I suspect I’ve come as close to the global Synod on Communion, Participation, and Mission as is possible without being an official member of it. I’ve facilitated or contributed to dozens of conversations in the Spirit, both in person and virtually, with students, colleagues, parish council members, and bishops; written at least a dozen synthesis reports submitted to the USCCB and the Secretariat of the Synod; and accompanied more than 100 students and 30 colleagues into “the room where it happens” (the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican) during the second General Assembly of Bishops for a dialogue with Synod delegates. I’ve gone all in!
Even with this extensive immersion in synodality at all these levels, I still find it challenging to explain the efficacy of participating in this historic conversion process to the average Catholic and particularly to fellow colleagues. And yet, I know there is good news to tell about this historically unprecedented effort.
So, I offer four of my own headlines about the Synod, particularly for ethicists as we transition, as Massimo Faggioli portends, “from Synod to synodality.”[1] Maybe they will help you tell your own good news and motivate you to get involved in implementing the Synod’s roadmap.
Not Sexy, but Seismic!
Many around the world understandably bemoaned the fact that the “hot button” issues clearly identified in “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” the document for the listening phase, were not on the (round) tables for discernment. A read of the Final Document [2] with those obstacles in mind will be equally disappointing.[3] Yet, there is a victory to be snatched from the jaws of defeat here. By focusing on the structural impediments to people’s journeys with the Church that preclude co-responsibility for its mission, Synod delegates offered a thorough diagnosis of the ecclesial, structural, and cultural sins that wound members of the Body of Christ, erode trust, and challenge the integrity of the Church’s mission.
Most notable is the structural and cultural sin of clericalism, which delegates define as “the use of power to one’s own advantage and the distortion of the authority of the Church which is at the service of the People of God”(#25). I see helpful parallels between clericalism and white supremacy, particularly when understood as institutional preferences for some to exercise power over others: “Clericalism is based on the implicit assumption that those who have authority in the Church are not to be held to account for their actions and decisions as if they were isolated from or above the rest of the People of God” (#98). Poking the bear of unquestioned authority with calls for accountability may not be sexy, but it certainly portends a seismic shift.
A focus on root causes of the pains experienced by certain populations in the Church has the potential to alleviate them. Equipped with this structural or institutional diagnosis of the way we miss the mark within the Church, delegates offer a roadmap for addressing these structural obstacles. Consider a few equally unsexy recommendations with potentially seismic impact: the Church ought to be open to learning from civil society about how to engage in self-evaluation (#101), the people of God ought to have “greater voice in choosing their bishops (#69); parish and diocesan councils can no longer be optional (#103); and no decision made without consultation (#91). Pope Francis signing off on the Final Report, imbuing with magisterial authority the collaborative work of a group that included cardinals, bishops, the ordained, vowed religious and lay people with might not be headline news, but it’s a seismic move.[4]
Women of the Synod: We Can Do Hard Things
We should not underestimate the impact of women’s involvement at every stage and level of the synodal process. Women helped facilitate conversations in the Spirit in faith communities around the world; participated in greater numbers than men in those gatherings; and served on the Theological Commission to launch the process. The 54 Synod Mothers of the two General Assemblies – delegates, facilitators, and theologians – often served as the only female conduits for the Holy Spirit in their working groups. We know that even in the most inclusive discernment process of the Church’s recent history, in their attempts to name the sexism and misogyny of the institutional Church these women experienced it. The temptation to erase women’s experience and agency was real, evidenced by the initial lack of transparency and accountability in Study Group Five that will take up questions related to women’s full participation in the life and mission of the Church.[5] Strong too was the reluctance to believe women about their sense of what is required to make them equal partners in serving the Church’s mission, evidenced by the significant number of delegates who did not endorse the paragraph in the Final Report that spells out recommendations to that end. [6]
And yet, the persistence of women throughout the Church to attend to the Spirit’s promptings and serve the synodal process gifts the Church with arresting testimony and recommendations in synod documents that will continue to anchor and motivate agitation for women’s full participation in the life and mission of the Church.
Consider, for example, paragraphs #60-65 in “Enlarge the Space in Your Tent,” which capture the consensus of people around the world that the future of a synodal Church – of the Church itself – hinges on embracing women’s fuller participation and equal baptismal dignity. [7] Equally stunning in its long-overdueness and its content is paragraph #60 of the Final Report. Here we see invocations to Mary the Mother of God as present at Pentecost and Mary Magdalene as Apostle to the Apostles, alluding to their protagonism in Jesus’ mission. We see women recognized for the many roles they play in leadership of and service to the Church. We see calls to implement what is already possible under Canon Law (see this extensive list by canon lawyer and Synod delegate Mirjam Wiljens [8]). Absent are appeals to essentialism, complementarity, or Marian and Petrine principles that have stymied discernment about what relationships of reciprocity between men and women might require. The most life-giving fruit of including women in this Synod on Synodality: “What comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped (#60).”
It’s about Power, Stupid!
Forgive the bluntness, but synodality really is about power. Yes, we need to listen to the Holy Spirit at work in our lives and in the lives of others, in communities known to us and outside of our bubbles. And much neededgood can come from these kinds of encounters. They are the foundation of synodality.
