The Synod so Far – a Personal Perspective
Father Eamonn Conway
Half-way through
It is the middle of the second week of the Synod of Bishops,which has been called to reflect upon “The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith”. At this point the first phase of the Synod has concluded. This consisted of listening to the bishops and other delegates from around the world present their short reflectionson the opportunities and challenges facing the task of evangelization in their particular Churches. Summaries of the interventions are available at various websites on-line, and on Oct 17th Cardinal Wuerl, the General Rapporteur, presented a synopsis to guide the next phase of the discussion. This should lead next week to the formulation of concrete proposals that will be voted upon in general assembly. The proposals successfully carried will be presented to the Pope for his consideration when drafting the post-synodal exhortation.
The presentations have been so numerous and varied that it is impossible to give a systematic summary or overview. At most, in what follows, I hope to give you a few impressions and personal insights.
The first thing that struck me is there is strength in the Church when it is gathered in this way: the head and the various parts of the body united in prayer and in reflection. For the most part the Pope has been present, and each session begins and ends with prayer. When individual Synod Fathers have spoken about difficult circumstances in their dioceses, such as war and oppression or the denial of religious freedom, there has been a tangible sense of prayerful concern and support. In the small group in which I participate along with Bishop Kieran O’Reilly of Killaloe, we feel similar concern expressed for the future of the Irish Church. At the same time, our concerns are put in perspective when we hear of the struggles and sufferings of Catholics in places such as Pakistan and Iraq.
There is a sense in which the Church as a whole is healthy; this is no surprise when we understand the Church first and foremostas the Body of the Risen Christ. While there is unease and dis-ease in some parts of the body, there is a strong sense that the Church as a whole can provide healing and renewal; it remains the effective means of salvation for all.
In general, a surprising level of joy has permeated the gathering and this tone was set by Pope Benedict in his opening prayerful reflection. He identified the two pillars of evangelisation as confessio and caritas. Confessing or proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ can only be effective when it is undertaken by those who themselves are living the Good News in love and in joy. Indeed, one could say that the whole struggle of the discussions, in the Synod Hall as well as in the small group discussions, is to keep both of these pillars in focus. There has been an emphasis on the need to proclaim sound doctrine, but this has also included the social doctrine of the Church, and many bishops have stressed that love, especially for the poor and the excluded, must have the same priority for us as it did for Jesus of Nazareth.
The New Evangelisation and its Priorities
In general terms, “new evangelization” is taken to be the renewed effort of the Church to reach out in a particular way to those baptized but who have never been properly evangelized or who for whatever reason no longer practice.
In his opening address the General Rapporteur, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, invited us to focus on three aspects: renewal and deepening of the faith, renewed confidence in the truth of the Gospel, and courage and willingness to share it.
The Instrumentum Laboris, which resulted from widespread consultations following the Lineamenta, was meant to be the bishops’ starting point for their five-minute interventions. Many of them, though not all, have linked their input to one or more paragraphs of the Instrumentum. In his article in the National Catholic Reporter of Oct 12, John Allen made a good job of summarizing in broad strokes the emphases from across the continents. The Latin Americans have had many regional synod-type gatherings (Medellin, Aparacedia etc) so it should not surprise us that they are singing more or less from the same hymn sheet. They value hugely the popular piety of the people, and while they see the threats to it, through mass media and the undermining of the family, they still see traditional devotions as central to the new evangelization. Basic Christian communities are also of central importance and need to be further supported.
There have been a number of calls, not just from Latin America but also from other regions, for the establishment of the position of catechist as a stable ministry in the Church. At the same time there have been concerns that lay ministries would not in any way diminish the distinctiveness of the priesthood.
Many of the African churches are marked by ethnic violence, social unrest, the destructive influence of native religions and mass poverty. Some bishops have conveyed the impression of being on the “front-line” in the protection of their people, with the inevitable toll that this takes upon them personally. There was an edge to Cardinal Pengo’s voice (Dar-es-Salaam) when he condemned the ‘evangelisation-drain’ which occurs when many of Africa’s best and brightest priests go to study or work in the West and do not return because they like the comfort and lifestyle, often with the collusion of dioceses in the West which see themselves as under-resourced in terms of priests but de facto still have far more priests per catholic than the countries from which these priests come.
