A Study of Synodality
Read Chapters 1 – 4
According to Prof. Luciani, We are experiencing a crisis in the transformation of faith because we are still mired in a clerical institutional model.
As he notes, Yves Congar was one of the giants at the Second Vatican Council who understood most clearly that the clericalist institutional church desperately needed reforming. And Pope Francis has made overcoming it a cornerstone of his papacy saying to priests, “Clericalism is a true perversion in the Church…Clericalism condemns, separates, frustrates, and despises the people of God.”
Synodality is the re-structuring principle that transforms the Church from a Western, monocultural Church, centered on Rome and its primacy, to a global and intercultural Church, opening the way to recognize the authority of the local church.
Additional Media
- A Non traditional Blessing by Ruth Fox, OSB (Closing prayer)
- Sr. Donna Ciangio’s Presentation
- FC Powerpoint Presentation for Synodality Study Session 1 – Chapters 1 – 4
- Response of participants to Study Session 1
- Discernment (book recommended by Sr. Donna) by Ladislas Orsy
Session Two: Synodality and the People of God
Read Chapters 5 – 8
The Second Vatican Council reinscribed the centrality of the church as thee “People of God.” Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens, the principal architect of Lumen Gentium, described it as a rediscovery of the people of God as a whole, as a single reality” with each member of the church sharing co-responsibility for the life and work of the Church.
However, in the 1980s the blossoming of this newfound way of being was thwarted by a pope who, once again, emphasized the primacy of the hierarchy subordinating the “sense of the faithful.” Regressive policies and teachings undercut the reformist principles of Vatican II.
With his constant emphasis on synodality, Pope Francis wants to make take the church forward making this exercise of authority as the work of the entire People of God a constitutive ecclesial dimension and way of proceeding for this third millennium.
FC Powerpoint for Chapters 5 – 8
Kelly Meraw’s synod resources (click below)
Session Three: Synodality and the Local Churches
Read Chapters 9, 10, & Conclusion
Although, under the papacy of John Paul II, there was a progressive deflation of the value of the local church as normative for interpreting tradition, theology, and faith, Pope Francis has emphasized that we become a “listening church” so that the People of God can be heard in their ” particular place and time” in order to know what the Spirit is saying and how to proceed.
In order to allow the Spirit to move us into this new phase of synodality, we must move into a new creative phase of receiving and implementing the Second Vatican Council.
How will this principle translate into new realities? That is the work we are undertaking today!
The video for this session will not be posted here at the request of our speaker. It has been sent to all the participants signed up for this study. To learn more contact debrose@futurechurch.org.
FC Powerpoint for Synodality Book Study Part III, Chapters 9, 10 & conclusion
Synodality study – Participant responses to what they learned
Synod Synthesis a Significant Step Toward Authentic Expression of U.S. Catholics’ Concerns and Hopes
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Deborah Rose, Co-Director of FutureChurch, debrose@futurechurch.org , 513.673.1401
Russ Petrus, Co-Director of FutureChurch, russ@futurechurch.org, 216.228.0869 x 2
The National Synod Synthesis released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on September 19th represents a significant step toward advancing the promise of Vatican II. The synthesis goes a long way in capturing an authentic expression of the faithful – their concerns, joys, sorrows, and hopes for a church where Gospel values of justice, equality, inclusivity, care for the marginalized, and care for creation, and more – are core to its mission.
“That the concerns and hopes of the nearly 600 faith-filled Catholics who participated in FutureChurch’s synod sessions during Lent were also reflected in the National Synthesis is a hopeful sign,” said Todd Ray, Chair of the FutureChurch Board. “The inclusion of Catholic voices who have long been marginalized or dismissed by popes, bishops and other church leaders is a positive sign that synodality — a new way of sharing authority, ministry, and decision making — is unfolding in our time,” he said.
The Rome-bound document synthesized 290 reports received from 179 dioceses, other offices, and 112 Catholic organizations and associations. Sixteen regions were formed to make the reporting task manageable with fifteen representing dioceses and eparchies. To capture the voices of Catholics who participated through Catholic organizations like FutureChurch and other associations and national ministries, a sixteenth region was created.
