As the synod opened, Pope Francis released his most pointed climate challenge to the world, but especially to the United States. The hope is that this straight talk will spur U.S. bishops and all Catholics, many who are climate change deniers, into new ways of caring for our common home.
If we consider that emissions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries, we can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact.
Opening Eucharist: Laity First
The synod opened with a formal procession and Mass with Pope Francis presiding. While there was still a lot of overdressing from our ordained members, it was symbolic to witness women and laity processing into the Eucharistic celebration before the prelates.
Introductions
Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, one of 10 delegate presidents, gave the first speech of the day. Pope Francis’ remarks were followed by speeches from synod Secretary General Cardinal Mario Grech and synod Relator General Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich who recapped the goals, spirit, and method of the three-year synodal process launched by the Pope in 2021.
“To guarantee the freedom of expression of each and every person regarding his or her thoughts and to ensure the serenity of common discernment, which is the main task entrusted to the assembly, participants are bound to confidentiality and privacy both with regard to their own interventions and other participants’ interventions. This duty remains in effect even after the synod assembly has ended.”
It added that “recording, filming, and disseminating” speeches is prohibited.
Pope Francis made it clear that he wants to preserve the confidential atmosphere of the synod and asked that participants “fast” from speaking about what they know publicly. But, of course, this makes it very difficult to learn what is actually happening inside the synod hall. Journalists are rightly frustrated because, as with all such events, it is important to learn about the actual experience of synod participants, and not just what the Vatican wants to project. My guess, is that there will be leaks and interviews that come our way despite the lock down.
Cardinal Mario Grech explained that, as in the past, there has been a Commission for Disputes created composed of three members appointed by the Pope.
He further explained that working groups will begin tomorrow. Each working group has a facilitator, recorder, and reporter. Also, the fraternal delegates and experts will join. These delegates have a right to speak but not to vote.
Finally, Grech explained that each person must stay in their assigned place at the table and use the assigned tablet throughout.
Following Grech, there were two witnesses at the opening session, one by a newly appointed cardinal and one by a layman.
Newly Elected Cardinal Ryś
Especially touching was the witness of Cardinal-elect Archbishop Grzegorz Ryś of Lotz, Poland,. He spoke of those who came to his synodal gatherings, and especially of one who had not participated in the church for decades. He explained that after a whole day of listening, this person shared that he did not understand anything that had been discussed. This informed the cardinal elect most. For Ryś, the heart of the synodal work is to move far beyond talking to those who are already involved, and to reach out to those who have been excluded. Let’s hope his words become action!
It is Sunday, October 15, 2023. Last week’s open-heart surgery on my beloved family member was successful. God is good. After the surgery, we rode the inevitable ups and downs of post-surgery complications and spent most nights at the hospital. But then things began to look up. On Thursday, after an extensive test, we received good news that we could go home. From his hospital bed, my favorite patient sang, “Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak” by Thin Lizzie. Everyone else in the room was dancin’. On Friday, he was released into the arms of his children, the youngest who clung fiercely to him. And he had his first good night’s sleep in weeks. God is so good.
With the most critical part of this journey behind us, I am returning to my work reporting on the synod. This first report will be a long one since I am catching up on what has been happening in the synod hall. I will try to recap other important events as well in other blogs. So, dear friends, please read what is helpful and leave the rest. I’ll give you my best and point you to some of the best articles, blogs, and podcasts out there.
SynodWatch, Roundup Style
One of my favorite podcasts is The Daily Beans, News with Swearing. Dr. Allison Gill offers a roundup of the news each day followed by good news – photos of dogs, cats, and other cute animals. It is informative, humorous, and, at times, raucous. Given my changed circumstances, I thought it might be a worthy format for reporting on the synod.
This year, all journalists in Rome are facing significant barriers in reporting on the synod. As the synod began, Pope Francis issued a formal request that participants “fast” from talking to journalists. He apologized to the journalists because it creates a kind of media grey-out. Francis’s worthy goal is to create a space that is more retreat-like and prayerful and where participants can speak freely in their conversation circles without it ending up in a headline. Yet, it also means that we won’t know many of the details of what is happening between October 4 – 29, or get those up-close-and-personal perspectives that journalists obtained in the past.
Happenings
Even before synod participants gathered for the opening Mass on October 4, Catholics witnessed some strange shenanigans, and surprisingly, some significant breakthroughs.
