Synod Heads to Vatican

The Continental Stage of the ongoing Bishops’ Synod on Synodality is completed. The final stages will meet at the Vatican: the first on October 4-29, 2023; the second in October 2024. In the Continental Stage, groups of Catholics, including laity, religious, priests and bishops, met in small groups, either in person or virtually. They continued the line of discussions which were started at local levels. The North American Continental Document, with choice of languages, is available at the USCCB website at the link HERE.

At the Vatican News website, the April 20, 2023 article, "Synod Continental Stage: ‘Most innovative aspect of synodal process'" can be found HERE.

As you may tell from my repeated links to the continued activities of this Synod, I have been quite interested in it. Part of the reason is that it is the first in which not only the opinions and concerns of the average Catholic are directly expressed and included in forming the points of discussion of a Bishops Synod, there will be laity and religious who will be able to vote (comments from laity were sought for the Synod of the Family in 2014, related post HERE). Of course, many of the problems discussed by the Catholic Magisterium throughout history were to guide and protect all Catholics about spiritual matters. But somehow, as one bishop mentioned in the continental document, the organization that the Church has become seems to have separated the leadership from their very people. From page 17 of the document:

Indeed, the listening sessions in the local Churches caused bishops to reflect on the structural challenges that make it difficult to sustain this style in a consistent way. “Has the Church been so organized that it becomes difficult to speak to it? The Church has organizationally isolated itself from the people of God” (Session III Group 17).

Many have felt there is no turning back from the Synodal way. However, even when all are asked to participate, much depends on leadership, for there can be resistance to change. I pray for Pope Francis to be able to continue his efforts to help us walk with the Holy Spirit.

More Synod Links

Here are a few more links to information about the upcoming Bishops Synod on Synodality (Synod 21-24). Of course, with my blog’s less than systematic posts, I won’t be covering the Synod like a reporter would. I do follow some of the coverage, though, and would like to comment on it occasionally. Perhaps the links I provide will help someone less familiar with the proceedings to get connected.

An article which reports that the Working Document for the Synod on Synodality is approved is HERE.

A website that lists the participants of the General Secretariat of the Synod is HERE.

Content on the Synod website is HERE.

And, again, the main Synod on Synodality website is HERE.

The Vatican website has general information on the Synod of Bishops. Under "The Synod of Bishops: An Introduction," the first paragraph reads:

The Synod of Bishops is a permanent institution established by Pope Paul VI, 15 September 1965, in response to the desire of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council to keep alive the positive spirit engendered by the conciliar experience.

The link to this webpage is HERE.

Inclusive Synod

The biological facts of Creationism have been a big part of my blog, along with other subjects as listed in the right column of the original format. I’m grateful that I’ve felt free to write facts and opinions, and even some personal journaling, in the Womanatwell mix. I am still reading some things about the theology of Creationism but would like to get on with some other topics I’ve just touched upon or not addressed at all. 

I also want to keep an eye on the ongoing Catholic Synod on Synodality, as I have done in some of the past few posts. Another major announcement has been made about the Synod, to which I will link below.

First, I would like to point out that the logo for the Synod is changed slightly, from 2021-2023 to 2021-2024. This is because there will now be two Vatican Bishops’ meetings concerning this work in the Catholic Church, one each in 2023 and 2024. I’m putting the new logo here with a link to information about it on the Synod website. Click on the logo for the link.

The latest news is about the participants that will be attending and for the first time able to vote in a Bishops’ Synod.

From the Catholic News Agency article, “Vatican announces laypeople, including women, will vote in Synod on Synodality assembly,” dated April 26, 2023 (link HERE):

The biggest change announced Wednesday was the removal of the “auditor” role. In past synods, auditors included priests, religious, and laypeople, who did not have the right to vote in synod deliberations.

Now, these 70 members, who may be priests, consecrated women, deacons, and laypeople, will be able to vote. They will be chosen by the pope from among a list of 140 people selected by the leadership of this year’s continental synod meetings.

