The synodal process

 

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The synodal process

THE TABLET

Is there a danger that the Catholic Church’s progress towards internal reform, initiated by Pope Francis under the heading of “synodality”, could stall? It has certainly been greeted with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Synodality must be rescued from any perception that it is reform for reform’s sake, with no higher purpose. There is also a perception in some quarters that virtually all the serious problems encountered by the Church in the modern world have already been dealt with, mainly under the papacy of Pope John Paul II, and there is little left for any new machinery of government to do.

This is not the view taken by the man in charge of the synodal process, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod office in Rome. Speaking in Oxford last week, he called for an end to the “culture of silence” which has inhibited Catholics from speaking their minds. “The clearest example which comes to everyone’s mind,” he said, “is the sexual abuse crisis that the Church went through and is still going through. This is not the only instance of a problem in the Church about which we choose to remain silent. What about the general silence concerning the deep divisions within the Catholic Church?”

He mentioned disagreements over the liturgy and over the role of women in the Church, political divisions and why some “want to exclude certain categories from our pews”, clearly referring to LGBT Catholics. In a sense, his reply to critics of the synodal process was to say that, far from all the most difficult issues being off the table, everything and anything could be on it. That has to include issues which result from church teaching, such as the exclusion of women from the priesthood. If that is an issue people find is stifling the Church’s mission, they must not be told they cannot talk about it.

When bishops have presented the Pope’s call for a synodal process to their dioceses, many have tended to emphasise that church doctrine is not up for debate. This is contrary to the direction of travel the process has been taking in Germany, where issues of sexuality and gender have come to the fore – to the dismay of conservative Catholics. Cardinal Grech, while obviously speaking for the Pope in stressing that the synod is not a “revolution”, does not share their discomfort. Nor should he. A synodal process that has been neutered in advance will not heal church divisions but make them worse.

It was characteristic of Pope Francis not to present a reform agenda of his own, but to ask the Church at large to discern one for itself. That is an unfamiliar experience for many Catholics. Though some find it threatening, it should with time become liberating. It should not be construed as an assault on episcopal prerogatives. After the successful synod in the archdiocese of Liverpool last year, Archbishop Malcolm McMahon made the telling point that church leaders needed and wanted the wisdom and knowledge of parish clergy and laity in understanding the many perplexing problems they faced. That is an invitation to crack open the culture of silence, and to let the voice of the Holy Spirit be heard.