September 30, 2023
Discerning Deacons Go To Rome
Photo by Tracy Kemme SC
A number of women, including Tracy Kemme, SC from my Sister of Charity community represented Discerning Deacons as they travelled to Rome to raise awareness about one of the big issues on the table, ordaining women as deacons. Since 2015, when Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher first uttered the suggestion that synod participants should be talking about women deacons, to 2019 when bishops from the Amazon region asked that the issue be studied, to today, the issue has gathered lots of steam thanks to groups (including the pioneering work of FutureChurch, Voice of the Faithful, Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, Women’s Ordination Conference, etc) and many women including Phyllis Zagano, Sr. Carmen Sammut and the leadership at the International Union of Superiors General who prodded Pope Francis into developing the first study commission in 2016, and more. The progress that has been made at the synod rests on the shoulders of many pioneering women.
Anna Robertson wrote a blog about some of the Discerning Deacons adventures and they were mentioned in an AP news article.
It is clear that this topic will be coming to the top again and again as synod participants gather. And I think many who care about this issue are filled with hope that a new day is dawning in the Church for women!
October 2, 2023
Calling Out the Doubters
Photo: Daily Compass
On October 2, Pope Francis published a response to a dubia sent to him in July from Cardinals Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, Robert Sarah and Joseph Zen. Their letter containing misgivings or doubts about the synod process focused on five areas; a) the interpretation of Scripture, b) the blessing of same-sex unions, c) the assertion that synodality is a “constitutive dimension of the Church, d) the ordination of women, and e) whether repentance is necessary for a person to receive absolution. While the cardinals had published their dubia, they had not published Francis’s response. Thus, the Vatican made the Pope’s response public.
The five hand-wringing cardinals who have long opposed the pope’s pastoral vision for the Church, expressed their concern about the way authority would flow at the synod. Francis used it as an opportunity to teach and to invite them more deeply into the synodal process.
Francis not only reminded the five about the long interpretive tradition of the church, but, also signaled that the church could be open to blessing same sex relationships, a monumental softening of the church’s position.
And in almost the same breath, Pope Francis signaled openness to studying the ordination of women to the priesthood. If you read the dubia, the five cardinals were seeking assurances that the question of women’s ordination to the priesthood would remain closed. While re-iterating John Paul II’s definitive statement, he suggested that even the notion of a “definitive statement” deserved to be studied and developed.
On the other hand, to be rigorous, let us recognize that a clear and authoritative doctrine on the exact nature of a “definitive statement” has not yet been fully developed. It is not a dogmatic definition, and yet it must be adhered to by all. No one can publicly contradict it and yet it can be a subject of study, as with the case of the validity of ordinations in the Anglican Communion.
That is a stunning admission making it possible to imagine a church that is no longer crippled by Pope John Paul’s 1994 Apostolic Letter freeing all to recognize God’s call to ordination.
October 3, 2023 Troublemakers about town: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Two events occurred on October 3rd – one with a tragic dystopian vibe, the other inspiring.
Photo by CNS Lola Gomez
As the synod participants were finishing their three-day retreat, Cardinal Raymond Burke helped lead a nifty little retreat of his own. In the Ghione Theater near the Vatican about 200 people including Cardinal Robert Sarah came together for an anti-synod rally. Lovingly called, “The Synodal Babel,” the group clamored other’s fears about ordained men losing their special status, “decadent Western sexual mores” and “radical feminist claims about the equality of women.” In similar fashion, the Catholic Identity conference that took place in Pittsburgh at about the same time featured embattled prelates Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano and Bishop Joseph Strickland leading sessions like, “Francis’s Missionary Genocide,” “and “Pope of Surprises: Chaplain to the New World Order.” You can’t make this stuff up.
Credit: AP
Across town, at the Basilica of St. Praxedes, a group of women and men, organized by Women’s Ordination Worldwide entered into prayer and prayerful listening as they practiced synodality in real time. Women from various geographical regions shared their sorrows and their hopes for a church that honors and cherishes the gifts, strength, and vocational call of women. Kate McElwee spoke of her experience moving through the synodal process. Calling the synodal path a “synod of surprises,” she recounted the ways her voice and the voices of other women who are called to ordination were officially recognized, for the first time, as part of the synodal conversations.
Before We Begin Spirituality; Technology; and Process
Hall Setup
This year, the synod gathering was moved to a new venue to accommodate the new process. The Paul VI Hall which holds 6300 people for papal audiences, has been revamped for the synod. In past synods, the hierarchical order was evident in the large theater style space. Pope Francis and prelates sat to the front and lay and religious auditors sat in the back. This year, there are 35 large round tables that seat 10 to 12 participants for a total of 365 places and the prelates, religious, and lay persons are interspersed. They are seated according to language groups – Italian, Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese. As they move through the modules, they will also be seated according to topic, a move that is controversial to conservatives who fear this is stacking the deck on issues of women, sexuality, etc.
