A Synod on Synodality, Part 5: Questions and Expectations

The Synod Assembly is currently happening in Rome to work through questions posed by the Working Document. Synod participants are alternating between general sessions and group work at tables. They began by reviewing the fundamental features of a Synodal Church, including the experience of consultation as lived by the People of God during the listening sessions of the past two years.

The Assembly is now proceeding to address the three priorities that emerged from these listening sessions: Communion, Mission and Participation. The following is a sampling of the discussion questions, quoted directly from the Working Document. Although the questions are complex, they represent key topics of discussion for the Synod members:

• “A Communion that radiates:
  • "How can we be more fully a sign and instrument of union with God and of the unity of all humanity?
  • “How does the service of charity and commitment to justice and care for our common home nourish communion in a synodal Church? Walking together means not leaving anyone behind and remaining alongside those who struggle the most. How can we create spaces where those who feel hurt by the Church feel recognized, received, free to ask questions, and not judged?
  • “How can we recognize and gather the richness of cultures and develop dialogue amongst religions in the light of the Gospel? How can we proclaim the Gospel effectively in different contexts and cultures? What bonds can we establish with the adherents of other religions to build a culture of encounter and dialogue?"
• “Co-responsibility in Mission:
  • "How can we better share gifts and tasks in the service of the Gospel?”
  • “How can we properly value ordained Ministry in its relationship with baptismal Ministries in a missionary perspective? How can we promote in the Church both a culture and concrete forms of co-responsibility such that the relationship between baptismal Ministries and ordained Ministry is fruitful?
  • “What concrete steps can the Church take to renew and reform its procedures, institutional arrangements and structures to enable greater recognition and participation of women, including in governance, decision-making processes and in the taking of decisions? How can the Church better fulfil its mission through greater recognition and promotion of the baptismal dignity of women?"
• “Participation, governance and authority:
  • "What processes, structures and institutions are needed in a missionary synodal Church?
  • “How can we renew the service of authority and the exercise of responsibility in a missionary synodal Church? How can authority and responsibility be understood and exercised such that it serves the participation of the whole People of God? What renewal of vision, and forms of concrete exercise of authority, responsibility and governance, are needed?
  • "How can we develop discernment practices and decision-making processes in an authentically synodal manner, that respects the protagonism of the Spirit? How can we imagine decision-making processes that are more participatory, which give space for listening and community discernment supported by authority understood as a service of unity?"

These are only a few of the questions that are being presented to the Synod for discussion.

Even with several weeks of meetings, what can reasonably be anticipated from this first October session? Some people expect this session to produce a status report or interim statement. But perhaps the fundamental question really is, How will it lead into the second session of the Synod next year?

According to the Working Document, the main objective of this Synod session will be to design a plan of study in a “synodal style” and to indicate who will be included in further discussions over the coming year. Discernment will be “completed” in the 2024 session of the Synod. As the Working Document -- effectively the agenda for the current session -- states, “The last segment of the work of the Assembly will be dedicated to discerning the paths we will continue to walk together. The Assembly will consider ways to continue reading the experience of the People of God, including through promoting the necessary in-depth theological and canonical studies . . . in service to the discernment to be completed in the second session in October 2024."

Read an insider account from two American participants in the Synod, a Cardinal and a woman religious, in America Magazine by clicking here.

Next time: Results from the first Synod session, published as reports and results from the Synod are released.

Read more from our series about the Synod on Synodality:
Part 1: A Synod on Synodality
Part 2: Gathering Input
Part 3: North American Issues
Part 4: October Agenda
Part 6: Session 1 Final Report
SJ23 Parishioner's Reflection from Rome