According to the synod leadership, it is requested that “50% of [the selected people] be women and that the presence of young people also be emphasized.”

I am pleased about women becoming more a part of the voice and leadership of the Church.

Women are not just physical companions to men but intellectual and psychological colleagues as well, and that includes single and married women. This is despite the prevailing philosophy, already in Aristotle's time, that said women are incomplete or deficient men. Thomas Aquinas stated that women had little intellect and were only good for generation (reproduction). Supposedly our inferior sexual status was sometimes brought about by moist south winds at the time of our conception (Summa Theologica, Part I, Q. 92, Art. 1). Science has changed, and although Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas were both geniuses, that doesn't mean they were always right. When women are kept from education, they may seem less brilliant than these men, but fortunately we now have that opportunity.

A large part of this Synod is to give voice to all Catholics, not just those who have been in power in the past and present. Many of the faithful have felt marginalized, and that has included women, the disabled, young persons and immigrants. Of course, other groups are important, and, for example, bishops from small countries that were not previously represented will have at least one voting member included in the Synod.

And we must remember the ultimate goal for us all: Catholics need to carry out the real purpose of evangelization, which is telling others about God the Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ, Who suffered atonement for our sins, rose from the dead. and is our only way to Heaven.

GOOD NEWS -- THE GOSPEL!

 Does everyone know the good news of Jesus Christ, which is called the Gospel?

Though I have referred to the Gospel previously in this blog, I want to give a condensed timeline of it in this post which will be linked to my home page. To clarify, the word “Gospels” can also refer to the first four books of the Holy Bible New Testament, which describe the life of Jesus.

The links to Bible references in this post are to the BibleGateway website, since they have the approved version of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB): the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE). The Bible references are from NABRE unless otherwise noted. For your information, the Vatican Archives have the New American Bible in five languages HERE and the USSCB books to the Bible webpage is HERE. You can probably find Bibles in paper copies almost everywhere. There are many other resources about theology, but the Bible is the best and most available start, and the New Testament Gospels get right into the life of Christ.

The reader may have questions arising from the events that took place concerning Jesus Christ. The mysteries surrounding Him have been debated by persons ever since He appeared on Earth in present-day Israel over 2000 years ago. Sometimes Church leaders had to meet in councils over periods of time to make sure they were understanding God correctly. But first, every person needs to hear about Him. Then I hope you will seek Him by going to a church and speaking with a Christian professional.

The Gospel Timeline:

First, God, Whom we also call the LORD, has always existed (many verses in the Bible express this, an example being Romans 1:19-20). God consists of One Essence and Three Persons. These Persons are the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.

God created the Heavens and the Earth and all the types of living inhabitants of the Earth, and all that He created was good (Genesis 1).

God created humans in His likeness, meaning we have ability to think and reason more than other earthly animals, and we can make choices in what we do. God created us as companions (although He did not have to), and He allows us to choose because He did not want robot-like friends but those who would be capable of these features of thought, reason, and choice. He wanted relationship with us as intellectual creatures. However, with these abilities also came the inevitable link to free will. If humans are to choose, they must be free to choose right or wrong.

In the beginning, God made two humans, Adam and Eve, and they lived perfectly for a while, but then they both made a choice to disobey a command God had given them (Genesis 3). This was an act against God, which is known as sin, and because of the bad choice they made, all humans came under that burden of sin: “Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

Later, God gave laws to the Jewish people, including the Ten Commandments, described in the Old Testament of the Bible (starting at Exodus 19, through Exodus 24). He told them if they kept these laws, they would flourish, but if they didn’t, they would suffer severe consequences (Deuteronomy 29). Unfortunately, time and again they failed to follow the rules.

