By Matters India Reporter
Bengaluru, July 28, 2022: The Latin Church in India on July 28 concluded a three-day national synod convened to finalize its synthesis for the 2021-2023 Synod.
The July 26-28 synodal consultation in Bengaluru ended with a solemn Mass presided over by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the archbishop of Bombay and a member of Pope Francis’ advisory group. Other archbishops concelebrated.
The same day, the house approved the final draft reflecting the voice of the Church in India, says a press release issued July 28 by Father Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary general of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in India.
Details of the draft are not known yet.
“It’s the dream of the Holy Father Pope Francis to promote a Synodal Church in every aspect in order to make her more relevant to our times,” Father Alathara says.
The national synod began July 26 with a solemn Mass at Paalanaa Bhavana, the pastoral center of the Archdiocese of Bangalore, presided over by Cardinal-Designate Filipe Neri Ferrão, Archbishop of Goa and Daman and Patriarch of East Indies.
In his homily, Archbishop Ferrão emphasized how great leaders of the present times — Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Junior — had dreams of a better tomorrow. He then urged the gathering to foster communion within the Church and outside and help it continue its mission in the modern world.
The national synthesis will serve as a road map for the Church in India in the next decade, the press release claimed. It says the national synod offers the Latin Church in India an occasion to discern new ecclesial ways and adopt creative pastoral approaches to help it become a genuinely authentic Synodal Church.
The national synthesis will help promote greater ecclesial Communion, participation and mission, the three aspects of the 2021-2023 Synod.
On the second day, more than 60 delegates representing dioceses across the country presented a one-page report with their opinions, suggestions in drafting the final report. Every presentation was discussed and the suggestions offered by the house were taken into consideration, the press release said.
A team of 15 bishops, 12 priests, 10 religious and 27 lay leaders then validated and finalized the synthesis prepared by the National Synod Desk in collaboration with the conference’s Commission for Theology and Doctrine. The final synthesis would be sent to the General Secretariat of the Synod in Rome, the press release said.
History always repeats. The church has never been open and participatory in real sense and its spirits and never will be; let any Pope try. The only way is use social media and let all those who have sent in their suggestions/ comments for synod be put on social media and circulate. The church will never be honest to the purpose.
Kirit Mahida
More than 10 days have passed and we still don’t know who attended this meeting and what was the synthesis. There is a grave apprehension that this was just one big eyewash.
Firstly the finalized synthesis for the 2021-2023 Synod has not been put up in the above report. Does “synthesis” mean watering down?
Synod in India is basically an eye wash. It’s only a well-disguised attempt by the Catholic Church to get the Laity’s “yes sir” to whatever it does, including: (1) the conduct of temporal affairs and (2) the running of church-owned institutes (especially of higher education), where the Laity has NO say.
Though the synod documents urge the Church’s Bishops and Cardinals to “Listen to the Laity” including the dissenting voices, the ground reality of the Synod discussions are totally different/opposite. The Synod Questionnaires in most Parishes/Dioceses are designed in such a manner, all burning issues especially on how to put a brake on predator priests and bishops like Franco Mulakkal and K.A. William are not raised at all. Readers may refer to telephonic conversation of Cardinal Gracias with Bp K.A. William where the Cardinal is requesting William to agree to his paternity (DNA) test at St John’s Bangalore(refer Church Militant dated 22 July 2022 link is: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/leaked-phone-call-blows-cardinals-cover). These issues are not discussed in Synod preparatory proceedings where Bp K.A. William and Franco Mulakkal may have been conducting the proceedings! What an irony perpetrated on the Laity which still prefers to be “Sleeping Giants!”
• How many churches are listening to “Dissenting or Contrarian Voices?”
• What about the Archbishop of Calcutta taking action on Fr Albert Sahayraj, Parish Priest of St Ignatius of Ekbalpur for the criminal case going on against him in Barrackpore Court since 2021 (Case reference number is CNR: WBNPI50070762018 – accessible on the website services.ecourts.gov.in)? How can one remain Parish Priest and Secretary of a church-run school when a criminal case is going on against him?
• What about sex abuses by Bishop Franco Mulakkal, and criminal cases of sex, child production, intimidation and murder charges against Bp K.A. William? These issues are NOT being discussed in Synod proceedings.
• What about discussing and drawing up a diocese-wise Action Plan for combating Malnutrition and Mother and Child Health?
• What about the increasingly decreasing percentage of Christian students (below 10% in Kolkata) in our Catholic institutions of higher learning? What about the entry barrier of meritorious and economically poor Christian students in high-priced self-financed higher education courses in our so-called Minority Institutes?
• All the fault lines of the Church Hierarchy have been glossed over at Synod preparatory proceedings. Synod in India is basically a photo-shopped document of CBCI & CCBI meant to be seen by the Vatican with rose-coloured spectacles.
It seems it is a new beginning for the Church innIndia. The Church must accommodate people’s aspirations in the changed or present situation. The Dalit Christians deserve more recognition and need to meet their expectations, most of their demands are genuine and must be accepted.
K J George
e-mail kjgeorge2000@gmail.com