“It is both refreshing and hopeful to see this good faith effort by the U.S. Synod writing team to reflect the voices of faithful Catholics who have long worked for a more just and inclusive church,” commented Deborah Rose, Co-Director of FutureChurch. “There was transparency in reporting Catholic concerns about the ravages of clergy sex abuse; the need for fully incorporating women in ordained ministry, preaching, and governance; racial and indigenous justice; LGBTQ+ inclusion; and a host of other issues that have been sidelined or ignored for too long.” Rose also noted the importance of the inclusion of the preferred acronym, LGBTQ+, a sign of respect that was denied at the 2018 Synod on Youth when bishops stripped it from the final document.
“The National Synthesis is hopeful precisely because it fairly represents the prophetic voices of the People of God and not the doctrinaire rigidity and clericalism that we have consistently experienced at the hands of many U.S. bishops,” said Russ Petrus, Co-Director of FutureChurch. “This initial step must be followed by additional concrete efforts to form and empower all Catholics to actualize this new, synodal way of being and doing Church where all have a share in discernment, leadership, and ministry.”
FutureChurch continues to create opportunities for Catholics to enter more fully and confidently into this new co-responsible way of discerning the future of our church. Those who are interested can join our three-part study on synodality beginning Tuesday, October 4th at 12noon ET by signing up at https://futurechurch.org/events/synodality-book-study/. Catholics can also learn more about synodality as a new way of being Church from renowned Synod consultant, Rafael Luciani by signing up for our Fall Event on November 10, 2022 at 8:00pm ET at https://futurechurch.org/events/2022-fall-event-night-two/. To read report we sent to Rome and to our bishops of our synod process which includes an appendix with all the participant responses go to https://futurechurch.org/justice-in-the-church/synod-report/.
End
Will Asian Bishops Return Home a Different Way?
As the reports of the group, FutureChurch, clearly indicate, young people and women are leaving the Church in droves, put off both by its deeply flawed teachings rejected by the sensus fidelium (sense of the faith), and by the patriarchal dominance of the hierarchy which excludes women from all significant administrative and ministerial roles.
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For as the lay group, FutureChurch, has indicated, dysfunctional governance is the single most important malaise in the Catholic Church everywhere. Far too many bishops see their roles as autocratic in nature and seek little or no engagement with the people in their dioceses.
Women Erased: Women’s Authorship in Jewish and Christian Literature
Professor Ross Kraemer joins FutureChurch for this “Women Erased” presentation which explores a few texts that may have been composed by women, ending with a conversation about why and to whom this matters in the 21st century. Was authorship of Jewish and Christian texts from the Greco-Roman period a “male only” enterprise? Or did Jewish and Christian women also shape the writings that are foundational for Christians today? Since a significant portion of early literature is either anonymous or pseudonymous, past assumptions of male authorship are rightly subject to new lines of feminist inquiry.
Ross S. Kraemer is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies and Judaic Studies at Brown University, where she specialized in early Christianity, Jews and Jewish religion in late antiquity (especially the Mediterranean diaspora) and other religions of the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, often with an emphasis on issues of women and gender. She’s the editor of Women and Christian Origins (Oxford, 1998, with Mary Rose D’Angelo), and the New Testament editor for The Dictionary of Women in Scripture(Houghton-Mifflin, 2000). She’s also the author of Unreliable Witnesses: Religion, Gender and History in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean (Oxford, 2011), Her Share of the Blessings: Women’s Religions Among Pagans, Jews and Christians in the Greco-Roman World (Oxford, 1992) and many articles on Jewish and Christian women in antiquity. Her most recent book, The Mediterranean Diaspora in Late Antiquity: What Christianity Cost the Jews (Oxford, 2020) examines what happened to Jews living in the late antique Mediterranean diaspora in the wake of Christianization.
Texts for Further Exploration
- “Women’s Authorship of Jewish and Christian Literature in the Greco-Roman Period” in Women Like Us (used with permission of Prof. Kraemer): Ross Kraemer Chapter
- Philo: On Contemplative Life: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book34.html
- The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/perpetua.html
Subversive Habits Book Study
Join us as we take a deep dive into Dr. Shannen Dee Williams groundbreaking research, Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle. We will explore the lives, experiences, struggles, and advances Black Catholic women religious made in the long struggle for freedom. This series will include prayer, study, and guest speakers. Please join us for an exciting exploration of our Catholic history and the women who changed the course of our faith.