So even though humans were made good, we can and do make some bad choices. Because of this, we are incapable of living a perfect life with a perfect God in Heaven, which is truly a forever home. Included in God’s perfection is justice, and as we do with criminals in our surroundings, He applies justice as deserved. Unfortunately, all humans (except for Christ) sin and deserve judgment.

That is why Jesus Christ came to Earth. He took on human nature in all but sin, also keeping divine nature (one Person, two natures). He lived a perfect life and pleased God the Father. As God and Son, He could live a perfect life in Heaven forever. But He came down to save us from the punishment we deserve. Jesus Himself said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).

In God’s love for us, Jesus took on punishment in our place by dying on a cross. God the Father accepted this act as a sacrifice in atonement for our sins (Romans 3:21-26, NIV). But not only did He die, but He rose from the dead and eventually ascended into Heaven (Matthew 28). He showed us that He is the hope for life with God after death.

Jesus Christ, as already quoted above in John 3:16, tells us that we are to believe in Him in order to benefit from His redemptive (saving) act. We are to believe He is God (a Person of the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit), that He died for our sins and then rose from the dead.

This is called the New Covenant. Since humans failed with the old one, God has supplied the new one. On our part, God requires us to believe in Him. It is the least we can do, to give credence for Who Jesus is and credit for what He has done for us.

Synod 21-24 Continental

My last two posts (starting Oct. 27, 2022) concerned the upcoming Bishops’ Synod on Synodality called by Pope Francis, which now Church media often names a catchier “Synod 21-24.” The official website is HERE.

 The Synod started with local groups of any interested persons gathered to pray and discuss their experiences in and concerns about the Catholic Church. The comments were recorded and summarized as well as possible and handed on to levels which represent larger areas; diocese, country and now (early 2023) continent. Links are provided at the end of the post for articles with some details about particular continental meetings. 

 Bishop Daniel Flores is in charge of the US Synodality process and from the North American Continental writing retreat expressed his experiences so far in an interesting article from Vatican News. Among many things, he said the local churches have done a good job and should continue with synodality. 

 In my second post on Synod 21-24, I wrote about my own local Diocese summary, which reported confusion about the mission of the Church itself. Many thought it was to carry out works of mercy, where others said we should get back to the basics of declaring the Gospel. As I reflected on this outcome, I thought of the situation described in the Bible in the Book of Acts, where members of the young Church were living together. It starts in Acts 6 (NABRE): 

 1 At that time, as the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. 3 Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, 4 whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the holy Spirit… [goes on to name others].

 The Twelve in verse 2 were 11 original apostles plus Matthias, added after Judas died. Some call this scene the beginning of the Diaconate, but in any case, the passage shows a distinction between designation of activities in the community. And yet, it did not take long for Stephen to show his wisdom in the things he said, and when questioned by authorities, went into a long discourse which ended in describing Christ as the “righteous one” proclaimed by the prophets (Acts 6:8-7:53). He was immediately killed but is now revered as the first Christian martyr. 

 The apostles, on their part, told people everything they could about Jesus Christ but also did healings and other “signs,” as described in Acts. The apostles healed persons “outside” the Christian Church, Jews and Gentiles who had never heard of Christ. Many who experienced and / or saw the signs became Christians, not just because of the miracles but because of hearing the truth of Who Christ is and what He did. 

 What is my point? Though individuals may have certain gifts and bring them to an organized group, the primary purpose of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, to evangelize. Even those who “serve at table” are called to also “say the Word.” Though helping others is a necessary part of Church activity, it is no excuse to avoid proclaiming the Messiah. And evangelizing does not stop those with that gift from helping others when circumstances call for it. 

 As they should, the Continental reports are reflecting what has been already expressed from local on up. Women feel they do a lot for the Church and yet have little voice, the disabled and minorities feel left out, many divorced persons feel alienated, the youth want more involvement. In general, laity want to be taken more seriously. 

