Participants on the 1st call: Mary Louise Knapp (US), Joe Sannino (US), Hilda Diaz (Mexico); Joe Healey (Kenya currently in US), Mikayla Jette (US), Jean-Pierre (France); Ray Temmerman (Canada); Greg; Christina Reymer (New Zealand); Clyde Christopherson (US), Michael Centore (US), Charlie and Bonnie Gibson (US), Nick Smith (US), Nicole d’Entremont (US), Marilyn Winter and her friend(US), Anna Marie Brennan (US), Charles Pate (US), Marie Venner (US), Kathleen Ellertson (US), Paul Kullman (Mexico), John Williams (Canada), Ann Dobbing (Scotland), Paschal Kearney (Ireland), Audrey Rogers (US), Seibert, Anne (US), and Rene Reid (US currently in Mexico).
Participants on the 2nd call: Patricia Gemmell (Australia), Beth (US), Maree Sobolewski (Australia), Joe Sannino (US), Kevin Listen (Australia), and Rene Reid (US)
For all who have an interest in the next steps of Francis’s Synodal process, we invite you to join our Global Ecclesial Synod Council meeting, which will be Saturday, February 25. To keep yourself updated on the outcomes of the various Continental Synods, click here to subscribe to the newsletters coming from the Synod office. The Continental Stage of the Synod will have been completed in many regions. Click here to see the reports from the most recent newsletters:
Asian Continental Synod continuing until February 27
Central/South America Continental Synod (2 of 4 sub-regional assemblies)
Middle Eastern Continental Synod
Africa Continental Synod scheduled for March 1 – 6
Regarding Central/South America, Joe reported that their leadership, the Episcopal Conference of Latin America (CELAM), is set up to have four regional assemblies, two of which have taken place so far (see above). Hilda from Mexico shared that typically in the parishes, the bishops and pastors have shared very little about the synodal process. However, she belongs to a group of women missionaries who had a special gathering that consisted of representatives from the Congo, Pacific Islands, United States, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Joe added that there were many grassroots gatherings throughout the area in 2021 and ’22. But in 2023, Latin America is being led by CELAM in what appears to be a top-down approach.
Pope Francis set up a special gathering of the Middle East because their Catholic representation is so important. Massimo Fagioli wrote an article about this that said the tension is no longer between a conservative and progressive model of Church but rather moving from a European model to a universal model.
North American Synod
John from Canada shared that not a lot has been publicized about the US/Canadian synod in Canada. There have been two press releases that have gone out. It seems this Synod is basically being controlled by the bishops. It is far more an episcopal gathering (bishops only) gathering than an ecclesial one (including all the People of God). A writing team is now being formed consisting of 8 bishops, 3 lay women, 2 priests, 2 laymen and 2 women religious, and they have until the end of March to complete their synthesis of these gatherings – still very much under the control of the bishops.
There were no official delegates to the Canadian/US Synod so the discussion was opened up to those who participated in Region XVI for the US part of the synod. This was made up o 115 progressive representatives called together by the USCCB to give those who felt they’d been left out of the synodal process and felt they should have a voice.
Kathleen shared that it was a well-organized gathering with wonderful sharing of reforms that need to occur in the Church today. It was going well until the end when it became obvious that it was an exercise in futility. At the end, in response to questions, Julia McStravog, a lay women who helped organize this synod on behalf of the USCCB, acknowledged that the gathering was not recorded, there was no follow-up planned, and reminded us that our voices were not officially part of the Synod since we were not appointed by bishops. The purpose was to help with the USCCB’s discernment process.
Barb from Los Angeles shared she had the same experience. The only thing positive that came out of the gathering was that her group (we were divided up onto 14 breakout groups) agreed that they wanted to continue coming together.
In the report from the Episcopal gathering in Florida, Audrey shared that it said that 56% of the delegates from the US were employees of the dioceses. They reported that lay people were interested in more formation so they can understand better about their Catholic faith. So what we can expect from the North American synod is a lot of silo thinking of diocesan employees talking to themselves.
