THE 2023 BISHOPS SYNOD

 SYNOD ON SYNODALITY

Pope Francis has asked the entire Catholic world to give thought and input for the Sixteenth Bishops Synod scheduled for 2023. 

According to the Roman Catholic Church's Code of Canon Law, "The synod of bishops is a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world to meet together at fixed time to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world" (#342).

This Synod of Bishops was instituted in response to recommendations from bishops gathered at the Second Vatican Council which met from 1962-65. Pope Paul VI established the Synod Bishops on September 15, 1965.

Pope Francis has invited input from the entire Church for the 2023 Synod. Each diocese has been instructed to gather this input and publicize the results of this solicitation before sending the results to the Vatican. Here are the instructions to the dioceses:

"Each diocese can choose to prepare the synthesis either before or after the Diocesan Pre-synodal Meeting, as long as the fruits of that meeting are also incorporated into the diocesan synthesis. As much as possible, everyone should feel that his or her voice has been represented in the synthesis. As a model of transparency, the members of the drafting team as well as the process of synthesizing the feedback be made public once it has been drafted, as a touchstone for the journey of the diocese along the path of synodality. As much as possible, opportunities can be given to the People of God to review and respond to the content of the diocesan synthesis before it is officially sent to the episcopal conference."

The Bishops Synodal Committe cautioned that this consultation of the people does not imply the assumption within the Church of the dynamics of democracy based on the principle of majority. Suggestions and decisions are always put in the context of what the Holy Spirit asks of us.

Pope Francis explained in his opening address for the 2018 synod that the purpose of a synod is not to develop documents but "to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands."

A President Lincoln-inspired Memorial Day Address

 If President Abraham Lincoln were alive to give a Memorial Day Address in 2022, he might say something like this:

Twelve score and six years ago (1776 ) our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all  human beings, male and female, regardless of race, color or creed, are created equal.

   Now we are engaged in a national holiday celebrating that nation. We are met across this continent on this day to recall that portions of our land  serve as a final-resting place for those who  gave their lives that that nation might live.  It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

   Brave men and women, living and dead, have consecrated this continent far above our poor power to add or detract.  The world will little note nor long remember  today’s memorial observance, but we can never forget what they did here.  Rather, it is for us the living to be re-dedicated this day to the unfinished work which those who have fought for this nation have so nobly advanced.

   It is rather for us on this memorial day to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us –that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion –that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.:

Pope Francis and the Rohingya

 Pope Francis and the Rohingya

In the book Let Us Dream (Simon & Schuster, 2020), based on interviews with Pope Francis, the pope says, “I think often of persecuted peoples…I have a particular affection for the Rohingya people. The Rohingya are the most persecuted group on earth right now; insofar as I can, I try to be close to them” (p. 12).

I was not aware of these people nor of the persecution they face. Pope Francis made me aware and Wikepedia helped clarify the situation. They are a people without a country even though they are indigenous to western Myanmar (Burma) but the government of Myanmar does not recognize them and has in fact driven most of them into neighboring Bangladesh. By 2017 an estimated 625,000 of them from Rakhine State in Myanmar sought safety in Bangladesh.

Pope Francis notes that he is especially moved by the generosity of the Bangladesh people toward these exiles and refugees. He says, “It’s a poor, densely populated nation; yet they opened their doors to 600,000 people Their prime minister at the time told me how the Bangladeshis give up a meal each day so the Rohingya can eat. When last year, in Abu Dhabi, I was given an award –it was a significant sum—I had it sent straight to the Rohingya: a recognition of Muslims by other Muslims” (ibid, p. 12).

An assessment in 2015  by the Yale Law School concluded that Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya could be classified genocide under international law. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees described the expulsion of the Rohingya as “ethnic cleansing.” Some who have looked into the treatment afforded the Rohingya have concluded that they are “one of the world’s least wanted minorities.”

The US House of Representatives in 2014 passed a resolution that called on the government of Myanmar to end the persecution and discrimination against the Rohingya, but clearly that resolution had no effect.

