A Church for the third millennium
Lessons in synodality: we should remind ourselves that synodality was never intended to be a magic wand
Change in the Church, especially cultural change, requires ingenuity and patience but in spite of some resistance there are signs that ‘synodal reform’ is beginning to put down roots.
WHETHER IT IS the merchant seeking the pearl of great price, the woman searching out the lost coin, or the fishermen letting down their nets, the gospel stories of people seeking the kingdom of God mostly involve long hours and dogged persistence.
The Second Vatican Council offered a compelling vision of the Church: the pilgrim people of God bringing the good news of the Gospel to a hurting world. Sixty years later, Catholics are still only beginning to unpack this rich legacy. There is still an urgency for our core mission, yet increasingly this is weighed down with weariness and cynicism. The challenge for Catholics is to respond to a rapidly changing world without losing what is distinctive in Catholicity.
Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has called for a renewal of every aspect of the Church’s life, for a turn towards becoming a “field hospital”, a Church of mercy, of listening and conversation. He has urged the Church to pivot from being inward-looking to being outward-facing. He is calling for a “synodal conversion”. It is the recovery of an old idea in the life of the Church to meet the challenges of the times. “Synodality”, in the Pope’s words, “is the way of being Church in the third millennium.”
This form of synodality is the conversion that we are called to live out on the ground in our community life. At the same time, the conversation around the Synod has been dominated by the major set-piece events: first the diocesan and the continental assemblies (in the case of Europe, in Prague in February last year), and then the month-long gathering of delegates from the global Church in Rome in October. We are only four months away from the second Rome assembly, due this October. There have been many reports and syntheses and “syntheses of syntheses” since the first round of listening in January 2022. The headline issues have been handed to theological commissions that are not due to report until summer 2025. Many are starting to ask: Where has synodality gone?
We should remind ourselves that synodality was never intended to be a magic wand. It is fundamentally about a change of culture in the Church, about relationships and the full spectrum of joys and challenges this brings. The hurdles in the way of becoming a more synodal Church are deep and complex. They include notions of authority within the Church, of holiness and obedience, of hierarchy and priesthood and what being a “lay person” means; they include ideas of whether and how the Church can change, and even the practicalities of how such ideas can work on the ground. These are not just issues that are dogging the synod process; they have littered the path to the implementation of the Second Vatican Council for the last 60 years.
HOW CAN WE move forward together as the People of God? The priority of the School for Synodality is simple – to support the move from abstract ideas to synodal practices becoming embedded in the ordinary life of the Church. Out of listening to people from across the country and beyond, three key lessons have emerged. First, trust has to be restored. The synod process has highlighted problems of distrust at all levels of the Church. There is distrust of the Vatican; there is distrust between different groups in the Church; there is distrust between priests and bishops, and between priests and congregations; and there is distrust between different cohorts of priests. A lot of this is understandable. Hurts sustained in a church context are so personal that they are often difficult to heal. Delegates at the Rome assembly last October suggested that if trust is to be rebuilt in the Church a wider range of voices must be included and there must be greater levels of transparency and accountability at every point of decision-making.
Second, we need to re-examine attitudes to power and authority in the Church. From the bishop to priests to parishioners, every member of a diocese has the power to say “No” to any call for change. But for something positive to happen, a great many people have to say “Yes”. In this way, the Catholic Church has stability baked into its structures. We do not find it easy to imagine a different future. Many priests, have felt caught between empowering the process of synodal conversion, coping with raised expectations and increased workload, and managing potential conflicts. The synod prompts us all to consider how a true encounter with those of a different opinion might change us, and to question how infantilising and grandiose attitudes might stunt our spiritual development.
And third, parishes need practical support to move from listening to action, what you might call “Couch to 5k” synodal training. The reports from synod parish group discussions show that the Catholic community feels it faces significant uncertainty – rapidly changing clergy and parishioner demographics, crumbling buildings, deteriorating finances, and growing polarisation. People are not so confident about how things might improve. They say, “We’ve been here before”, or, “We talk, and we talk, and nothing ever changes”. The lack of action leads to cynicism and apathy. These tensions play out in our decision-making bodies, where lines between advising, consulting, and deciding are often blurred. When there is no clear purpose meetings can become frustrating and acrimonious.
