What’s up with the Synod?

First, a recap: In October of 2021, Pope Francis opened the process for the “Synod on Synodality” – to discuss how we can further become a Church that is marked by “communion, participation and mission.” In the spring of 2022 (if you can remember that far back), our diocese participated in the process by holding over 30 listening sessions with more than 600 people – lay men and women, priests, deacons, religious sisters – as many distinct voices as we could gather. We asked them to discuss in small groups and tell us their concerns, their hopes, and their role in the mission of the Church as they think about the future.

Their insights and responses were captured in a 10-page document that was sent to the U.S. Bishops’ committee on the Synod. (That document is available on our diocesan website.) Similar documents from the other 290 dioceses around the country were combined to create a “national synthesis” which was then merged with the Canadian synthesis to form the “North American synthesis.” Those continental syntheses formed the basis for the conversations last October at the first general session of the Synod.

For the better part of the month of October 2023, over 400 bishops and cardinals, religious sisters and clergy, and members of the laity gathered in Rome to discern where the Holy Spirit may lead the Catholic Church. This was the first session of the Synod’s general assembly – the next and final one will be October 2024.

This was a groundbreaking event, given that previously no one other than bishops had ever been voting members of a Synod. They sat at round tables, listening to each other and offering insights from what they heard the Holy Spirit saying through each other.

One insight that came out of the first general assembly was a deeper understanding of “conversation.” Bishop Daniel Flores, the U.S. leader for the Synod, put it this way: “Conversation, as the Latin root suggests, implies more than talking and listening. It involves sharing a way and a style of life, a style of communal life described succinctly by St. Paul in Galatians 5:22, marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

The method of listening that was used is called the “Conversation in the Spirit” and it focuses on deep listening – not on responding to what was said by others. It is listening to the Holy Spirit through reflection on Scripture, and by listening to each other – recognizing that all the baptized have a participation in the work of the Holy Spirit. This “Conversation in the Spirit” is now becoming a recommended practice for all gatherings in the Church.

The formal document that resulted from the first Assembly was entitled “A Synodal Church in Mission.” It is 40 pages long, and divided into three parts dealing with the theology of synodality, the synodal relationships of the baptized in the Church, and how synodality promotes dialogue with the world. (The full document is available for download here.)

From now until the next assembly in October of this year, the report requests that each diocese reflect on the question of HOW we can be a synodal Church in mission. We are to explore ideas about the paths we can follow and tools we might adopt in order to enhance the unique contribution of each baptized person in the one mission of proclaiming the Risen Lord and his Gospel to the world today.

The synodal practices of listening and co-responsibility of all the baptized can provide a solid framework and grounding for the success of the Road to Renewal. It will require a determined effort to listen to the Holy Spirit through Scripture and through each other.