 To some degree many of the laity concerns, legitimate and painful as they may be, seem to be at the level of the Greek vs. the Hebrew widows. They are not to be ignored and we need to serve persons both inside and outside the Church. But there should be no question that the primary job of the Church is that of the apostles—to proclaim the Gospel. That is where we should start in our understanding of the Church’s main role and reevaluate how well it is doing in it, even as we continue to serve others. 

 The secondary roles of the Church are still very important to consider, because when they are not carried out well, the results can be a large deterrent to the success of the primary function. If Catholic counterparts are perceived by secular women, youth or the disabled to not be treated fairly by the Church, I think it is a deterrent for these non-members to seek further involvement. I’m not saying that secular persons should let that stop them, I just think it is a facet of human nature that in many cases is at play. 

 That is why I think the meetings and the Synod will be helpful to all, despite a contingency of resistors. In his article mentioned above, Bishop Flores has expressed well how the process has already helped him see his own Diocese with new eyes and the coming Synod 21-24 will be a hopeful, continuing journey for us all.

Articles of some continental meetings:

Africa Continental Stage; Europe Continental Stage; Oceania Continental Stage; Middle East Continental Stage; Asia Continental Stage; Latin American Continental Stage; North American Continental Stage.

Synod 2021-2024

The Pew Center for Research reports on religious trends through percentages of the population.  In December 2021, they announced, “About Three-in-Ten U.S. Adults Are Now Religiously Unaffiliated.” Self-identified Christians make up 63% of our population, down from 75% 10 years ago.

This 2021 survey also describes some denominational differences, for instance between trends among Catholics and Protestants in church attendance. The website for this particular report is HERE .

At one time there was Catholic growth in the US but proportions are now at a standstill. The numbers of Catholics who attend mass every week is low. I don’t want to imply that numbers of persons are what are important like some kind of quota. The Church is here to evangelize the good news of Jesus Christ to individual souls. But if there is a decrease of Catholics, or Christians in general for that matter, it probably means we are not spreading the word adequately or more and more people are resisting it, or perhaps some combination of both.

Some point to places such as Africa where Catholic Christianity is increasing. I am happy for those believers. But Christianity increased in the West at one time and now is waning. There is no guarantee it will not decrease in other places when, inevitably, challenges to belief come along.

LAST POST, I wrote about the upcoming Bishops’ Synod on Synodality, to be held in Rome at the Vatican. To describe it again briefly, Pope Francis initiated a Synod on Synodality in 2021, calling on Church leadership to organize listening sessions for all members of the Catholic Church. The Pope said he is especially concerned with those who feel out on the margins, including immigrants, the disabled and women. The Vatican Synod, which is to be held in October 2023, is a point in a process that has already started and is to continue from now on. (I later found there will be a second Bishops’ Synod session in 2024 with an open plan for possibly more in the future.) The opening web page for the Synod on Synodality had at first presented a photo of persons on a wooded path that said, “Let’s Walk Together as a Church with the Holy Spirit.” (It has since changed in design for a new stage.) The Synod website link is HERE.

The Secretary General for the Vatican Synod Committee is Cardinal Mario Grech. One of two undersecretaries is a French nun, Sister Nathalie Becquart XMCJ. A Vatican News article where she describes the Synod on Synodality 2024 extension is HERE.

When this whole process started, the Synod Committee presented one main question and 10 related themes to Catholic participants for consideration in listening sessions. They are all in a booklet called the Vademecum, section 5:3, starting on page 39 of 60-pages. This instruction booklet was/is to be used with another booklet, along with other resources. A Synod on Synodality website page for resources is HERE.

A link for the Vadmecum is HERE.

To provide an idea of the main question and first two themes that were presented to participants of the listening sessions, I’ll give some excerpts:

The Main Question Highlighting Significant Aspects of “Lived Synodality” :

This Synod poses the following fundamental question: A synodal Church,in announcing the Gospel, “journeys together.” How is this “journeying together” happening today in your local Church? What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our “journeying together”?