Mikayla had a different experience because she came into Region XVI as a student representing Marian University in Indianapolis, India. She had no awareness that our voice would not be part of the official North American Continental Synod. But she still felt that the opportunity to share with one another was important and that representatives of the USCCB were listening to all the ideas that were shared. She was also grateful that the synod opened up dialogue with many of the students from her university since this kind of dialogue is what the synod is really all about. She is also grateful for this opportunity that today’s gathering as provided.
Rene invited Mikayla to join our Young Adult Seekers sponsored by CCRI and led by Alloys Nyakundi in Kenya.
Marie said that in her parish in Denver, the synod was all about obedience and how we be more obedient to our Church and to the Holy Spirit.
Clyde said that it important that we maintain an independence from the bishops and the tendency to look to the bishops for their leadership. They should not be our focus.
Joe said the bishops were clever. They seemed to have found a waste can in Region XVI to drowned out those of us who are critical thinkers of officially being heard in the Synod. He also thinks that the mentality of their “divine right as kings” is something they are not even fully conscious of having. But it is ingrained in them.
As part of the Region XVI gathering, Debbie’s take on this that the USCCB had no idea what they created when they put this group together and put us in touch with one another. Through their work in the Pentecostal Vigil Project, since the US bishops don’t want to see us invited to the primary table, she sees their role is to continue the dialogue so to set our parallel table. She sees their work is inviting the connections between all of us, sustaining the dialogue, and continuing to set this parallel table. We need to continue on the journey, and listen intently to the Spirit speak to the Church in truth and live. The US bishops have given us a gift. Let’s take the power they’ve given us and run with it.
Rene said along this same line that the National synthesis of the US diocesan phase put out by the US bishops’ office was very positive in that it told the truth of what we the People of God actually said during the first phase of the synod. It acknowledged our gratitude for the opportunity to be heard and to listen; the wounds that have been inflicted often by the institution itself, most especially the sexual abuse crisis by the clergy; the marginalization of women in the decision-making processes and ministries of the Church, of the divorced and remarried in full participation in the life of the Church, and the LGBTQ community; our desire for the Church to be a more a home for the wounded and broken and less an institution of rules, regulations, and “Thou shalt nots”; our concern for the harm clericalism has done, for the exclusion and ignoring of young adults, and greater involvement of the laity in the decision-making of both parishes and dioceses. While Bishop Flores is credited with writing this synthesis, he did not do it alone. We’ve heard that women serving on the staff played a substantive role in its creation.
Michael agreed that some of the US Bishops’ staff – Julia, Richard, and Alexander – did an outstanding job in organizing this phase of the synod. They want what many of us want and we need to stay in communication with them. He also mentioned that the synodal process is going through 2024, so there is still extra time to reach out to other groups and pull people in to the synodal process.
Joe shared that in the press releases that came out of Florida where the 17 episcopal delegates were meeting, one of those delegates was the chancellor of the San Diego diocese, a religious sister who works closely with Cardinal McElroy and is very progressive. Another was the Auxiliary Bishop of Hartford, Connecticut where Michael Centore lives is also one of those seventeen. Bishop Flores acknowledged that material is still coming in and will be through the end of March. Joe is hopeful that reports from Region XVI will be among those still coming in.
Young Adults
Joe said when Bishop Flores was asked if he felt he’d heard from all the various groups in the US, he became emotional and said: “No, we have not heard sufficiently from Catholic young adults. Their voice was missing.” To join the Young Adult Seekers online Small Christian Community sponsored by CCRI, click here. In that regard, Barb said in southern California, the message of the bishop and priests to younger adults is “Go to Mass, go to confession, and practice adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and you’re a good Catholic.” Voices like Makayla’s, our young adult present today, are not allowed to blossom here. Rene commented that same message is being delivered to young adults through our Newman Center in Reno, Nevada as well.