Session One: Preface and Introduction
This first session covers the preface and introduction to Dr. Williams’ book. Deborah Rose, co-director of FutureChurch, provides a summary of the material and our guest, Sr. Anita Baird, DHM, offers her personal reactions.
View the Prayers, Questions, and Large Group Responses
Session Two: Chapters 1 & 2
Chapters 1 and 2 trace the emergence of Black Catholic communities; the struggles and barriers they faced and overcame; and, the unwavering commitment they made to education as a path to liberation in their formative years.
Here are resources that may be useful to you as you read each chapter.
- An article about the founding of St. Augustine, Florida, where African descended people, free and enslaved, first came to the U.S. The Settlement of St. Augustine
- An article about the Haitian Revolution which was a turning point for abolition and the influx of refugees that prompted the growth of communities of Black Catholic women religious. The Haitian Revolution
- A timeline the early years of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the ties to the Catholic Church. Timeline Transatlantic Slave Trade: 1400s – 1600s
In this Second Session, we welcome Sr. Marcia Hall, OSP, who offers her insights and reactions as a member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence – the first successful community of Roman Catholic sisters of African descent in the United States.
View the prayers, questions, and large group responses from this session.
Session Three: Chapters 3, 4, and 5
Here is an excellent resource from PBS with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. that offers two minute videos on various aspects of Black history. The series is called “Black History in Two Minutes (or so)” with dozens of videos that will help you contextualize Dr. Williams’ book, “Subversive Habits.” https://blackhistoryintwominutes.com/
Also, please view the website of the National Black Sisters’ Conference to get a more thorough understanding of this historic organization. https://www.nbsc68.com/
In this session, we welcome Sr. Josita Colbert, SNDdeN, a founding member of the NBSC, who shares their important work with us.
View the prayers, questions, and large group sharing for this session.
Session Four: Chapters 6, 7, and Conclusion
We are joined this week by the author, Dr. Shannen Dee Williams.
To see the full documentary (at no charge through Avila University), Sisters of Selma: Bearing Witness for Change go to https://www.avila.edu/avila-archives/sisters-of-selma/
Pope Francis’ Trip of Reconciliation in Canada
Christopher White, Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, joins FutureChurch to discuss Pope Francis’ long overdue, yet historic, penitential pilgrimage to apologize to the Indigenous peoples of Canada for the role the Catholic Church played in their forced assimilation, genocidal violence, and physical and spiritual abuse, especially in residential schools.
Christopher traveled with the pope and shares what saw, heard, and experienced and shares his insights on what he thinks will likely happen next.
Slide show photo credit: Catholic News Service.
Christopher White is the Vatican correspondent for NCR. His e-mail address is cwhite@ncronline.org. Follow him on Twitter: @CWWhiteNCR.
Prior to moving to Rome in August 2021, he served as NCR’s national correspondent, where his award winning reporting included coverage of the Catholic vote during the 2020 campaign and the election of President Joe Biden. He holds a master’s degree in ethics and society from Fordham University and a bachelor’s degree in politics, philosophy and economics from The King’s College. His work has appeared in Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Forbes, Foreign Policy, New York Daily News, International Business Times, among many other print and online publications. He has regularly appeared on television and radio programs, including CBC, CNN, NPR, RTE and BBC, and is a Vatican analyst for NBC and MSNBC News.
Women Erased: Women in Second Temple Judaism
Dr. Amy-Jill “AJ” Levine presents this FutureChurch “Women Erased” session to clear up the popular, but false and toxic, perception that Jesus was a first-century feminist working to liberate Jewish women from an oppressive Judaism that made the Taliban look progressive. Professor Levine digs into the sources and what they reveal about women in Second Temple Judaism, reconstructing the lives of these women, and offering good news for women today.
Amy Jill Levine is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University of Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, and Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt.
Articles for Further Reading:
- Jewish Women in the New Testament by Amy-Jill Levine
- Witnesses, patrons, faithful disciples: The women at the cross and the tomb by Amy-Jill Levine
- Five Christmas sermon blunders that get Judaism (and Jesus) wrong by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler
Books for Further Reading: