Synod on Synodality
Forum of Major Superiors
December 3, 2024
Introduction
Before all else, I just want to say how delighted I am and how blessed all of us are to have Sr. Mary Elizabeth as the Delegate for Religious Women and Men in the Archdiocese. In the short time since you’ve been here, Sister, you have reached out to many religious communities in love, understanding, and support. Thank you, Sister Mary Elizabeth, for bringing us together this today.
This morning, I’ve been asked to offer reflections on the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held in Rome from September 28th until October 27th of this year. I served as an elected member of the United States delegation to the Synod. The bishops voted for me while I was out of the room. Lesson #1: you must be present not to win!
General Observations
This was the second session of the ordinary general assembly. I missed the first session in October 2023 because the Archdiocese had just filed for bankruptcy and I didn’t think it appropriate to be away from Baltimore for such a long time. So, when I arrived this past October, I was the new kid on the block. Everyone, it seemed, knew everyone else. Everyone was familiar with how the synod operated. I, for one, had everything to learn. But then again, I’ve been to the rodeo before and quickly realized that I knew more people than I thought and did my best to adapt to the synodal method I would be immersed in during the month ahead. Lesson #2: synodality takes some getting used to and you have to be adaptable.
The preparation for both general sessions was extensive. It began in the local churches (i.e., dioceses) with synodal conversations at the parish and diocesan levels. It included synodal conversations among religious women and men as well as conversations among those who carry forward significant ministries. In our country, all diocesan & regional reports were channeled to the USCCB, which, under the guidance of Bishop Dan Flores of Brownsville, produced a national synodal report which in turn contributed to synodal conversations among our neighbors in Latin and South America and Canada, leading to a continental report … and this happened throughout the world. The results of all this were collected by the Council for the Synod which labored mightily to produce the working document for the Synod, the Instrumentum Laboris, which was focused on how to be a synodal church on mission. In addition to the working document, there were many others, so many, in fact, that I found myself working hard to prepare myself to participate in the Synod. Among the documents I found most helpful was a report on synodality done by the International Theological Commission in 2018. It really helped me see how synodality is ground in Scripture and Tradition, and how it is genuinely a part of who the Church is and how it is that the Church is to live and operate. Lesson #3: synodality isn’t done by the seat of one’s pants. It takes preparation, study, and prayer.
So all of us read the same document, the Instrumentum Laboris. But we were 360 people from every corner of the world. We were bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and lay persons – some 27% of the synod delegates were members of the laity. We were arranged in language tables – English being the largest – but at the English language tables were people from all over the world. For some, English was a second or third language. And while all of us read the same document and professed the same faith, our perspectives varied widely, according to our pastoral experience. For example, some local churches lacked synodal structures that we take for granted – yet there is a familial quality to their local churches wherein the culture of encounter comes about more naturally. Another example: Western stress on accountability looks very different in places where the Church is under the thumb of repressive regimes. So, Lesson #4: culture counts. (More on that later).
More General Observations
Let me say a word about method. For this was not merely a synod about synodality; it was a lived experience of synodality … which is why, in spite of calls for a briefer synod, we were there for a month. In fact, we were there six and a half days a week from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., and again from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. After supper, most of us had to go to our rooms to attend to our day jobs. Lesson #5: Synodality is hard work.
We had assigned seating. In fact, we checked in electronically & it was known if you were playing hooky. There were ten to a table plus a facilitator and most of our information came to us on the Cloud (not the clouds of heaven). For a Luddite like me, all this was challenging. I think my cellphone is an 8. Fortunately, a young bishop from Africa sat next to me & showed me the ropes. Since it was our purpose to engage in “conversations in the Holy Spirit,” we began the day with extensive prayer – with the Psalms, a Gospel reading, a reflection, with song. We punctuated the day with prayer and silence in small groups, at every turn inviting the Holy Spirit to guide our conversations. Lesson #6: Conversations in the Holy Spirit hinge on prayer, not perfunctory prayer, but deep and reflective prayer.