Pope Francis urges us to go to the periphery, to come to the aid of the poor and the persecuted. The Rohingya obviously qualify: poor, persecuted, and people on the periphery. When we look for the poor, the persecuted, the periphery we do not have to go far from home. Pope Francis is asking us to develop a servant mentality, which most of us can exercise and refine right here at home.

Synodality and the Holy Spirit

SYNODALITY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

Pope Francis’ initiative  “A Synod on Synodality”  is a consequence of his conviction that the Church is the People of God, and that the People share in the gifts and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  He takes seriously the insight of the Second Vatican Council that “All disciples of Christ are obliged to spread the faith to the best of their ability” (Lumen Gentium, 17).)

   All the People of God are called to be actively engaged in the saving mission of the Church. All the People by virtue of the gifts of the Holy Spirit granted to them in baptism and confirmation  are “endowed with diverse gifts and charisms for the renewal and building up of the Church, as members of the Body of Christ” (Vademecum For the Synod on Synodality, Synod Bishops, 1.3).

   The term synod comes from the Greek word odos, which means path, way, road, and  “indicates the path along which the People of God walk together. Equally, it refers to the Lord Jesus, who presents himself as ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (Jn 14:6), and to the fact that Christians, His followers, were originally called ‘followers of the Way’ (cf. Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4;; 24:14,22.)” (Vademecum, 1.2).

   It is Pope Francis’ hope and intention that the People of God worldwide would develop the mentality of walking together in this world and toward the Kingdom by following the Way of the Lord. A synod is not an occasion for griping and complaining about the Church or its hierarchy. It is rather the difficult exercise of listening for the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit and thereby determining the path that God wants us to follow.

   It may be that all the preparatory documents and directions for a synod on synodality have not emphasized enough the need for those who participate through their talking and listening that the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a necessary, essential element in the process of developing for the Church in our time the mentality implied in a truly synodal Church.

   For many Catholics their prayers of adoration, praise, petition, and apology are directed to God the Father and God the Son but God the Holy Spirit is neglected. The success of this synodal endeavor requires a sensitivity on the part of the People to the inspiration of that Spirit. That sensitivity is difficult to acquire because it means listening; it means being quiet, silent; it means putting aside our own agenda and being open to direction from the Divine One. Such a practice requires patience, self-emptying, and openness to change and to something new .

   Synodality is not forcing our convictions, theologies, and devotions on the People of God; on the contrary, forming a synodal Church in its purest state is implementation of our daily prayer: “Thy will be done!” Jesus’ invitation is “Come, follow me!” We must re-learn the lesson from the old bromide “God created human beings in the divine image and human beings have been returning the favor ever since.”

   The Synod of Bishops reminds us that “In the end, this Synodal Process seeks to move toward a Church that is more fruitfully at the service of the kingdom of heaven.” And let me emphasize again that this process requires paying attention to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Parishes As Beacons To Be Treasured

 Apparently the name or title of the program which is forming parishes in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati into "parish-families" was taken from something Pope Benedict XVI said about parishes in December of 2006: He said, 

“The parish is a beacon that radiates the light of faith above all in our largely secularized world. Thus it meets the most profound and authentic desires of the human heart, giving meaning and hope to the lives of individuals and families."

Pope Benedict's remark reminds me of something esteemed theologian Father Karl Rahner wrote in the 1950's. He said, the parish is "the highest degree of actuality of the total Church." If I understand Father Rahner's observation, he is pointing out that the Church is truly active and present in the real world in the presence, community, and sacraments which characterize what a parish and parish life are supposed to be.

Developing this idea Rahner concluded that the local church is a function of the already existing one Church of Christ which, by all means, attains its greatest event-fulness in the local community and especially in the local community's celebration of the Eucharist."

Rahner's theology of the parish may be difficult to follow but he clearly sees a parish as an essential actualization of the Church Jesus founded. Pope Benedict, in consecrating a new parish church in Rome, acknowledged that a parish serves the most profound and authentic desires of the human heart, that it gives meaning and hope to the lives of individuals and families.

