Michael Sean Winters has a good piece in NCR today on 'The North American Final Document for the Continental Stage of the 2021-2024 Synod", which was released last week. It may be disappointing for those who believe the goal of the Synod was to accomplish "something, anything". But it is encouraging to those who are concerned about the polarization and the fragmentation in the church. It proves that we actually still can talk with one another and work together.
From the article: North American synod document hits all the right notes | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)
"It is remarkable both for what it says and for what it does not say, especially the absence of any conclusions or statements of finality. The awareness that synodality is a change in the way we function as a church, not a process with a particular end point, runs through the text, and that is its single most important contribution."
"The text opens by noting the "profound joy and enthusiasm” among those who participated in the synodal process. This has been a constant theme heard from every part of the globe and was a dominant theme in the national synthesis report issued last year: People really liked being asked about their faith lives, about the difference their faith makes in their lives and, perhaps most of all, what they like and don't like about the church."
"As in that earlier synthesis, the theme of co-responsibility for the life of the church echoes through the report. Indeed, early in the text, the authors note that co-responsibility is a work in process when they observe: The North American Synod Team (see Appendix A), in a spirit of co-responsibility, relied upon the delegates to facilitate and report back the fruits of the listening circles at the plenary portion of the Continental Assemblies. This process achieved varying degrees of success, depending on the preparation of the participants. The polite reference to "varying degrees of success" makes one giggle, but it does something else. It attests to a certain candor in this process, which is itself refreshing."
"That candor is linked, in the next paragraph, to the recognition that participants not only felt listened to, but that the process of mutual listening had transformed them. The report quotes a comment from one of the preparatory groups:
"The methodology that has emerged from the synodal process – particularly the spiritual conversations – is so important. We have learned that we can learn from listening. We hope this will continue! This is an empowering way to reach out and to attend to places of hurt. "
"...Expressed over and over in the Continental Assembly of North America was the need to grow into a more synodal Church, starting with the recognition of the dignity of all the baptized. ...The sentence "All the baptized have a right to be there," the vocation to holiness, the radical equality brought by baptism — none of this would have been found in a pre-Vatican II document of this sort.... "There was a recognition that we cannot fully live out our baptismal dignity and responsibility without addressing the areas where our communion with one another, and thereby our communion with Christ, is stressed almost to the breaking point."
"The section on greater inclusivity contains a remarkable conjunction. The document addresses the "profound sense of suffering of those prevented from receiving the Eucharist." It mentions the divorced and remarried and "those whose objective situation in life contradicts the beliefs and teachings of the Church." The document then adds: "Additionally, some delegates spoke of those wounded by the limitations placed on the pre-conciliar Latin rite."
"The juxtaposition is jarring, which is a good thing. Hopefully it will jar those who are insensitive to the experience of suffering, but also remind those who think the church must conform to their ideological yearnings, rather than the other way round, that our shared dignity as baptized Christians, co-responsible for the life of faith and for Christ's church, makes demands, too."
This sentence in the article struck me: "If you are one of the readers who scanned the document to see if your pet issue was mentioned, you are being part of the problem, not part of the solution."
"...Synodality is an open-ended process. The Risen Lord told the apostles: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20). He promised to be with them, and with us, until the end of the age. He did not disclose when or how that evangelizing call would be completed. He just told us to get into the fields. Now, in our time, synodality is the means by which we can all get back to work."
And on a personal unrelated note; I would ask for your prayers, I am having arthroscopic knee surgery tomorrow. It is for a torn meniscus, similar to what I had in 2021 on the other knee. Guess I needed a matched pair! This time it's a little more complicated repair.
I come away from so many Church initiatives like this feeling like individual priests and bishops have lots of info to support any number of progressive or conservative hobby horses. Assuming priests bother to refer to the synod reports at all in homilies, they will likely pick data that reinforces their own leanings. Some will call for greater empathy for those beyond the pale of strict and possibly unfair rules. Others will preach about the futility if trying to bend rules to fit evil modern norms.