To help people explore this fundamental question more fully, the following themes highlight significant aspects of “lived synodality”:

1. Companions on the Journey

(Preparatory Document, nos. 1, 9, 20; Vademecum nos. 1.3, 1.4, 5.3)z

• In the Church and in society we are side by side on the same road.

• A truly synodal Church walks together, side by side, along the same road towards renewal in the Spirit and the good of all people.

• Journeying together requires great commitment to listen to the voices of all who make up the People of God, but especially those who have often been marginalized, and the openness to discern the path forward that prophetically renews and enlivens.

2. Listening

(Preparatory Document, no. 26, 30; Vademecum, nos. 1.5, 5.3)

• Listening is the first step, but it requires an open mind and heart, without prejudice.

• The synodal process necessitates that we, as the People of God, first listen with an open heart and open mind to where the Spirit is calling us and discern to whom we are needing to listen and what steps need to be taken to more fully live out our mission.

(End of excerpts.)

Beyond the Pope’s heart for the poor and marginalized, he is no doubt aware of the deep hurt and anger felt by many persons due to the sexual abuse crisis. It’s not altogether comforting to laity to have the same bishops who brought about the problem assure us that the same or similar thing won’t happen again. 

And surely Catholic women are making themselves clearer that they want a voice in Church decisions. The priest shortage may well reflect mothers who themselves feel ostracized and hardly motivated to encourage sons until some changes are made.

To me, the question and themes present some mixed messages, although they may be ironed out by the time of the Bishops’ Synod. At least the question mentions the synodal Church “announcing the Gospel,” but seems to run quickly past it to get to the concept of “journeying together.”

In the second point of the second theme, “Listening,” there is direction to listen to the Holy Spirit for discernment of “whom we are needing to listen.” Yet, there would be no one presently on Earth better to whom to listen than the Holy Spirit. If we can discern the Holy Spirit in the first place, then we should follow His guidance. 

In history, after Christ ascended to Heaven, the practice of the Catholic Church has been to consider the Pope our leader on Earth. Though there have been some less admirable popes, we hope most have been led by the Holy Spirit. Also, along the way there have been Church Counsels and ordained and laity praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit. However, now Pope Francis is telling us to follow the Holy Spirit and listen to each other. It seems like there is some kind of loop here. Though I believe the Lord does lead us in the end, my thought is that we could all benefit from attention to how we can discern as closely as possible what the Holy Spirit is saying. In any case, a reference for the Pope's Launch of Synod, Vatican News 10-9-2021, is HERE.

My own Diocese of Grand Rapids, MI, did have listening sessions and had its own synopsis of them on its website, the link of which is HERE. I thought the Grand Rapids Synthesis was professionally done and, given its necessary limits in length, covered important aspects of the group listening efforts as well as individual input from an online survey.

The Grand Rapids Synthesis reported some persons were perplexed about the Vatican Synod Committee’s original question and themes for which they were instructed to respond. It found that persons did not always respond directly to the themes but brought up their own concerns and considerations. Two of the early paragraphs were revealing:

When asked to reflect on how well the Church is living up to its mission call, participants believe the Church would benefit from clarifying the mission itself. “Sometimes the Church herself doesn’t know her own mission: we are given mixed signals, contrary theology among clergy. We need to unify our mission, make it solid within our own parishes before we can evangelize to others.”

 

Participants expressed confusion or dissatisfaction with the way that mission is often understood and lived. Participants’ understanding of the Church’s mission seemed varied with some investing great importance in what might be called charitable outreach or corporal works of mercy while others thought “The Church needs to rediscover its mission for the salvation of souls.”   

Reading on, participants report doing spiritually related ministry in such ways as Communion to the homebound, but more activity seemed to tend toward “social work,” such as collecting food for the needy or the like. I’m not saying these acts of mercy are unimportant, but I agree with those concerned about the salvation of souls. We need to find priority levels for various aspects of the Church, not just of "social" activities but of faith and necessities for the afterlife.