The formation of "parish families" may threaten service to the profound desires of the human heart and obstruct the meaning and hope which parishioners cherish.

The importance of a parish in the lives of Catholics was underscored by Pope Benedict's closing remarks.

 "I ask all faithful, and all citizens of good will to continue their generous commitment, so that neighborhoods that are still deprived may, as soon as possible, have a home for their parish,"

The parish may be a beacon of light but it is also a treasure to be preserved.

BRIGHT LIGHT IN A DARK FUTURE

 If the past is simply prelude to the future, we may be reluctant to face a new year. The  pandemic threatening the world,  the politics dividing our nation, the reorganization of the parishes of our archdiocese all threaten our peace of mind and the comfort zones we once knew.

A poem written a century ago by Minnie Louise Haskins, a British poet and sociologist, was quoted by King George VI in his Christmas Address in 1939 to encourage his people as they faced the unknown consequences of war.

The comfort the poem offered the people of Britain may well provide comfort for us in our uncertain times. May its theme make your Christmas truly Merry, and your New Year surprisingly Happy!

THE GATE OF THE YEAR (aka GOD KNOWS) by Minnie Louise Haskins

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.

And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:

What need our little life

Our human life to know,

If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife

Of things both high and low,

God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will

Is best. The stretch of years

Which wind ahead, so dim

To our imperfect vision,

Are clear to God. Our fears

Are premature; in Him

All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until

God moves to lift the veil

From our impatient eyes,

When, as the sweeter features

Of Life’s stern face we hail,

Fair beyond all surmise

God’s thought around His creatures

Our mind shall fill.

Public Opinion Inside The Church

 Decades ago Pope Pius XII in an address to the international congress of Catholic Press meeting in Rome (see Osservatore Romano, French edition, 2/18/1950) spoke about the need for the free expression of opinion both inside and outside the Church. 

This papal statement and recognition that repressing the expression of opinion is an attack on human rights is to be remembered and honored in the light of Pope Francis' call for a world-wide synod on synodality,.  

For  Pope Francis, synodality is an expression of what the Church is called to be. Synod means "walking together" The term "synod" may be foreign to many but it has a time-honored place in the history of the Church. The Greek  word synodos is often translated into Latin as concilium, or in English as "council."

It is the gathering of people who are commissioned to reflect upon and discuss what the Lord is asking of us as the People of God, the Church. A synod is an occasion to focus on what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church. 

This effort to bring to consideration what God wants the Church to be requires reflection and listening as well as expression of opinion. It is not a time for griping or complaining, but it is an occasion for the People of God to gather and exercise discernment, letting go of prejudices and stereotypes, but accepting the reality that some things in our concept of Church may be open to change for the good of the Church's mission.

In his address more than 70 years ago, Pope Pius XII said:

"The free expression of one's opinion is the prerogative of every human society where people, responsible for their personal and social conduct, are intimately committed to the community to which they belong. . .In the eyes of Christians, repressing the expression of opinion or forcing it into silence is an attack upon the natural rights of persons, a violation of the world order that God has established. . .

"We want to add another word concerning public opinion inside the Church itself (naturally with respect to matters open to discussion). This may astonish those who do not really know the church or who only think they know it. The church is a living body, and it would lack an element of its life if the free expression of opinion was lacking --a lack for which both pastors and faithful would be blamed."

The first phase of the synod's free expression of opinion is to be conducted on the diocesan level and in Bishops' Conferences worldwide between October 2021 and April 2022. (The Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops has extended the deadline to August 15, 2022.) The results of these synodal sessions are then to be considered by the Assembly of Bishops in Synod in October of 2023.

This Synod of Bishops has prepared an official handbook for listening and discernment in dioceses. It is expected that the bishops of dioceses will hold synodal consultation meetings., Parish pastors are encouraged to promote synodal experiences in their parishes. Individuals can also contribute their consultation feedback directly to the diocese.