Attention to Spirituality
For the first time in synod history, there has been an intentional effort to create a spiritual atmosphere. While at past synods, Each morning begins with the Eucharist. This did not happen at previous synods. Moments of prayer and silence are also interspersed throughout the discussions. After three or four people share, there is silence.
Advanced Technology
The technology has also advanced this year with features such as simultaneous translation for each participant in the major languages.
At each table there are black encased touch-screen tablets for each voting member including Pope Francis (his tablet in encased in white). The device provides access to the Synod assembly’s reference texts such as the Instrumentum Laboris and a record of the discussions throughout the month. These devices will also be used for voting on the final text toward the end of the month – a document that will become the roadmap for the work over the next year. When the participants arrive at their places, the first thing they do is to present the QR code on the back of their badge to the tablet bearing their name. Their tablets remain in the hall.
Each of the first four Modules has as its theme one of the sections of the Instrumentum Laboris (A; B1; B2; B3), while the fifth Module (C) is for drafting and approving (by vote)) the final document. This powerpoint was shared to show how the methodology works.
Module A on the nature, meaning, and experience of synodality, was discussed from October 4 – 7, 2023. Those discussions were structured as follows:
Cardinal Hollerich offers overview of module..
There were two sessions of the Small Groups at the tables which discussed the topic. They then prepared a summary of their discussions, main reflections, and questions which was delivered to all participants in the plenary session.
During the two plenary sessions, participants listened to the interventions of the Small Groups followed by free discussion.
Another session for the Small Groups was provided so they could draft a final report of their discussions. The small group wrote a final report and approved it as being an accurate reflection of their discussions. It was then delivered to the General Secretariat Cardinal Grech.
Modules B1, B2, B3 on Communion, Co-Responsibility, and Participation have a slightly different structure with more plenary sessions. Discussions take place from October 9 – 21, 2023.
Cardinal Hollerich offers overview of module.
There are two sessions of the small groups with a report to be given during the plenary sessions.
There are three plenary sessions where all listen to all the reports of the Small Groups and to discuss what they hear.
The final session of the Small Groups is space to draft a final report, approve it by all the members of the small group, and deliver it to Cardinal Grech.
Module C is the final module for developing the final draft of the Summary Report of the first session of the Assembly, the report that will be used as a roadmap for the following year. This module will take place from October 23 – 28, 2023.
The outline of the Summary Report for Module A will be presented in a plenary session.
The floor will be opened for debate around the outline of the Synthesis Report;
The Small Groups will have further discussion of the Summary Report.
There will be another plenary session for the presentation and debate of the outline of the Summary Report relating to Modules B1, B2 and B3.
The Small Groups will further discuss the Summary Report for those modules.
Finally, after all discussions and amendments, there will be a reading of the full text of the amended Summary Report to all members in a plenary session along with a vote for approval of the final report.
As dioceses across the country continue to issue dangerous and discriminatory policies regarding gender identity and sexual orientation, many Catholics are seeking a way to speak out and stand up for the LGBTQ+ community. FutureChurch has prepared this template letter for you to make your own and send to your bishop, chancellor, pastor, or other officials. Please feel free to adapt this template as necessary beyond the areas (indicated in red) where we have created space for you to personalize/customize to your particular situation.
Yesterday, the 2023 Synod on Synodality began in Rome. This historic gathering of 54 women and 365 bishops and other lay, religious, and ordained is the first of two large meetings. According to the Instrumentum Laboris, or the working document, participants will discern which issues related to communion, participation, and mission will be studied over the next year with more decisive action to be taken in 2024. Pressing issues like climate change, women’s roles and ordination, LGBTQ inclusion and rights, and opening the priesthood to married men will certainly be raised in these discussions and discernment.
This is my second SynodWatch blog. I will be sending more, but not from Rome as I had originally planned. My circumstances have changed. Just a few hours after I arrived in Rome, I received a call and learned that my beloved family member (I wrote about him in my first blog) is back in the hospital, seriously ill again, and, at this moment undergoing open heart surgery. I am writing this from the hospital waiting room as the doctors perform a six-to-eight-hour surgery. I have my rosary in hand and many family and friends are praying for him. I feel deep gratitude for this outpouring of love and care. Love heals.
