October 29th: Final Propositions and Lay Leaders in the Ministry of the Word
Aside from the two propositions pertaining to our Woman and the Word campaign, the remaining 53 propositions address the main themes of the synod. These include concern about homiletic effectiveness, lectio divina and other means of effectively appropriating the Word by the faithful, exegesis and theology, seminary preparation, lay leadership in the ministry of the Word, ecumenical concerns and lectionary texts (also, see October 17 synod report). John Allen from the National Catholic Reporter has translated all 55 propositions and they are available by clicking here...
Before concluding my synod updates, I want to share some extremely important things the world’s bishops had to say about lay leadership in the ministry of the Word. To read the full report click here...
October 27th: Bishops Recognize Women of the Word, Ask Reexamination of Lectionary
It is premature to declare victory, but our Women and the Word Campaign can certainly take some credit for encouraging the recognition of the ministry of women of the Word, and discussion of the hidden women of the lectionary at the Synod on the Word.
Aside from heeding our request to invite more women experts to the synod, on Saturday, the Bishops approved two propositions addressing our other synod requests. Proposition 17 “recognized and encouraged” the ministry of women of the Word. Perhaps even more surprising, Proposition 16 recommended “that an examination of the Roman lectionary be opened to see if the actual selection and ordering of the reading are truly adequate to the mission of the Church in this historic moment.”
I’m told that 45 bishops voted against the women’s proposition, the most “nays” of all the 55 propositions voted upon, yet still a very substantial majority of the 253 bishops voting. To read the full report click here...
October 25: Meeting with Dr. Marguerite Lena
Yesterday, through the kind offices of Sr. Sara Butler, I had the pleasure of meeting another of the female synod experts, Dr. Marguerite Lena. Dr. Lena is a renowned philosopher who teaches at Studium Notre-Dame de l'Ecole Cathédrale in Paris. She takes great pride in her consecrated life as part of the community of St. Francis Xavier, which an apostolic organization founded by Madeleine Danielou for the formation of youth. [Madeleine, by the way, was the mother of Cardinal Jean Danielou SJ, who served as an expert at Vatican II and wrote one of the first books on women in the Church].
While Dr. Lena is not fluent in English, [far more fluent than my fractured French, however] we communicated quite well with occasional assist from Sr. Sara. Margureite is an “expert” to one of the French language groups and said she was readily invited to give her views by the group moderator. To read the full report click here...
October 24th: Some Synod Groups Discuss Women in Lectionary
A side story when a synod comes to town is the plethora of receptions and other activities outside the synod meetings themselves. Happily, I was invited to two such gatherings. At one, I was introduced to a bishop delegate who has a reputation for being sympathetic to progressive issues in the Church. As he had not previously received our resources, I spent some time explaining our Women and the Word initiative.
He gave me the very welcome news that he has heard discussions in more than one small group about the need to revise the lectionary and give attention to restoring women's stories. To read the full report click here...
October 23, 2008: Meeting with Cardinal Sean Brady
Yesterday, I had a wide-ranging conversation with Cardinal Sean Brady of the diocese of Armagh, Ireland, who kindly agreed to meet with me about our synod requests.
The Cardinal noted that this is the fourth synod he’s attended. He has a sense that it hasn’t been as pressured as previous synods, and has been impressed by the quality of the documents that came beforehand. He felt the Instrumentum Laboris was especially well done and also both of Cardinal Ouelette’s presentations [reports given at the beginning and midway that serve as jumping off points and summaries of the discussion respectively]. The Cardinal served as a relator at the last synod, and reflected that he was glad to rest this time because it is a non-stop job. The synod has been a rich opportunity for bishops to experience lectio divina and take time to reflect on the topic of the Word of God. He noted with gratitude that there doesn’t seem to be as much conflictual press coverage as in past synods.
I asked Cardinal Brady’s advice about how to bring our concerns about lectionary texts that omit or delete the witness of women to the attention of church leaders. To read the full report click here...
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