Our conversations were guided by the working document, and again, its focus was on how to be a synodal church on mission. It was divided in four modules which we took up in turn. How, then, did we go about our work? First, there was a general presentation by the presider (a position that was held by various individuals from day to day). Then, each table engaged in conversation in the spirit. From those conversations table reports emerged, sometimes the subject of intense discussion, sometimes resulting in proposed amendments to the working document, but also there often emerged from the tables a consensus. These were presented and were like little rivers forming a stream that would eventually become the final document. After the table reports, the floor was open for interventions by the delegates. These lasted 3 minutes and there were 10 – 15 of them in a row. With so many of us in the synod hall, it was likely you’d get to speak only once, so it was best to be strategic, but I didn’t know that, so I spoke early. Later on, I wished I had kept my powder dry! Well, as this method unfolded, a certain fatigue set in among the delegates. By the end of the second week, it felt like the movie Ground Hog Day. Sometimes it felt like summer camp. I wondered if it would ever end! Lesson #7: Synodality takes perseverance. It’s for the long haul.
The Modules
Let me now offer a few observations about the content of our synodal conversations. As I mentioned earlier, the guiding document was the Instrumentum Laboris, distilled from a three-year world-wide synodal process and its focus was on how to be a synodal church on mission. While it mentions various issues (quaestiones disputatae) in the Church’s life, especially those that Pope Francis assigned to working groups, the document was the basis for conversations that brought the notion of synodality itself into clearer focus and led to proposals for living and operating as a synodal church. Put another way, this session of the synod was less about changing specifics and more about effecting a kind of culture change in how it is that we relate to one another – clergy, religious, laity. In a badly polarized culture (it’s not just the United States that polarized), a polarization often reflected in the Church’s life, the Holy Father is proposing instead that we return to something fundamental to the Church, viz., that we are journeying together. As one synod participant put it, “The Pope is playing the long game.”
“Synodus”, as it is often said, means “journeying together”, but how is that notion to manifest itself in the life of the Church? First, through synodal events, especially ecumenical councils, many local and national councils, such as the councils of Baltimore, and the Synod of Bishops instituted by St. Paul VI during II Vatican Council. Second, through synodal structures such as the synods common to the Eastern Catholic / Orthodox churches, as well as diocesan pastoral councils, finance councils, structures that are also replicated in parishes. Synodal structures are also part of most forms of consecrated life, as you know. Third, synodality was described as the ordinary way of the church’s life, it’s modus vivedendi et operandi . . . that is to say . . .synodality is not confined to events and structures but should be characteristic of all our interactions as the People of God, who share equality by virtue of human dignity and baptism, and who are endowed with gifts and charisms by the Holy Spirit . . . gifts that are given not for the sake of the recipient but for the sake of mission.
It follows that a spirituality attaches to synodality. First and foremost listening . . . “the first act of a synodal church is to listen” – but listen to whom? First to the Holy Spirit in light of the Word of God – Scripture and Tradition, hence the importance our being “drenched” in prayer. Second, to listen to one another as co-workers in the vineyard. Third, to listen to the poor and marginalized. Fourth, to listen to our ecumenical and interfaith partners. Sixth, to listen discerningly to what we are to learn from the culture in which we are immersed, including science & technology. From listening flows discernment. Given the fact that Pope is a Jesuit, it’s not surprising that the final document has an Ignatian flavor to it. You’ll find in the document a practical guide for discernment.
In our conversation, we agreed on the widespread need not only to acknowledge the gifts the Spirit gives to God’s people, but to allow them to shine forth in the life of the Church, especially by expanding the role of women in the Church. In our conversations, we stressed the fundamental importance of family as the school where synodality is to be learned. We recognized the gifts that consecrated life brings to a synodal church. The role of the ordained was discussed at length, especially their foundational role of Word and Sacrament and their role of harmonizing and mobilizing the gifts God gives his People for the sake of mission, the mission of evangelizing, the mission of bringing the compassion of Christ to those in need.