And although I am disappointed that I cannot serve as one of your eyewitnesses from Rome at this historic time, the decision was not a hard one. I must be here.
So, as the days unfold, I will be reading, listening, interviewing, and writing about major events, especially as they pertain to the women who are participating inside and outside the synod hall.
Thank you all for your understanding as I move into my primary role as a mother and grandmother as my beloved one heals.
For the past several weeks I have spent a lot of time in a hospital room helping a beloved family member recover from a very serious illness. He is home now and on a steady path to regaining his health. Thus, as I have over the past 10 years, I will pack my bag and head to Rome to cover the synod. Since this is a historical year for women, I will pack lots of pink – the “dismantle patriarchy” color (you have to see the Barbie movie to understand). And each day, I’ll be spending a lot of time listening to women – 54 of them. For the first time in our history, they will be discerners, deciders, and voters regarding the future of the Church.
As I recall our history, I am sure Loretto Sister Mary Luke Tobin, one of the first women to attend the Second Vatican Council, will be smiling down.
Still, as I sat in the hospital, in between the beeping of infusion pumps, antibiotic drips, and the movements of nurses taking vitals, I read articles and blog posts that focused on the synod. Some of the writing made me smile – either overly romantic or tragically removed from reality, as if the Holy Spirit acts independently of the actual physical people who will be in the room.
But it was the chiding that really blew me away.
Michael Sean Winters appropriately condemned the unhinged tirades and tactics of Bishop Strickland. But he runs off the rails when he equates Strickland to Miriam Duignan of Women’s Ordination Worldwide.
Miriam Duignan, a member of the leadership team at Women’s Ordination Worldwide, recently told NCR, “the synodal dialogue will be painfully incomplete and dishonest if it does not adequately address the widespread
calls to open all ordained ministries to women.” Dishonest?
How is that any less undermining of the principal need of the synod —
to surrender and listen to the Holy Spirit — than the rantings of
Bishop Strickland? Clinging to a particular understanding of how
the Catholic Church should organize itself to fulfill the mission entrusted
to it by its head and founder, Jesus Christ, and insisting all other
understanding are wrong or counterfeit, betrays a lack of humility that
will kill the synod before it starts.
Reading this, I nearly spit out my hospital coffee.
I tried to understand how he could make such a grotesquely unfair comparison. I may not know his motives, but I do recognize the tone and pattern. It is familiar to Catholic women, and especially those who have spent their lives at the prophetic edge, working for Gospel justice and Spirit led reform in our Church.
In defending his harsh take, Winters also cites Thomas Reese, SJ who is more certainly more nuanced, yet seems to agree there are troubling voices that are getting an inordinate amount of media attention.
According to the media, the most important issues facing the Synod on
Synodality are the possibility of married priests, women deacons and
the blessing of gay couples. … For the instrumentum laboris and Pope
Francis, the priority issues are communion, participation and mission.
Given these kind of remarks and criticisms, here are my rather practical questions.
How would participants and the faithful even talk about communion, participation, and mission in any meaningful way without getting into particular issues? And aren’t these three ways of “walking together” intimately and inextricably bound up with Gospel justice including gender and LGBTQ justice?
The listening session documents up to and including the final Continental Assembly reports are chock-full of very particular concerns, sorrows, and hopes that Catholics share over seven regions. Catholics across the world agree that we need to discern new roles for women and ordination for women. Many Catholics from around the world also agree that now is the time for LGBTQ justice. The Instrumentum Laboris states it was drafted “on the basis of all the material gathered during the listening phase, and in particular the final documents of the Continental Assemblies (3).”
The questions that will be posed in October will require ongoing and honest discussions about women’s ministry and authority, including ordination, LBGTQ rights, and yes, as the Amazon bishops signaled in 2019, married priests.
While some may cast a stern gaze on those of us who have spent our lives working for justice within the Church, since 2021, we have been invited to share our concerns and keep the dream of a more just Church alive as we walk together. Be reminded that the Vatican continues to encourage us inviting us to, “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent.” That means making room for those whose voices have been ignored, disparaged, silenced, or excluded.
Scroll down their webpage and you will see in big letters, “The Church is Listening.” I hope those who are troubled by women’s words will take to heart the word “listen.”
Finally, follow Pope Francis on this one. He has asked all to speak with “parrhesia.” That means speaking boldly and with freedom. That goes for Miriam Duignan. That goes for the rest of us.
