Roman Catholics will gather in June for a lay synod

Pope Francis has passed away; his funeral is today. But his legacy will live on around the world — and also here in Canada in June when Roman Catholics will gather in Ontario June 15-18 for a lay synod.

The synod, the first national event of its kind in Canada, is titled “Journey of Encounter: Pilgrims of Hope Embracing Synodality.” Organized by Concerned Lay Catholics (CLC), it is taking place at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ont.

The lay synod takes its inspiration from the words of Pope Francis, when he issued his final report to the concluding session of the three-year-long Synod on Synodality in Rome last fall.

“Pope Francis’s final words to that Synod on Synodality are our beginning,” said Garry Warner, chair of the CLC and one of the lay synod’s organizers.

Warner cited the Pope’s call to Roman Catholic churches around the world to continue the journey of listening to each other in order to discern what it means to be the church in the 21st century in their own contexts.

“We want to meet in the spirit of the synod in Rome to continue that work,” said Warner, a retired professor at McMaster University.

As at the Synod on Synodality when it met in Rome, participants in Waterloo will sit around tables to talk to each other — not have presenters speaking to them with minimal follow-up discussion.

Instead, they will be able to talk uninterrupted for several minutes around their tables about the main themes of the event: What it means to be Catholic in Canada today, how the church can truly be synodal and how the Christian faith can be a sign of hope in the world.

After everyone around the table shares, there will be a period of silence followed by a chance for each delegate to respond to what was heard. After that, a general discussion will ensue.

In Rome, this format was called the “Canadian method,” since it has its roots among Jesuits in this country who pioneered it in the 1970s — possibly based on their experience with Indigenous people and their listening circles.

For Pope Francis, that “Canadian method” was something he wanted to see instituted in the worldwide church as a way to make sure everyone’s voice is heard, not just those at the top.

At the synod in Waterloo, those guidelines will enable it to be a “place to listen, not to debate,” Warner said. “We will wait for the spirit to speak. It’s very much a listening process.”

It is also not a decision-making event, he said, nor is the goal to challenge the structures of the Church. Rather, the purpose is to “find ways for lay people to be more engaged in the Church,” as he put it.

Although the synod is being organized by lay Catholics, it is sponsored by the Diocese of Hamilton, the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada and the Jesuits in Canada. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the organizing body for Roman Catholic bishops in Canada, is aware of the event, Warner said.

“The practice of synodality that he [Pope Francis] shaped and fostered as a new way of being a listening Church, is groundbreaking,” Warner said, reflecting on the lay synod.

“It is an exercise in collective discernment, in listening to where the Holy Spirit is calling us in living the Church’s mission in the contemporary world … We are for the most part only at the beginning of this new way of being Church in Canada.”

The event is supported by Bishop Alain Faubert, the bishop of Valleyfield, Quebec. Last fall, Faubert was elected at the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality to be a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat — it’s his responsibility to work with Catholics around the world to see that the synod’s recommendations are implemented.

For Faubert, the lay synod in Canada is a way to grow the seeds planted by Pope Francis at the worldwide Synod on Synodality by encouraging Catholics to be more engaged in the life of the Church.

Their involvement is needed, said Faubert, since God did not give priests, bishops and cardinals “all the gifts and talents” in the Church. “Everyone has a place in the orchestra,” he said. “Everyone is important.”

In addition to listening to each other, lay synods like the one in Waterloo are about listening “to an aching world,” Faubert said. “It’s about listening to our neighbours and being focused on the core of the Gospel.”

For Faubert, taking time for synods like the one in Waterloo in June is critical for the survival of the Church in Canada. “I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but it’s do or die,” he said.

For more information about the lay synod in Waterloo, go to https://www.synodalchurch.ca.

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