ReplyDeleteIf the primary lesson is that you can learn a lot if you listen, what a sad indictment of whatever the clergy was doing before.
Possibly the real point of the exercise was just to make priests go through the process and set it up as a norm for leadership?
Best for your knee operation. Hope that recovery time will be short!
Somebody must have been praying for my sorry carcass because it looks like I can have the transcatheter surgery instead of open heart for a bad mitral valve when the time comes, maybe in six months to a year. If it was anybody here, thanks! I am so relieved! I had already told them I would not consider open-heart surgery. (So maybe it wasn't prayer but my ability to wear that poor cardiologist down to a nub ...)
I'm glad to hear that you can have the transcatheter surgery rather than open heart when the time comes. My brother had to have bicuspid valve replacement about ten years ago. It was open heart and it was a pretty rough recovery period.
DeleteKnee surgery is no picnic, either. Seems like everybody I know is recovering from some type of operation.
DeleteJean, that sounds like good news - or at least less bad news!
DeleteKatherine, prayers ascending for your surgery and recovery, that both go well. Jean, I’m happy to hear that you qualify for a less invasive surgery than open heart. My brother in law had open heart surgery five years ago - a bypass for coronary artery disease. I can’t remember now for sure, but I think they might have replaced the mitral valve also. He recovered well from the surgery. He was 73 at the time, and had the heart surgery just a couple of months after a long course of radiation for prostate cancer. But he was back to biking - and pickleball - within a couple of months.
DeleteI pray for you, and for all here, including your spouses, significant others (especially Betty), and children. I’m the doubter in the group, but I still hope the prayers help - even though I doubt!
I know a whole lot of people who have had knee and hip replacements, and have done well. A couple of friends had meniscus surgery and also have done well. But recovering from surgery is always tough at first. My poor sister in law has the worst joints of all,- both knees, both hips, and a shoulder have been replaced over the last 20 years! But the surgeries were successful.
Winters' take is interesting, especially in light of this article in NCR from a few days ago:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ncronline.org/news/north-american-synod-gathering-focused-concerns-about-popes-process-says-participating-bishop
Betty and I watched the Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, presentation at the Bernadin Center via Zoom courtesy of Commonweal.
DeleteStowe, a Franciscan, is obviously a Pope Francis person. He was deeply involved in all the committees that drafted the National Synthesis, and Continental Synthesis. So, he has the inside story.
Most of his talk focused on the official positive reception of synodality as do the national and continental syntheses, and Winter's take. What Stowe added in the last part of his talk was the behind- the-scenes material that became the "news" of the NCR piece on him.
It is clear that the majority of American bishops are into their big three -year Eucharist program with only some giving attention to the Synod, and then mostly a runner up. I would say that is what happened in this diocese.
The problem is that I think there were more people here interested in talking, listening and being heard while the Eucharist program here is mostly the rosary and benediction (I was going to say crowd, but it is not big enough for that).
The events as narrated by the diocese make it look good for the Eucharist, since the bishop or his people take part, but the really is that there is not much traction at the local levels. I saw more traction for synodality even when the diocesan people were not involved.
The naysayers among the bishops and clergy appear to be willing to say positive things about process as long as there is not any real change. But look out for opposition if the World Synod begins to talk seriously about married priests and women deacons which they will treat as if it were a change in doctrine.
Stowe while saying that change in dogma, and even doctrine were not on the table, said changes in theology and practice were. There will however be arguments about what is theology and what is doctrine. Francis is obviously changing what he regards as the theology of the laity, saying that laity can exercise authority if it has been delegated to them by pope or bishop; the old theology which some likely regard as doctrine, says that laity cannot exercise authority over clerics.
"Francis is obviously changing what he regards as the theology of the laity, saying that laity can exercise authority if it has been delegated to them by pope or bishop; the old theology which some likely regard as doctrine, says that laity cannot exercise authority over clerics."