Hilda made the point that universities, and especially Catholic ones, are in general more interested in fund raising than in reaching the mindset of the students attending. Young people need to be assertive and make their needs known to the directors and heads of their schools.
Charlie said one thing we older people can do is support young people in getting universities to address the students’ needs. In secular schools in particular, there focus of too many Newman Centers is to utilize a pre-Vatican II outreach which generally leaves the students cold.
Ray from Winnipeg said he does not believe the youth are just the future of the Church. They should also be the present in that they are speaking a different kind of language. We need to be listening to them and asking them to help us to understand this language so the Church can speak to the world today. The Church cannot continue to preach to the world in the archaic language of yesterday. Secondly, using the imagery of a canoe, when one person leans far to the right, our natural tendency is to lean to the far left to keep the canoe balanced. But this is a mistake. We need to each find and assume our appropriate position which will make the other person, to avoid falling in the water, also assume his/her appropriate place for bringing the boat (the Church) to where it needs to be.
European Synod in Prague
Jean-Pierre from France said that We are Church Int’l called for equality – equality for laity, equality for women, equality for the LGBTQ community, and equality for married couples.
When they returned home, some We Are Church members wrote their impressions of the experience in Prague. Martha Heizer from Austria said nothing new was said in Prague that hadn’t already been reported in the national syntheses. Their demands for change were mentioned but never discussed in the plenary session. Their urgent appeals to end discrimination against women and LGBTQ+ people and to finally establish gender parity in decision-making bodies went uncommented and had no visible consequences. Despite the challenges, Martha felt good to have been there. They felt an overwhelming welcome from some, like the delegation from Luxembourg.
Christian Weisner from We are Church Germany said they experienced the Prague event as important but still incomplete. They feel “Synodality must not remain without results!” Recognizing that no decisions had been made, German bishop Bätzing, concluded: “There is no good alternative to the synodal process! So we all have to keep working on it!”
Colm Holmes reported that in Prague there were no debates, (just statements from each country), no votes (the editorial team produced a bland summary), and no progress on the DCS document from October 2022. Of the eight priorities listed at the conclusion, only one he felt was worth noting: “Take concrete and courageous decisions on the role of women within the Church and on their greater involvement at all levels, also in decision-making and decision-taking processes” The Irish team, consisting of Archbishop Eamon Martin, Julieann Moran, Dr. Nicola Brady and Father Eamon Fitzgibbon, contributed far more than many larger countries! Their contributions were cited multiple times in the final paper, showing that they have found a direction that many can support. Click below for a link to their full text: https://www.catholicbishops.ie/2023/02/07/speaking-notes-from-the-irish-delegation-attending-the-continental-assembly-of-the-synod-in-prague/?fbclid=IwAR1UTKL2QBaRKB3RgTXIycFVVcX72ZVIKSzvN3uv6Q3-bCCzQAkeoAjwjio. At our gathering, Paschal Kearney, also from Ireland, added that the hope for change in the Church will not come from the top but remains with the grassroots.
Oceana Synod in Fiji
New Zealand: Christina reported that bishops and some laity met last week. It was a positive experience where they sought to find a specific Pacific voice with a strong emphasis on the environment and the impact of climate change on their part of the world. There was extensive discussion about the democratization of the Church with its mission, accountability, and participation. She felt they made progress but still have a long way to go with this issue that we the people are the Church. It is not just the bishops and clergy. On March 8, Int’l Women’s Day, they will but a tent outside the cathedral in Auckland with the words “Enlarge the Space of your Tent.” The tension here is the issue of whether our baptism is the essential aspect of what makes us Church or is it ordination? If it’s ordination and the exclusive power of the clergy to administer the sacraments to us, then they have the upper hand. But if it is by virtue of our baptism that we are Church, then there is equality – equality of women, and of marginalized people. Oceana’s concerns are about the environment and addressing sexuality in a more appropriate way. To see the ACCCR Convocation on Synodality held 2 Feb 2023, featuring 4 panel members, including Susan Pascoe who was present at Frascati to prepare the Continental Document, click here.