A number of people have commented on how the bishops from Europe, perhaps reflecting very accurately the situation in their particular churches, seem somewhat tired and frustrated. Perhaps it is because the threat of secularism is less defined and therefore more difficult to engage than the more tangible physical threats that face Catholics in many African and Latin American countries, and, for instance in Pakistan, Lebanon and Syria.
Archbishop Zollitsch of Freiburg, making use of Charles Taylor’s theory of secularisation, chose to define the main threat caused by secularisation not in terms of exclusion from the public sphere, or declining faith practice, but rather in terms of fundamental transformations in lived experience. This means that people are no longer being formed in living traditions and instead develop their own individualized and privatized form of spirituality.
European bishops reflect the full spectrum of “solutions” to secularism. These have included deeper personal conversion of the various agents of evangelization: the family, priests and bishops; better preparation for and more profound reverence in the celebration of the sacraments; greater adherence to Church discipline and doctrine; better preaching of the Word of God.
Illustrating the various ways in which the different parts of the Church can be a gift to the universal Church, the tone set by the Asian bishops has been very different. The bishops from India and the Phillipines for the most part have exuded a sense of calm and quiet confidence. I found the presentation by Archbishop Tagle of Manila to be one of the most stirring. He spoke of the need to rediscover the power of silence. Faced with the sorrows, doubts and uncertainties of many of our contemporaries as Church we should not pretend that there are always immediate or easy solutions but rather approach people in complex life situations with humility and respect.
The intervention of Archbishop Rowan Williams was also of particular importance. He outlined in a refreshing way the distinctiveness of Christian anthropology. He reminded us that “to proclaim the Gospel is to proclaim that it is at last possible to be properly human”, and that “the humanizing enterprise will be empty without the definition of humanity given in the Second Adam”. He called for a profoundly contemplative stance in the face of the noise of postmodern life. To be schooled in contemplation, instead of in the commodification of almost everything which tends to happen today, is to “be delivered from treating the gifts of God as yet another set of things to be acquired to make us happy”.
The Issue of Islam
The issue of Islam became an unfortunate focus of attention and has overshadowed many other important aspects of the Synod. At the end of the first week, Cardinal Turkson, who works in the Roman Curia but is originally from Ghana, asked for a short video, already widely available on YouTube, to be shown to the synod fathers. This video focused on the rise of Islam especially in Western countries and made certain alarming projections regarding the decline in the Christian population in the next few decades. An hour is set aside each day for “free interventions”, in other words, for responding to the scripted interventions earlier in the day or promoting new discussions. This is an innovation in the synodal process that was introduced by Pope Benedict and the very fact that Cardinal Turkson was free to show a controversial video is in itself a positive sign of how open the synodal process can be.
That said, in this instance the intervention was probably on balance unhelpful, and Cardinal Turkson subsequently had to clarify his position and, in fact, he later apologized. There are legitimate issues that need attention with regard to how the Church engages with Islam, and this is clear from comments made by bishops in the West as well as in countries where Islam predominates. But the video got the conversation off to a bad start, and the fallout continues.
Evangelising the evangelisers
There has been significant acknowledgment of the need for the evangelisers themselves to be evangelized, that is, that we ourselves needto live and radiate the joy, faith, hope and love which we seek to proclaim. Acknowledging of course that the Holy Spirit is the primary Evangeliser, next in line there has been discussion of the role of the family. The institution of the family would seem to be under threat in almost all ecclesial contexts, whether Africa, Asia or in the West. Whereas in developing countries this is as a result of the influence of emigration, displacement, war and disease, in the West it is through attacks on the institution of the family through legislation that seeks to undermine or redefine it, e.g. through same-sex marriage and adoption, and also declining birth-rates etc. I expect the post-synodal exhortation to underscore the importance of the family and advocate steps to protect it.
After this, there has been quite an emphasis on the need to renew the priesthood. Although this isn’t quite the language that has been used, it seems to me that the issue, not just confined to priests but also affecting all believers, is the loss of a sense of sacramental reality. A number of bishops have called for a renewed understanding of the uniqueness of the priesthood and its irreplaceability. It seems to me that this is necessary precisely because too many priests think of their role in terms of what they do, rather than in terms of representing in a deeply personal way the Onethe one to whom they surrender their lives in faith and hope.
