Exploring the meaning of synodality

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/10/2024 (673 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘Todos, todos, todos.” (“All, all, all.”) With those words at World Youth Day in Portugal in 2023, Pope Francis announced that everyone is welcome in the Roman Catholic Church.

That word of welcome is also the message of that Church’s Synod on Synodality, a worldwide set of discussions about the future of the Roman Catholic Church that is concluding its three-year process this month in Rome.

God willing and Air Canada able, I will be in Rome by the time you read this to begin a week of reporting about the Synod for the Free Press.

My goal while I am there will be to explore the meaning of synodality — literally, “journeying together” — for that Church around the world and here at home in Manitoba. I also want to learn what it might mean for Catholic women and LGBTTQ+ and other people identified by the Pope as being on the margins.

This current month-long session, which started in early October, is the second time delegates from around the world met in Rome to talk about the future of the Roman Catholic Church. The first session was held a year ago, following a worldwide consultation in 2022 that identified the issues the church needs to discuss as it looks for ways to be relevant in the 21st century.

This is not the first time the Roman Catholic Church has held a synod. What makes this one different from the past is who’s there; it’s not just leaders of the Church, the cardinals and bishops. Of the 368 delegates gathered in Rome, 96 are lay people. And about half of those lay delegates are women — another first for the Church when it comes to synods.

Another difference is that delegates are meeting around round tables, not arranged in rows facing a raised platform where the pope sits overlooking the process. In fact, Pope Francis is sitting at the tables himself, one delegate among many.

The process itself is also different, following a procedure called “conversations in the Spirit.” Through it, delegates at each table speak about a topic for several minutes without interruption. When done, there is a period of silent reflection and prayer, followed by a second round of responding to what was said. That is also followed by silence, after which an open discussion begins. When done, each table draws up a report on its conclusions to share with the entire synod.

The goal of this process, according to Pope Francis, is to allow everyone to be heard and for everyone to listen.

This was a point he made at his homily at the opening Mass for this year’s session. “Let us be careful not to see our contributions as points to defend at all costs or agendas to be imposed,” he said. “With the help of the Holy Spirit, we must listen to and understand these voices — that is, the ideas, the expectations, the proposals — so as to discern together the voice of God speaking to the Church.”

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While hopes for the synod are high among Catholics, there is also disappointment among Catholic women and members of the LGBTTQ+ community. The topics of women’s role in the Church, including the controversial topics of female ordination and about creating a more welcoming space for LGBTTQ+ people, have been taken out of the main session. They have been sent to study groups that will explore those issues and report back to the pope next year.

In taking the topics out of the main assembly, some observers say the pope has not indicated he doesn’t care about them, but that he doesn’t want those hot button issues to dominate his main goal of creating a listening church.

The Pope signalled his continued commitment to women and LGBTTQ+ by meeting ahead of the synod with women advocating for greater roles in the Church, and during it with transgender Catholics and their allies.

Ultimately, it seems that for Pope Francis the main goal of the synod is the synodal process itself: enabling Catholics around the world to find ways to journey together towards the future despite different ideas, cultures and contexts. Over the next seven days, I hope to get some ideas of just what that might look like.

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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John Longhurst
Faith columnist & reporter

John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.

   Read full biography