Synod Round Two. This month, 368 delegates from around the world are gathering in Rome for the second session of the Catholic Church’s Synod on Synodality. This three-year process has drawn global attention for its discussions around key teachings to do, for instance, with LGBT+ inclusion, women’s ordination and married priests.
An openness to listening to a variety of lived experiences has certainly marked a new direction for the Catholic Church.
The focus for this second session is clear: how to be a synodal church in mission. At the heart of this process is Pope Francis’s vision of the church as a welcoming home for all – his message “todos, todos, todos” (everyone, everyone, everyone) passionately delivered to more than 1.5 million young people at World Youth Day in Lisbon last year, signifies a new missionary awakening in the church’s self-perception, and an openness to listening.
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No longer a reductive vision of the church as an institution where authority is concentrated among clergy, but rather the church as a community where every baptised person (lay, religious, and ordained) is actively involved in its mission, Synodality, meaning “journeying together”, is about making this vision a reality.
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The church wants to foster a missionary outreach also to the peripheries of society – especially to those who feel excluded or marginalised.
Fostering deeper relationships between people, cultures and nations is a need everywhere
The Working Document (Instrumentum Laboris) for this second session poses key questions: how can we all be co-responsible based on our baptismal calling? What needs to change in church structures to facilitate full participation where each person shares their unique gifts for the common good? How can power and authority within the church be exercised as a form of service?
The process leading to this session has been one of extensive global consultation and conversation. In Ireland, for instance, the National Synthesis presented to Rome in 2022 reflected the voices within 26 dioceses, religious congregations, and a broad range of lay movements. An openness to listening.
Among the challenges raised for handing on the faith was the need for healing and hope especially among those who have suffered abuse by church personnel and in church institutions, and the desire for greater inclusivity in the church’s mission (for the full text, see synod.ie).
Last year’s session of the universal Synodal Assembly was a time to listen to all that surfaced worldwide from the consultations. While some of the more controversial issues named last year are not on this year’s agenda, they have not been “shelved”. Ten commissions have been established to explore further many of these issues.
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Prominent theologian Dr Miriam Wijlens views the synodal journey as a “learning by doing” approach that takes experience seriously. However, it is not without its challenges. As one participant in a regional meeting in Ireland put it, “Now we’re being told it’s over to us laypeople, but after centuries when it was so different with clerics at the centre, it is as if we’re simply being thrown something we’re not prepared for.”
Unrealistic expectations of radical institutional change will need to be tempered. But the Spirit is always the God of surprises
This sentiment highlights the difficulty of shifting from a deeply ingrained cleric-centred system to a more participatory and collaborative approach. In his opening talk at this year’s assembly, Pope Francis observed that it is certainly not meant to be a matter of replacing one with the other. Rather, laity, women and men of religious communities and movements and clergy are being asked to work together.
The “Conversation in the Spirit” methodology introduced during last year’s session, encourages deep listening and respectful sharing, ensuring that all voices are heard. It expresses an openness to listening. This method aims to foster a more inclusive and collaborative decision-making process, one that reflects the diversity of the church family.
Synodal reform is not just about internal church restructuring – it’s not meant to be a navel-gazing exercise. It’s about becoming a more effective witness to the Gospel in a rapidly changing world, one that is confronting issues of identity and globalisation, technological advancements, political upheavals and future uncertainties.
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Fostering deeper relationships between people, cultures and nations is a need everywhere. The Prague theologian Thomas Halik suggests the synodal process has the potential “to inspire the quest for a new quality of relationship” in a world that often feels fractured and disconnected.
The synodal process will take time; it’s a new way of “doing” church. As the delegates in Rome embark on the second session of the Synodal Assembly, unrealistic expectations of radical institutional change will need to be tempered. But the Spirit is always the God of surprises.
Words of the late Cardinal Martini’s offer perspective: “Christianity is only at the beginning.” The synodal process, with all its complexities and challenges, represents a new step along the journey – one that is grounded in communion, participation, and mission. These are the three words that have marked recent years of worldwide consultation and conversations.
We have been listening, so it is now for us to act on what we have heard.
Dr Brendan Leahy is Bishop of Limerick. He and Bishop of Down and Connor Alan McGuckian SJ are representing the Irish Catholic Bishops at the Synod on Synodality in Rome
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