Delhi archdiocese’s Synodal sessions help focus “unnoticed persons”

By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi, May 4, 2022: Thousands of Catholics have attended the Delhi archdiocesan consultation meetings to prepare for the Rome Synod that began more than six months ago.

While Jesuit Father Stanislaus Alla, a theology professor, finds the process “truly historic,” Archbishop Anil J Couto of Delhi, who initiated it, says the Church in the archdiocese will not be the same after the exercise ends.

Father Alla, who teaches in Delhi’s Vidyajyoti College of Theology, has read through hundreds of pages of reports from various groups in the archdiocese and drafted the “Diocesan Synthesis” with his colleague, Presentation Sister Shalini Mulackal.

The latest archdiocesan Pre-Synodal meeting at the cathedral campus in New Delhi was attended by 8-month-old Ayston Jez and 85-year-old Emeritus Archbishop Vincent Concessao of Delhi among more than 200 participants.

Archbishop Couto opened the April 29-May 1 with a prayer and inaugural address. Auxiliary Bishop Deepak Tauro of Delhi presented an overview of the proceedings. The meeting ended with a Mass on May 2.

The archdiocese launched the Synodal process October 17, 2021, with a Mass led by Archbishop Couto. It then set up a core committee to plan and carry on the Synodal programs with Bishop Tauro as the coordinator, and Father Vincent D’Souza and Leena Sunny, a lay woman, as the diocesan contact persons.

Scores of diocesan and religious priests and nuns joined lay women and men, representing diverse socio-cultural constituencies in the archdiocese, discussed the suggested Synodal topics.

In his orientation talk at the latest meeting, Father Alla explained that the Synodal process is the continuation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope Francis prefers to initiate the processes of renewal in the Church and the Synod is expected to do it, he said.

The Church, Father Alla added, is a gift as well as a task that challenges all Catholics to involve in the building up of the Church.

The Jesuit theologian also said for the future one must look beyond ‘what to do’ to ‘how to do’ and ‘the way to do.’ Although the terms such as speaking, listening, learning and discerning appear to be simple, they have profound spiritual meaning, and, when understood, they can have significant bearing upon the Catholic Church’s future, he explained.

“It is heartwarming to know that several women cried when asked to share, as this was the first time it had happened in the Church,” Father Alla said.

He quoted a woman participant as saying, “unnoticed people are noticed by the Synod.”

The archdiocesan core-committee comprised lay people, nuns and priests. Several women are also part of it such as Daisy Panna, Nirmala Prabhakaran, Grace David, and St Anne Sister Inigo and Presentation Sister Shalini Mulackal.

Despite Covid-related fears and restrictions, the committee members met several times and trained hundreds of coordinators who in turn carried on with Synodal consultations in parishes, associations, institutions, and seminaries.

The archdiocese’s clergy gathered more than twice for sessions on Synodality and consultations. Several parish priests and Religious encouraged the faithful to join at the consultations that were held on many weekends.

Being part of Synodal activities, children joyfully sang, danced and painted, joyously depicting the Church they dream of and the changes they envisage.

“Leaving aside the nature and the contents of the consultations, Reports and the Pre-Synodal Meetings (a topic in itself), one can genuinely say that the entire event has been a commendable ecclesial exercise,” Father Alla added.