Synthesis of our four CCRI synodal gatherings held in January 2023
The following is a synthesis of all that was shared during the four CCRI gatherings with over sixty people regarding what was loved about the Document for the Continental Synod (DCS), what was omitted that should be included, and the most significant topics that must be carried over to the Rome 2023 synod with Pope Francis.
Reflections on 1st question raised:
“After having read and prayed with the DCS, which intuitions resonate most strongly with the lived experiences and realities of the Church in your continent? Which experiences are new, or illuminating to you?”
After taking a moment of silence to call on the Holy Spirit, the following insights were shared:
- The emphasis on expanding the tent of the Church rather than being gatekeepers.
- Women in the Church took priority not just from some parts of the world but from almost every region of the world.
- Many of the same important topics arrived at from all parts of the world regardless of cultural differences: reaching out to the poor, women be given more authority, attacking clericalism, and making the Church more open and democratic.
- Changing canon law and structures are only means to the real goal of carrying out Jesus’ commandment to love one another.
- The ultimate mission of the Church should be toward those who are suffering injustice and abuse and are marginalized.
- Pastoral diocesan and parish councils to be mandatory with laity having a determinative, not consultative, voice.
- A welcoming inclusive Church in which ecumenism is an integral part of the process.
- Concept of co-responsibility, i.e., the governance and decision-making of the Church belongs to all of us, not just to the clergy.
- Appreciation of the transparency of the document including admission of the harm created by clericalism.
- So many Small Christian Communities (SCCs) forming outside the parish structure offers hope for the future of the Church.
- Small faith gatherings can be harmonized with the structural parameters of the Church.
- “The only legitimate power authority in the Church must be that of love and service following the example of the Lord.”
- Issues in the document were read with the eyes of a disciple recognizing the signs of the times that we’re in. It has taken us from where we were in the past to the present and moving toward the future.
Reflections on 2nd question raised:
“After having read and prayed with the DCS, what substantial tensions or divergences emerge as particularly important in your continent’s perspective? Consequently, what are the questions or issues that should be addressed and considered in the next steps of the process?”
After taking a moment of silence to call on the Holy Spirit, the following insights were shared:
- Tension between devotion to ritual purity vs. love and compassion for others.
- Document should have far greater emphasis on reaching out to young people and making needed changes that will genuinely meet their needs.
- Clericalism will continue as long as seminarians are taught that they will be given “ontological superiority” when they are ordained inevitably elevating them above the laity.
- An investigative committee to be formed to examine how we got here to this straight jacket of clericalism.
- Seminarians should no longer be isolated but rather educated in a university intermingling with lay people, men and women.
- To make our Church inclusive, welcoming, non-judgmental, and transparent, reform must begin with greater invitation for people to belong to a Small Christian Community (SCC).
- A shift from so much emphasis on sin to our seeing ourselves likened to God.
- Far greater concern for the whole of creation and for our earthly home, for racial equity, and for working toward all becoming one in communion with one another.
- Emphasis should be on how we have lived up to or failed in the two commandments Jesus taught: Love God and Love our neighbor.
- Greater emphasis on the Church return to how Christianity was experienced in the early days of the Church in contrast to the hierarchical structure of today.
- Growth and expansion of Small Christian Communities will become a tension when it comes to determining how they fit into Church structures.
- Ordination and other ministries in the Church should be based on charisms of the gifts that persons possess to bring to the community. One person cannot be expected to fulfill all the needs. Ministry based on charisms will always create a tension with Catholic tradition.
- Acknowledgement that the merger of the Holy Roman Empire during the time of Constantine was what began the structures we have today. If we take seriously the life of the early Christian Community, all our rituals today will come tumbling down.
- More emphasis placed on reminding us that by virtue of our baptism, we are already called to be priests, prophets, and leaders.
- Flaws in the Church according to Teilhard de Chardin: “a government that excludes democracy; second, a priesthood that excludes and minimalizes women; and third, a revelation that excludes officers” (such as laity appointed to official pastoral councils and given a deliberative voice).
