The power of the synod

 

The power of the synod

The process of transforming the way the Catholic Church is run to make it more responsive to the People of God was always bound to tread on toes, sometimes painfully. There are signs already that the process is being filtered, as those in charge of it do not always like what they hear. A few whistleblowers are emerging in England and Wales already (cf. Letters, page 16), claiming they are finding it hard to reconcile what archbishops and bishops say they are being told with what the people who took part in the process remembered was said.

More worrying is the way resistance to the synodal process is being used as a proxy for opposition to the papacy of Pope Francis. To make the Church more synodal is one of the principle planks of his pontificate. This opposition, for instance the letter signed by 92 bishops expressing concern about the process in Germany, may be a sign that the policy is working. They say there has been too much emphasis on power, which is not what the Christian life is about. But if power is used in a way that is unchristian – and what else was the clerical sexual abuse crisis about if not that – it has to be high on the agenda.

It is an axiom of public affairs, inside the Church as much as outside, that those with power do not share it readily. One of the chief features of the power they want to hold on to is the power to determine the agenda. So what can ordinary Catholics do when, having taken part in the consultation exercise in their diocese, they see that the official summary does not bear much resemblance to what was actually said?

They can make their disappointment known to their parish priest and their bishop; they can report the matter to the papal nuncio or even the Vatican directly; they can write to The Tablet, to see if others have had the same experience. But they should know this was always going to be an uphill struggle, to be entered in a spirit of Christian charity but also of justice. Lay voices have a right not only to be heard, but to be listened to. Otherwise those in charge are almost certainly missing what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell them.