DeletePossessors of formal authority tend to be very good at emphasizing the role of formal authority. But there also is informal authority. A bishop's mother has no formal office or authority - yet she may exercise considerable influence over what a bishop thinks, says and does. Both formal and informal authority are real.
One way to think of Francis's conception of synodality is that he has recognized and empowered those of us whose authority is informal, to exercise that power for the good of the church.
Stowe gave his talk a few days before the Continental Document was released. A shorter version of these annual lectures by a bishop is usually published by Commonweal which is a co-sponsor of the lecture.
DeleteStowe mentioned that the document had been sent to Rome but had not yet been released by Rome. It is very possible that the document was altered or could have been altered by the bishops or by Rome after the last time the drafting committee on which Stowe served signed off on it.
So, he might have pitched his talk so that he could criticize the document if it had made news (which basically it did not).
If the talk is published by Commonweal, it will be interesting which parts of edited, the positive view of the document at the beginning or the negative view of the bishops' participation in the process toward the end. Stowe has positioned himself to do either.
Jim said:
Delete"One way to think of Francis's conception of synodality is that he has recognized and empowered those of us whose authority is informal, to exercise that power for the good of the church."
This is actually going back to how tradition was articulated in traditional Christian societies, and still is in Orthodox societies. Civil authorities, scholars, abbots, monks, people with a reputation for holiness along with bishops and priests, all articulated what they saw as the tradition and various sectors of Christian society responded with their approval or alternative formulations. That was synodality in practice without formal meetings and formal votes.
The very hierarchical, bureaucratic structure of Roman Catholicism is a development over the last thousand years, especially in the last two centuries with increasing power by Rome and the Curia.
Katherine, how did your knee surgery go? Hoping you are comfortable.
ReplyDeleteKatherine, I hope that you are home now and that all went well. Prayers continue for your rehab and recovery. Surgery time is limited, now the work begins!
ReplyDeleteThank you! The surgery went well, I am home recuperating. The hard part is that I have to wear a locking knee brace in a fully extended position full time for four weeks, then part time for another two weeks. Basically means that am house bound for that time. I didn't realize how many things you can't do when you can't bend one knee. I can bear weight on it, and can actually release the lock to 90 degrees when sitting. But I have to lock it before getting up, if I bear weight on it when bent I run the risk of tearing up the repair. The surgeon reattached the "root" to the bone ( anatomy was never my strong suit, Ican't explain that whole thing very well!) It's a lot more complicated than the simple repair on the other knee previously. K is very sweet and kind taking care of me. The xcept I don't like to be taken care of, I've always been the *can do* girl. So I'm sure this experience is good for my soul, LOL!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you are doing ok, but that no bending thing sounds like it will get to be a drag PDQ. I don't mind having people wait on me in the hospital, but at home, different story.
DeleteOne good part of this whole thing was how kind and competent the nurses, doctor, and hospital staff were.
DeleteGood news, Katherine. But your next month of relative immobility will probably require a lot of the virtue of patience! I think that after 50+ years of marriage, which you have spent taking care of your husband and family (even when you were exhausted or sick I assume. I know that’s been the case during our 50+ years) I think you should let them take care of you!
DeleteI don't think we can say enough about nurses and other care staff in hospitals right now. When he had his heart attack, from the moment he stepped into the ER with chest pain to his day of discharge, Raber's nurses were encouraging, helpful, knowledgeable, and reassuring. And all in the middle of a pandemic where everybody was stretched super thin.
DeleteNone of these people gets paid enough whatever they're making.
One thing which isn't in my husband's skill set is cooking. So one resource we're going to use are take-out meals from the local senior center. They are reasonably priced and well balanced. And if they're not exactly haute cuisine, that is fine with me.
DeleteThat's a good idea! The Methodist ladies have senior lunches here. I should see if they have a "to-go" option. Meals on Wheels needs some pre-planning and has limitations to qualify. Plus the Methodist ladies are better cooks. When I had oral surgery, I cooked up a lot of soup ahead of time and put it in those single serving trays. Also made up a bunch of smoothies in The Boy's old popsicle mold.
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