This led naturally to discussions of what we called “decision-making” and “decision-taking”. To put it bluntly, no one in the church should behave like “an autocrat at the breakfast table” (apologies to Oliver Wendell Holmes). Rather, a church that journeys together strives as much as possible to listen together, to discern together, and to reach decisions not to benefit factions in the church but to unite the church in mission. This is why participatory bodies play a vital role in the church. In our country, those structures have existed for a long time but as I observed earlier, the structures are not enough. Synodality has to do with the way in which those structures are used, or put another way, the “culture” that exists within them. Are they taken seriously? Are they prayerful? Are the discussions honest? Is there free exchange? Is there an effort to reach consensus in the Holy Spirit? Are they focused on mission? Do they bear fruit? In that light, we talked about the distinction in canon law between deliberative votes and so-called “merely” consultative votes. We agreed that this aspect of canon law needs to be looked at. And we agreed that pastoral councils should be mandatory. We also agreed that these reflections should affect how episcopal conferences work as well as the importance of having ongoing “continental” discussions, in our case the Americas. Finally, it is likely that the synod of bishops, instituted by Paul VI, will never again be merely a gathering of bishops but will be more reflective of the church at large and will include our ecumenical and interfaith partners.
Discussions of decision-making and decision-taking led in turn to a reflection on transparency, accountability, and evaluation on the part of the few who exercise authority on behalf of the many. We think of this most readily in terms of protecting children and young people, but as our discussions proceeded it became clear that transparency, accountability, and evaluation extend to financial matters and to the effectiveness of mission. It was also noted that the scope of accountability must expand. While the ordained, those in consecrated life, and those in lay ministry are accountable to their superiors and/or supervisors, those in authority must also be more accountable to God’s People. Hence, some form of evaluation ought to be put into place. What form this will take remains to be seen.
I noted earlier that the 360 delegates represented the world-wide church. Thus it was important to listen to one another’s lived experience in churches whose context is very different from one’s own. At one of the tables I was assigned to there a bishop from Nigeria, a cardinal from Abyssinia, a lay ecclesial minister from Malaysia, a bishop from Vietnam, a cardinal from Hong Kong, a cardinal-elect from Belgrade … and little old me. With apologies to Jules Verne, the synod took me ‘Around the World in 30 Days’ … I don’t think any of us would have lasted 80! Perhaps that was the most enriching aspect of the experience, an experience that extended into the coffee breaks.
Our conversations in the Spirit naturally led to the question of formation, formation for missionary discipleship. It was recommended that seminary formation be revised (yet again) in a more synodal key, with the involvement of women, and in relationship with those being formed for consecrated life and other church ministries. It was recommended that the document Mutuae Relationis be revisited in light of nearly six decades of experience following the council, with the aim of strengthening “mutuality” between bishops and religious. It was agreed that there needs to be “across the board” formation if synodality is to become a lived reality in our parishes and dioceses.
Finally, the ecumenical dimension of synodality was highlighted, and was part of our synodal experience. There is a sense that now is the time to intensify those relationships and to harvest their fruits, again for the sake of mission. And my apologies for such a lengthy description of the synod. My goal was not to make you as exhausted as were the synod delegates!
Implementation
It should be clear that synodality is not a “one and done”. Rather, in accepting the final document into his own magisterium, Pope Francis has made it clear that now is the implementation phase. To that end, the USCCB has established a task force and locally I have proposed that the participatory bodies take time at each of its meetings to read and to reflect on the final document over the next year or so and then formulate proposals on how we can best implement the vision of the synod at the local level. You might be doing something similar in your own communities. I would propose that we consider doing so as part of our Forum meetings. The final translation is out and I must say the final document represents a great improvement over the Instrumentum Laboris, proof that a month of prayer, reflection, and discussion can help!
I’ve taken far too much of your time with this presentation. Thanks for your patience and thanks for listening!