By Virginia Saldanha

Mumbai: Pope Francis called for a Synod on Synodality because he wants that all the bishops of the world walk the talk of joint responsibility with all the People of God in the Church – ordained and non-ordained.

Synod means “walking together,” reflecting on the path traveled, discerning which processes can help the Church to live communion, achieve participation and be open to Mission. Walking together to implement and manifest the nature of the Church as the People of God on a journey, reflecting on the path traveled, in communion, being a sign and an instrument “of intimate union with God and the whole human race” (LG 1), being in solidarity with whom she walks. Participation in Mission and sharing that experience is an integral part of this journey.

Synodality means being a Church, a community that walks together. It is not enough to have a synod, you have to be a synod. Synodality is learning by doing. Our Church needs intense internal sharing: a living dialogue between the Pastors and between the Pastors and the faithful.

There are three aspects that create synodality: 1) Listening 2) Co-responsibility 3) Full involvement of the laity as full members of the Church. They too are called to express themselves and give their suggestions. This provides a unique opportunity for discerning the sensus fidelium, the sense of the faithful, together with our bishops. Pope Francis calls for a synodal Church that listens, learns and shares its mission. A synodal Church is one in which decision-making and the exercise of authority is approached collaboratively, at a local level, since the Spirit speaks in and through all the people of God, both the so-called ‘lay’ and the clergy.

To achieve this Pope Francis has asked the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops to draw up a two-year preparatory process to enable the engagement of the People of God across the Catholic world.

In June this year, the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops released the timeline that will in a new way prepare for the Synod of Bishops in October 2023, as desired by Pope Francis. The theme being “For a Synodal Church – communion, participation and mission”

There is a provision to organize synods at the diocesan level, the national level and then at the continental levels through the respective church bodies.

The first phase of the Synodal process is the diocesan stage that runs from October 2021 through to April 2022. it will need to begin with preparatory processes of dialogue and discernment within the dioceses, parishes and other communities. If conducted with transparency and fairness, treating all the members of the church as stakeholders rather than consumers, as coworkers rather than children, the Synodal process will achieve its goal of synodality, of Listening, Co-responsibility and full involvement of Laity.

Those who are active in living the mission of the Church, the voices of the young, and those on the margins, like LGBTQI+ persons, women asking to be part of leadership ministry, need to be included. If all these voices make their way to the Synodal hall and are listened to in 2023, the Synod will have achieved its purpose.

The process is one of discernment beginning at the grassroot level of the Church, to help to build a ‘consensus ecclesiae’, to search for the truth for the good of the Church. It is meant to be the outcome of the working of the Holy Spirit which is the soul of the Church of Christ (EC7).

We are, two months away from when the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops’ in Rome will send the bishops a preparatory document, accompanied by a questionnaire and a vademecum handbook/manual with proposals for consultation in each local church in September. Can we the people of God assume that every adult confirmed Catholic will receive this questionnaire to be able to send in our responses to be included in the process?

On October 9, the Synod process will officially be inaugurated in the Vatican. A week later, 5,000 dioceses across the world will start the process of their synodal consultations.

Pope Francis reminds us that “A Synodal Church is a Church that listens, which realizes that listening is more than simply hearing. It is a mutual listening in which everyone has something to learn. The faithful people, the college of bishops, the bishop of Rome all listening to each other, all listening to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth.”

Women sincerely hope that there will be a proportionate inclusion of women’s voices representative of our numbers, viz. upto 50%, especially of those whom the bishops fear as ‘critical’, if they truly believe that the Holy Spirit is at work.

While there is a provision for women in religious life to contribute to the process individually through their religious communities, and geographical structures like provinces, regions, and national conferences, I am concerned about the inclusion of women who are not part of any kind of religious order or commitment.

There are many women who are not in religious life, yet we have dedicated our lives to serve the Church because we love Jesus and love our Church. Women who use their resources and time to learn and engage in pastoral ministry for the good of the Church without counting the cost. Yes, we are critical, out of love and concern.

I would like to quote from the letter of Cardinal Joe Braz Aviz, Prefect of the Office of the Synod of Bishops, to religious as it is relevant to all the People of God.

“Be open to the challenge offered by the three significant words of the theme: communion, participation, and mission. Pray reflect, discuss and share your experiences, insights and desires. Do it with freedom of those who place their trust in God and are thus able to overcome timidity, a sense of inferiority or worse still, reproaches and complaints. Let it be done in all simplicity, moved by the Holy Spirit, but always having a sense of co-responsibility because ‘All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelisation to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients’.” (EG n.120).

Tapping into the power of God’s spirit present within everyone one of us, let us endeavor to get our voices heard and channeled into the Synodal process. Let us keep ourselves tuned in as the process begins in our dioceses form October this year to April next year.