May our synodal journey this October and beyond continue to be blessed, authentic, bold, and fruitful.
Author Shannon K. Evans joins FutureChurch to discuss the origins of her new powerful book of prayers, to share a few prayers with us, and to take questions from the audience. Evans wrote Feminist Prayers for My Daughteras a gift to mothers and women everywhere. It offers short prayers that affirm the unique challenges and embrace the natural abilities embodied by our daughters, young and old alike. Categories of prayers include embodiment, relationships, wholeness, justice, equality, and milestones. This book encompasses all of life from birth to death while imagining God in ways that resonate with the feminine experience.
About Our Presenter:
Shannon K. Evans is the spirituality and culture editor at the National Catholic Reporter and the author of the books Feminist Prayers for My Daughter: Powerful Petitions for Every Stage of Her Lifeand Rewilding Motherhood: Your Path to an Empowered Feminine Spirituality.
With interest in ecofeminism, social change and contemplative practice, Shannon leads workshops and retreats across the country that spark curiosity and compassion. She has partnered with the Jesuits of Canada and the U.S. and is a frequent contributor to Franciscan Media.
Having previously lived in Indonesia for two years, Shannon loves to travel, but is happiest at home on the Iowa prairie with her family and beloved chickens.
Images of God Offered During the Presentation:
Lover of all; Creator, Mother; O Weaver of Worlds; Great mystery; Sanctifying One; Wisdom Sophia; Mother pelican; Creator, Mother/Father; Source-Sojourner- Spirit; “She Who IS!”; Spirit of Love; Oh tender lover, who ever touches and caresses us to life; God of Love, Living Word and Bond of Love; God beyond our naming; Oceanic Oneness; Baker and Her Yeast; Mama Bear; Coastal Mangrove Forester of Shelter; God as pregnant mother; Breath; Breath of Life; Shepherdess; Womb of Life
Dillon makes the case, echoing the late Fr. Andrew Greeley, that today’s Catholics “will be Catholic on their own terms.” But she said the tug, whether inside or outside the institution, is to the sacraments and the theological tradition.
Perhaps as illustration of that pull — and one that would be familiar to many involved in independent eucharistic communities — Ligas is teaching theology at Notre Dame College, is working part time for FutureChurch, and is enrolled this semester in a doctor of ministry program at yet another Jesuit institution, Fordham University.
On September 1, 2023, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland issued a Parish and School Policy on Issues of Sexuality and Gender Identity. FutureChurch, headquartered in Cleveland, is disturbed by the dangerous policy, which contradicts expert advice, puts LGBTQ+ youth at increased risk of harm, and co-opts teachers and administrators into oppressing the very students they are called to nurture.
“The document acknowledges both the reality and the complexity of gender dysphoria, but the policies contained in it immediately seek to erase that reality rather than honestly and openly engage with it,” said Russ Petrus, Co-Director of FutureChurch.
The directives within the policy directly contradict the advice and best practices offered by medical and psychological experts as well as the lived experience of the LGBTQ+ community. “Sadly, it is clear that the Diocese of Cleveland didn’t just fail to consult medical doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, school counselors, and other experts in the field– including LGBTQ+ young people themselves; they went out of their way to ignore them entirely,” Petrus added.
“This policy was written out of ignorance and fear, not in the spirit of synodality, which Pope Francis himself has set as the future of the Church,” said Deborah Rose, Co-Director of FutureChurch. “At a time when the global Church is inviting the input, wisdom, faith, and experience of all God’s people, the Diocese is putting conditions on who is and isn’t welcome. In no uncertain terms, this policy tells our LGBTQ+ siblings they are only welcome as long as they’re willing to suppress and deny the truth of their experience,” she continued.
“The bottom line is that the Diocese has failed these young people. This policy puts LGBTQ+ youth – a population that is already more susceptible to bullying, stigmatization, and death by suicide – at a greater risk of harm, by further ostracizing them from their school community and their Church and by pulling support systems out from underneath them,” concluded Petrus.
To the LGBTQ+ community, and particularly LGBTQ+ youth, FutureChurch offers this message: Know that you are a beloved child of God and an equal member of the Body of Christ. Like our Creator, FutureChurch affirms and celebrates you and the gifts and diversity you have to offer our world and our Church. We are blessed by you, and we stand with you as together we seek a Church that finally and truly welcomes you just as God created you.
END
Take Action
Contact the Diocese of Cleveland and let them know that their dangerous policy harms young LGBTQ+ people.
