is complicated to spell but it is even more challenging to put it into practice. This is the whole point of the two-year synod that the Church began this October 2021: helping the whole Church to walk forward together, united in the mission we share. This began by paying attention to those who are often forgotten, excluded. The path to a Church that listens and walks together starts with you and me. Let's walk forward together!
Kindly post your valuable comments in the comments box given below.
Thank You.
Bro. Antony SG, Delhi Province.
Montfort Resource Center (MRC)
e-mail: tonyindasg@gmail.com
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