I was glad that the authors of the Grand Rapids Synthesis were forthright in presenting these concerns, because I think they are valid, serious and not to be ignored. They run right into fundamental problems of the Catholic Church today. The Church itself is wonderful: the Bride of Christ. It is the human members who get into trouble. We need to keep to the straight and narrow of the path God gives us. Only one person who is fully human and fully divine has been perfect on Earth. He came here so we could have a happy destiny. He, Jesus Christ, came to show us who God is and how to spend eternal time with Him.

The Pew report shows us that we have a lot of work to do.

Synod

 Pope Francis initiated a Synod on Synodality in 2021, calling on the leadership to organize listening sessions for all members of the Catholic Church and even those outside the Church. The Pope was especially concerned with those who felt out on the margins, including immigrants, the disabled and women. The Synod, which is to be held in October 2023, is a point in a process that has already started and is supposed to continue from now on. The home page of the website for the Synod presented a photo of persons on a wooded path that said “Let’s Walk Together as a Church with the Holy Spirit.” The link is HERE. (The home page has since been re-designed for the next "Continental Stage.")

 The Synod committee has provided, through a Boston College website HERE, videos by various speakers about how to conduct a Synodal Church, including common discernment, decision making, conflict resolution and other subjects (it was given as a course in summer of 2022, but the videos are still there as of this writing).

 There are many subjects and thoughts that can flow from this whole synodality movement. Though unable to attend a “listening session” myself, I have been interested to read some comments by those who did.

 The USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) recently released a document which is a compilation of the input from all the US Dioceses. It is called: National Synthesis of the People of God in the United States of America for the Diocesan Phase of the 2021-2023 Synod: For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission. The 16-page document can be found at the USCCB website HERE. The links to PDF files in English and Spanish are given at this connecting webpage. The introduction to the document is signed by the Most Reverend Daniel Flores, STD (Doctor of Sacred Theology).

 The introduction to the paper states that hundreds of thousands of persons have given input through this process. Though many participants were skeptical at first, they were surprised to find much in common when they listened to each other. An important aspect of synodality is for people with various opinions to be able to approach our problems reasonably and “without intense debate or fear.”

 As I understand it, the paper encompassed about 67 million US Roman Catholics (Eastern Orthodox Catholics reported directly to Rome). An estimated 700,000 persons participated, so about one per cent of Roman Catholics took part in this diocesan phase of the synodal process. Though the percentage seems small for the synodal method, the actual number of people involved is still impressive, and I think many who did not attend would say similar things to what were expressed.

 The paper reports that participants gave glowing reviews of the Church as well as criticisms. Catholics love their God, the Church and fellow Catholics. Many persons said they desire more communion among Catholics and more personal interaction with priests.

 On the other hand, criticism was evident as well. One was lack of transparency from the leadership of the Church, an obvious example being the way the sexual abuse scandal was dealt with. The entire laity, not only those directly affected, have been hurt by the breakdown of trust that has come from the whole situation.

 Though the idea of the Synod at the laity level is for these Catholics to be able to express feelings freely without harsh criticism, there are critics of the “synodal” concept who have made negative comments through the media, if not by other means. Of course, if one disagrees with the nay-sayers, it is inevitable to be critical right back.

 Christians are called to love each other, which includes patience for differences. I believe that over time this synodal process has potential, through the Holy Spirit, to lead us to better understanding of each other. One person expressed that in this process they felt “heard” (by Church officials) for the very first time. Even more importantly, I think it can lead to better discernment of God’s plan for the collective Church in certain things, such as evangelization by laity in the face of waning faith in the West. It may be optimistic, but I hope all Catholics will give Church Synodality a chance and then not give up on it too soon.

Update: I just discovered there will be an additional session in 2024 with an open plan to continue even further into the future.