- Greater emphasis on (1) women’s equality; (2) care of the environment or as Pope Francis said: “The care of our common home;” (3) need for married clergy as a practical solution to the shortage of priests; (4) sexual theology must be brought into the times; (5) democracy in the Church which includes empowering the laity with more responsibility.
- Clearer definitions of terminology needed, such as “Church,” “God,” and “Life.”
- Not only “expanding the tent” but when necessary “moving the tent” to where the people are.
- The theology of sexuality must be totally overhauled. What is needed is a mature theology of sexuality that would cover all aspects including birth control, abortion, the LGBTQ+ community, and the clerical sexual abuse crisis.
- What we need in the Church today and is missing from the document is the need for a solid mature theology that will help people grow in their relationship with God.
- Regarding Synodality and the nature of the journey that we’re on, it is not about any one individual having a voice but rather that it is a collective journey with discernment coming communally from many.
- Avoiding the seeming competition between the Church and the outside world.
- Needs to bring the Gospel message into more understandable explanations.
- Change is not going to happen if there is not a theological foundation for it.
- Providing greater reassurance that the synodal process will not and cannot be set back by resistant clerics as happened with Vatican II.
Reflections on 3rd question raised:
“Looking at what emerges from the previous two questions, what are the priorities, recurring themes and calls to action that can be shared with other local Churches around the world and discussed during the First Session of the Synodal Assembly in October 2023?”
After taking a moment of silence to call on the Holy Spirit, the following insights were shared:
- Service and ministry of women must be significantly elevated.
- Overturning clericalism: changing our attitudes on all sides of issues.
- Lay people having a decisive role in decision-making.
- Updated understanding of priesthood which includes men, women, and married.
- Synodal process – people and clergy walking together – must be an ongoing, practical, and implemented experience.
- Really listening to people with whom we don’t agree.
- A real listening-sharing session between the far-right bishops and those wanting to move the Church forward in the 2023 universal synod in Rome where openly find common ground can actually be observed.
- The most critical moral issues that are forcing the Church to change be addressed at the universal synod in Rome: inequality to women; injustice to victims in clergy sexual abuse; injustice of stifling liturgical celebrations bogging them down with ritualistic traditions.
- We cannot move forward to become a synodal Church without the structures that support Synodality, without formation for how to be synodal, and without the spirituality that underpins it.
- The Church is a community of communities with the focus being on our love and treatment of one another.
- We, the Faithful, need to be engaging with the clergy, not in any critical way but rather showing empathy for their fear. Rather than attacking them, let us show understanding that this can be experienced as a loss of identity or even feel like annihilation.
- Everyone – clergy and laity, adults and children – must go through formation to be prepared for being part of a synodal Church.
- Absolute equality of all and inclusion of all . . . including women in all aspects of Church.
- The Church needs to tell people first and foremost, that God loves them.
- Beginning with the community of the baptized, level the ground to recognize that we are all one. Acknowledge the gifts each of us brings to the community realizing there is no need to judge.
- Creative liturgies that are not so restricted by enforced rituals.
- A general invitation to all people to get together in Small Christian Communities for the purpose of celebrating the Eucharist in a more intimate gathering.
- Summing it all up: a Church that is Christ-centered offering fellowship and spirituality; a church that is open and welcoming to everyone; a Church that is transparent and accountable at all levels; implementation of Vatican II reforms; the centrality of the Eucharist; Small Christian Communities to become part of the official structure of the Church; voices of lay people must not only be heard but acted upon; clericalism must be confronted; a radical attitude change toward women and their ministry; need for ongoing synodal education for clergy and laity; a new form of leadership.
All of us, clergy and laity alike, need to be trained in the practice of Synodality. We have an opportunity now to sign up for Raphael Luciani’s free online course in the History, Practice, and Theology of Synodality. The course goes from February 6 to March 26. The registration link for this free online course is https://formaciononline.bc.edu/en/courses/mooc2-2/. See attachments as well.
The gathering ended with a closing prayer and great appreciation for everyone’s open sharing.
Submitted by Rene Reid