Australia: Tricia Gemmell said she was pleased overall with the Oceana Synod, and especially that there were Australian women theologians participating. As an environmental activist, she was pleased they went to visit mine sites that were very damaging; they also looked at erosion on the seashore.
Maree said she also supports the environmental emphasis. But because New Guinea, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands are more tribal than Australia and New Zealand, she doesn’t want this to distract from some other issues. She is concerned about the number of people who are participating globally. She thinks there are so many who know nothing about the synod and the message needs to be spread more widely to reach a far greater number of Catholics. Tricia sees that as the lack of promotion of many pastors who are not choosing to promote the synod. It is not even making it into many of the parish bulletins. Kevin felt they’ll know much more in a few weeks when the official report comes out. For him, the important step is to get the laity involved in the universal synod in Rome. His understanding is that there will be no lay representatives there.
Rene feels that after all that has been said to describe the synod as all of us walking together, having no laity there would be completely hypocritical. She can’t imagine that happening in Rome. However, throughout the world, after every ecclesial gathering with the people and the clergy together, the bishops went off on their own and had a meeting behind closed doors. Rene asked how everyone felt about that. Kevin: unhappy. Tricia: It is so engrained in the bishops as their modus operandi. Given what synodality is supposed to be, they can’t even see what is wrong with this. Synodality is calling us to become mature responsible Christians. We cannot wait to be invited by the hierarchy. Unless we speak up and make room for ourselves, lay participation in Rome will never happen. Kevin agrees that we as lay people need to have a strong presence. Maree said the bishops are still in control but we have to keep moving the church forward into becoming a synodal church. Kevin said the bishops are still in control of the institution, but they aren’t in control of our spirituality. Most Catholics are taking their faith into their own hands. Maree, who has been a member of her parish for over 40 years, gave the example when in a parish meeting that she offered a different opinion from her new parish priest. He asked if she respected the office of priest? She responded that she respects the person, not the office. That is typical she pointed out of the mindset their taught in seminary. Kevin said he is running a Lenten program in 2 parishes. In one case, the priest has no awareness of what he is doing. He finally showed him the outline and he liked it. Kevin said if he didn’t, he’d just offer the program in a different parish. Beth, who is part of an Inclusive Christian Community in New Jersey under the auspices of Catholic Women Priests added that clericalism is a huge problem all over the world. It demands that the people stand up for what they want for their communities. The suggestion was made that we bombard Sr. Nathalie Becquart with emails saying that the people must be and participating in the universal synod in Rome. Kevin supported that but suggested copy Cardinal Grech as well. He thinks both would support lay people being voting participants. Joe Sannino joined the meeting.
Spirit Unbounded, the virtual and physical event in Rome to be held Oct. 13-14, 2023
There is an upcoming event being led by Root & Branch from the UK called Spirit Unbounded. Its intent is to let the world and the Vatican know that we the People of God are here ready to take on our full responsibility as equal members of our Church. With the help of their professional technological team, this will be both a virtual event in which each of us can participate from wherever we live as well as a physical event taking place in Rome October 13 and 14. How can you participate? In addition to tuning into the events on these days, one way is by contributing a recording of an event your group has created as part of their Discipleship of Equals. In this way, people from all around the world can click on an event held in some other region and become familiar with your work. A second way is for individuals to share your story of what it’s been like for you to grow up Catholic. Share your joyous moments as well as your hurtful moments and how the Church could better have handled your situation. To become involved as a Companion on the Road with Root & Branch, to contribute a recording of an event you’ve had to this event as part of the Discipleship of Equals, or to share a Personal Story, click here. For further questions, contact R & B directly at hello@spiritunbounded.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Rene Reid