And yet, it is tempting to think that synodality is simply about round tables, “I” statements, and learning how to actively listen. In truth, the point of these critical components is to help us learn how to exercise power differently in the Church. Community organizers recognize much of their own approaches to social justice in Francis’s commitment to synodality: listening campaigns, consensus building processes to identify priorities, strategic assessments to determine the immediate wins that pave the way for even bigger ones. Organizers define power as “the product of relationship.” Synodality – as a modus vivendi and operandi of the Church – is ultimately about how we build relationships to better serve the Church’s mission. In many ways, relationships across divisions are both the means and the ends of the mission of a synodal Church.
If synodality is about how we enter relationships with each other and allow the Spirit to guide us in the contexts of those relationships, then what we’ve been gifted by Synod delegates is a roadmap for what Rick Gaillardetz calls “ecclesial subsidiarity,” or ways that decisions impacting the People of God can be made at the lowest level possible, involvingthose who will be most impacted by those decisions. [9] This is a new understanding of how power operates within the Church–not primarily as power over communities and individuals, but rather as power within and with the same. Synod delegates’ calls for accountability, transparency, and ongoing evaluation of mission effectiveness are, again, not sexy, but will surely enhance relationships up and down the Church’s hierarchical structures, increasing the power of people currently denied it as they, too, seek to serve the Gospel.
Work the Practice and Process
The many members of this historic General Assembly of Bishops, as imperfect as it was, worked in good faith to deliver the global Church a roadmap for becoming a synodal Church. That document itself reflects their commitment to work the spiritual practices and processes – particularly at critical junctures in the second General Assembly – as a deliberative body. Now, it is for us to work together in incarnating it.
Building a synodal Church is our work to do as the People of God. We’ve got to work the spiritual practices and processes of synodality in the various contexts where we gather as Church and serve its mission. As a method that makes space to recognize the protagonism of the Holy Spirit in every person, particularly among those on the margins of the Church and society, synodality invokes a central principle of Catholic social teaching: participation. “The way to promote a synodal Church is to foster greater participation of the People of God in decision-making processes,” Synod delegates assure us (#87). For synodality to take hold, we will need to bring the gifts of our baptismal calls as priests, prophets, and kings to the common good of the institutional Church.
This kind of participation requires risky letting go: of old stories for new relationships; of familiar ways of gathering, in favor of attending to the Holy Spirit at work in everyone; of top-down decision-making strategies for muddier consensus-building processes; of unquestioned authority, for consulting and being consulted. This will take work–spiritual work at that. It is no wonder that Pope Francis considers the call to synodality a call to conversion.
Ultimately, synodality is a deeply relational business. And that is good news in light of the many challenges we face right now when it comes to getting into relationship, whether with ourselves or each other in our increasingly fractured landscape. It’s particularly good news for Catholic ethicists, who have much to contribute when it comes to cultivating relationality, particularly within the Church. Let’s get to work!
Works Cited
[1] Massimo Faggioli, “The End of the Synod…and the beginning of synodality,” Commonweal, November 13 2024: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/end-synod
[2] XVI Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission,” November 2024: https://www.synod.va/content/dam/synod/news/2024-10-26_final-document/ENG—Documento-finale.pdf
[3] For a sampling of disappointments, see Elizabeth Povoledo, “Vatican Punts Question of Female Deacons,” The New York Times, October 26, 2024: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/26/world/europe/vatican-bishops-synod-women-pope.html; and Robert Shine, “Despite shortcomings on LBBTQ+ people, synod report holds pockets of faith,” National Catholic Reporter, November 1, 2024: https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/despite-shortcomings-lgbtq-people-synod-report-holds-pockets-faith; and Thomas Reese, SJ, “Synod ends with disappointment and hope,” Religion News Service, October 28, 2024: https://religionnews.com/2024/10/28/synod-ends-with-disappointment-and-hope/
[4] Tyler Arnold, “Pope Francis: Synod on Synodality document part of magisterium, calls for implementation now,” Catholic News Service, November 26, 2024: ttps://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/260707/pope-francis-synod-on-synodality-document-part-of-magisterium-calls-for-implementation-now
[5] Christopher White, “Outrage follows Vatican doctrine chief’s absence from synod meeting on secretive women’s study group,” National Catholic Reporter, October 18, 2024: https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/outrage-follows-vatican-doctrine-chiefs-absence-synod-meeting-secretive-womens
[6] Mikeal Corre, “Synod final document: Women, transparency, new ministries,” La Croix International, October 28, 2024: https://international.la-croix.com/religion/synod-final-document-women-transparency-new-ministries. For more on the underlying dynamics and significant implications of not believing women in the Church, see Natalia Imperatori Lee’s Madaleva Lecture, “Bearers of an Idle Tale: Women’s Authority in a Credibility Economy,” April 11, 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmYZS-CBVR4
[7] Secretariat of the Synod, “Enlarge the Space in Your Tent: The Document for the Continental Stage of the Global Synod on Communion, Participation, and Mission,” November 2022: https://www.synod.va/content/dam/synod/common/phases/continental-stage/dcs/Documento-Tappa-Continentale-EN.pdf
[8] Wijlens, Myriam. “Lay Persons in Leadership and Governance in a Synodal Church: Canonical Developments Calling for Theological Reflections and a Paradigm Shift.” Studia Canonica, vol. 58, no. 1, 2024, pp. 53-77, https://doi.org/10.2143/STC.58.1.3293397.