Synod on synodality –Lost in transition

By chhotebhai

Kanpur, Nov 20, 2021: We are on the cusp of Advent, the precursor of Christmas. Till not so long ago this was the time that we started sending out and receiving Christmas cards, now a thing of the past. A popular banner on these cards was “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men of goodwill” (Lk 2:14).

This translation is from the King James Version, with its beautifully poetic language. Later, more prosaic, translations express it differently, especially the last phrase. Here is a selection. “Peace for those he favors” (The New Jerusalem Bible – the one I use), “peace to all in whom he delights” (The New Community Bible), “peace to those with whom he is pleased” (Good News Bible). In Hindi Padmabhushan Baba Bulcke’s text is “aur prithvi par unke kripapatron ko shanti”. The Gideon’s Hindi text is “jinme ve prassana hai”. This comparison is just to show that many things may get lost in translation.

Coming to the Synod on Synodality, I have a grave apprehension that much may be lost in translation into local/ regional languages. I am not a linguist. Yes, I got a distinction in English language in my Cambridge exams in 1965, but I always failed miserably in Hindi and got zero in Sanskrit! However, when I encountered Jesus 10 years later I knew that I had to learn Hindi if I wanted to share his message in Uttar Pradesh, where I live. I make no claims to being a language expert; but I would like to share some of the key words from the synodal process, and their Hindi equivalents.

The first jolt that I got was from the prayer card prepared by my parent diocese of Allahabad. “Synod” was translated as “dharma sabha,” which when translated back into English becomes a “religious gathering.” However, the actual meaning of the Greek word synod is “walking together” that has now been modified to “journeying together.”

My wife, who is an expert in English grammar, says that this is a transitive verb or phrase. Wow. For a simpleton like me I see the synod as an event, a process or action, therefore a verb. However, the Hindi translation of Sabha makes it a noun. All very confusing. Exactly the point. To faithfully convey the meaning and purpose of the synod one needs, not just the mastery of two languages, but even more importantly, to have the mind of Pope Francis. That isn’t going to be easy.

Let us take some of the key synodal words and their literal Hindi translation: Communion (Ekya), Participation (bhaag lena), Mission (no Hindi equivalent), Discernment (Prabhed), Listening (Sunna), Synthesis (Sansleshan). I may be wrong, for my experience is limited, but I have never heard words like Ekya, Prabhed, Sansleshan used in common discourse. So how do we faithfully convey the synodal message and process?

Take the key word Synod (journeying together). The literal Hindi translation would be “ek saath yatra karna”. This makes no sense because there is no such connotation in Hindi. We talk of shabdarth (literal meaning) and bhavarth (connotation). For several days I struggled to find the correct Hindi connotation for “journeying together” that could convey its true meaning.

I finally stumbled on it in the Hindi version of the peoples’ anthem “We shall Overcome” (Hum honge kamyap). The relevant verse is “We’ll walk hand in hand … we shall overcome someday” (Hum challenge saath, hum honge kamyap ek din).The anthem’s genesis is inspiring.

It was originally composed by Reverend Charles Tindley of Philadelphia, an African Methodist Episcopal Church minister, born of slave parents in 1851. It featured prominently as a protest song during a labor strike by black women workers in 1945-1946 in Charleston, South Carolina. It acquired worldwide fame when it became the anthem of Reverend Martin Luther King Junior’s civil rights movement. Slavery officially ended in the USA with the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

It was a long and bitter struggle, because nobody (in this case the Whites) easily surrenders their position of power, pelf and supremacy. King himself paid the price for it with his martyrdom. Reverend Tindley in turn was inspired to write this anthem from this sentence in the New Testament. “Let us never slacken in doing good, for if we do not give up, we shall have our harvest in due time” (Gal 6:9).

The key take aways here are – never slacken, never give up, you will reap your reward in due time (overcome someday). Many civil rights activists and trade unionists have made this their anthem. My wife, who works among the specially abled (earlier called handicapped), also has this as their theme song.

It is in this context that the synod should adopt this as its anthem. It talks of those on the fringes, the marginalized, the voiceless. They are the handicapped of the church. The comparisons are so obvious. It took over a century of struggle to overcome white supremacy.

In like manner, 56 years after Vatican II ushered in a synodal (participatory) church, that vision has remained unfulfilled. Pope Francis, in humility and sincerity, has recognized this. That is why this 84 year-old is racing against time to make this a reality. Again, the clerical supremacists from the USA or France may attempt to assassinate him for doing this. Now we should not put the clock back. Vatican II, and now Pope Francis, have set the ball rolling.

There are two glaringly obvious reasons why the ecclesiology of Vatican II has not happened. The first is because those who know (the hierarchy and clergy) don’t want it to happen. Nobody voluntarily surrenders power. The other, not so obvious reason, is the total ignorance of the laity and their resultant servility. This has resulted in “clericalism” that Pope Francis says is the scourge of the Church today.

The problem with lay leaders is that they “slacken.” They think that one meeting or statement is enough. They then go back into hibernation, and expect miraculous change! But we are told that if we seek to reap the harvest we cannot afford to slacken, to be lax. We have to keep up the pressure, even if it results in our assassination. Physical assassination may not occur, but character assassination will definitely be on the cards.

Lay leaders that truly seek the reform and renewal of the church will be quickly branded as anti-church or anti-clerical. They will not be invited for diocesan consultations. They will not get status-enhancing appointments to ecclesial bodies, or sent to Rome as delegates. So what? If one believes in a cause then one must be prepared to pay the price and not seek earthly reward.

Do not slacken. Even if something is lost in translation, it should not be lost in transition. Let us walk hand in hand for we shall overcome someday, hopefully sooner than later.

(The writer is the convener of the Indian Catholic Forum. Email: noronha.kp@gmail.com)