Each of the sacraments, whether of initiation, marriage or priesthood, is about us putting our lives at the disposal of Christ and the Christian community. What we “do” exemplifies and underpins a deeper way of being. Postmodern culture wounds people’s ability to perceive sacramental reality; instead we consider things only superficially, that is, in terms of activities we can measure. Today, theologians speak of ministry in the first instance as a form of “active receptivity”. The synod is highlighting the need to deepen this receptivity, which, in the case of the priesthood is sacramental in nature.
The role of religious and those in consecrated life has also come up for consideration, and a few bishops have stressed the need for much closer co-operation in the task of evangelization between religious orders and the bishops. In the Irish context, this strikes me as being of central importance, especially in the area of education. We have established a number of trusts to manage schools, but how viable are these, long-term? Have we a strategic plan for them, and indeed for our colleges of higher education that is durable?
As already noted, the role of catechists has received considerable attention, as has the pivotal role played by women. Two bishops have asked for a deeper consideration of why laymen tend to play a less active role in the life of the church.
Evaluating what is still fit for purpose in the new evangelisation
One of the valuable aspects of the new evangelization is that it might prompt us to do a kind of audit of the institutions and practices into which we put so much energy and ask if they fit for purpose.
In the Irish context we are probably in a different situation than many of the other European churches. For instance, despite all that we have been through, we still have surprising practice rates among Catholics in Ireland, generally speaking. In terms of the new evangelization, which is meant to reach out to those disaffected and disconnected, funerals, weddings, baptisms and confirmations, are key moments of encounter, gifted moments that should not be underestimated or ignored. We need to ask ourselves, and especially us priests, if we put sufficient thought and energy in to how we prepare people, especially those not practicing, for the reception of the sacraments.
Take as an example preparation for the sacrament of marriage. One synod father said that in his diocese they have a two-year long preparation programme for couples. In the Irish context, and I know it will annoy some people for me to put it this way, but in some instances effectively we “out-source” sacramental preparation for marriage to “for-profit” companies. We have to ask ourselves how effectively these short programmes serve to re-connect people with parish communities and the regular practice of their faith. Could parishes or parish clusters not do more in this regard? Even if the content of these programmes is theologically “sound”, the meansof delivery should re-immerse people into the life of the Church. The new evangelisation needs married life asliving sacraments of Christ’s love for God’s people.
Along similar lines, the new evangelization prompts us to look seriously at preparation for the sacraments of confirmation and communion. Listening to the synod fathers who have spoken on this I would be surprised if there is another local Church that effectively hands this over to the school system as much as we do in Ireland. We need to face the fact that, measured in terms of actual Christian initiation, the present model is just not working. The recent policy document from the archdiocese of Dublin points the way in terms of FirstCommunion, but we need to look at this nationally. We also need to look at Confirmation.
The goal is that through our initiation into and celebration of each of the sacraments, whether those of initiation,or of marriage and priesthood, we would all become “living sacraments”.
At third-level we also have much work to do. There have been quite a number of valuable interventions on Catholic education. Bishop Drennan from New Zealand made the important point that our catholic education institutions are not meant merely to be the ‘products’ of past evangelization but ‘agents’ of the Church’s mission today.
The new evangelization will hopefully provide, in the Irish context, the impetus to ask some hard-questions and knuckle down to taking some difficult decisions in respect of the future of a Catholic presence in higher education.
The Forum on Patronage and Pluralism is forcing us to reflect on these issues at primary-level and we are blessed with the leadership in this regard of the Catholic Schools Partnership. We need to keep a focus on what we as Church want out of our institutions in terms of mission and evangelisation into the future, and not just what we can ‘hold on to’.
More about the Irish Context
I was struck at an early stage in the Synod about how each region seemed to have a gift to bring to the whole of the Church, and I asked myself what that might be from the Irish context. It strikes me that we have a certain liberation to bring, and that is liberation from any sense of pride as Church. Our reputation in general terms lies in ashes, but this brings with it a certain kind of freedom. We have no trophies in our cabinet that are not now somehow tarnished, no great tales of past glory we can relate without some sense of contrition. All we can stand upon, in the wake of the scandals and their mishandling, and the depth of pain caused to victims and to the faithful who trusted in us, is the Good News of Jesus Christ. In a sense we are freed from senses of achievement that are in any case transient, and in this freedom we can start to re-build the Church in Ireland.