Healing these wounds will require deep cultural change. The synod assemblies have not yet produced clear guidance on the practical application of synodality at local church and parish level so many parishes still feel in the dark about how to become “more synodal”. Even when parishes are taking their first steps on this path, it can still feel daunting but training in techniques and practices can help.
The School for Synodality has developed resources, workshops and webinars to help parishes grapple with making this fundamental change of culture a reality. Recognising that synodality is “simple but not easy”, it offers training for facilitators, guidelines for new ways of thinking about pastoral councils, and webinars and workshops. For example, two transformative practices that any parish could implement today are Lectio Divina and Conversation in the Spirit. Lectio supports the prayerful sharing of Scripture and silence, creating an opening for the Holy Spirit. In Conversation in the Spirit, each person in the group is invited to speak in turn, followed by a time of silent reflection. Power is levelled up when every voice is heard, and distrust begins to break down when people are revealed in their complexity and human longing.
Where parishes are using these tools we are starting to see that synodality is not just a pipe-dream. Like seeds germinating underground, green shoots of synodality are appearing in the everyday life of dioceses and organisations in the Church in England and Wales. Conversation in the Spirit is being used in meetings, sometimes in difficult circumstances, helping groups to hold together differences and honour multiple perspectives while remaining open to the Holy Spirit.
The Archdiocese of Cardiff has brought these techniques of synodal listening into important conversations on the merging of two dioceses. The Diocese of Clifton has used them in its restructuring process. Hexham and Newcastle Diocese held listening groups as part of its response to the recent abuse scandal, and has launched its new diocesan vision with suggestions for holding Conversations in the Spirit and training sessions for facilitators. The Archdiocese of Liverpool is developing its families of parishes with local listening practices. It also enabled a process of listening to its priests, using oneto-one conversation with a facilitator to deepen awareness of their needs. The Diocese of Northampton has appointed a new Vicariate for Pastoral Development to embed synodality in the life of the diocese. In Scotland, the diocese of Dunkeld is also encouraging parishes to use these practices and techniques.
IT IS NOT ONLY dioceses that are taking on these new ways of being Church. The School for Synodality has presented at organisations across the Church, including the Society of St Gregory, ACTA, the SVP, the Catholic Social Action Network and the Centre for Theology and Community, and is due to be at the Catholic Parish Summit in Harrogate this week. The National Board of Catholic Women now uses Conversation in the Spirit in its key decision-making. I hear of synodal processes being found in very diverse contexts, from a seniors community in the United States to a parish in India studying the role of women in the Bible. There are achievements to celebrate, as well as a long journey ahead.
We know that living out the vision of the Second Vatican Council is not straightforward. The synthesis document agreed at the conclusion of the Rome assembly recognised that “profound spiritual conversion is needed as the foundation for any effective structural change”. This process of being changed is not superficial or headline-grabbing. Forming relationships and building community requires patience and hard work. The benefits, however, are profound. And the good news is that we don’t need to wait to hear from Rome or to wait for a theological commission to write its report to get started. Any parish or organisation can gather a group together to begin this process of transformation.
We have found that these three questions are a great starting point for any discussion. Where is our joy (in our young people, our buildings, our missionary outreach)? Where are the needs – including in the wider community? And where is the Holy Spirit leading us? If every pastoral council, finance committee and community reflected on these questions, we might start to see the emergence of the renewed, co-responsible and Spiritfilled parishes and networks that we have longed for. Although we have been fishing all night, let us let down our nets once more and see what harvest the Holy Spirit will bring.
Avril Baigent is a co-founder of the School for Synodality, a project to help support the synodal conversion of the Church in England and Wales.
No comments:
Post a Comment