October 18: Ambassadors of Synodality

Toward the end of his life, Karl Rahner published a series of letters under the title My Problem: Karl Rahner Replies to Young People. The framework was precisely this: the eminent theologian and key architect of the Second Vatican Council responds to a range of concerns of younger generations, many of which were first raised in conversation in the parlor of the Jesuit house where he lived. It is a book, writes Geffrey B. Kelly, “in which one can see firsthand how Rahner, even while nearing his eightieth birthday, would take the time to address with characteristic wisdom and patience the myriad problems of young people in Vienna.”

The dynamic of intergenerational dialogue played out again this evening in the Paul VI Synod Hall in Rome, as 140 students from 15 Catholic campuses across the US had the opportunity to interact with Synod delegates and leaders and to pose questions about the significance of synodality.

The students are part of an initiative called CENTERS, whose mission is “to cultivate the spiritual dispositions of and imagination for synodality within young leaders and future ministers of the Church in the US.” Students in the program are drawn from both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Many prepared for the event through formal study of synodality in their respective institutions as well as a preparatory week in Rome.

The live-streamed event featured a panel of respondents including Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, General Rapporteur of the Synod; Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod; Sr. Leticia Salazar, Chancellor of the Diocese of San Bernadino, Synod delegate from North America, and member of the commission for the drafting of the Synod’s final document; and Bishop Daniel Flores of the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas.

After moderator Alexandra Carroll of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) opened with the Adsumus Prayer, the floor was turned over to the students to ask questions of the panel. Students from Santa Clara University, Georgetown University, the University of San Francisco, and several other Catholic institutions were represented.

To a question about how future synodal consultations could be improved and promoted, particularly in the way of including the “many voices [that] were not heard” during last year’s opening session, Cardinal Grech emphasized that Pope Francis’s directive for the Syond was: “We need to listen to the whole church, to the people of God.”

This included not only the Catholic Church, but all Christians and those of other religions, Grech said. He contrasted the open dialogue of the current Synod with the 2015 Synod on the Family, where questionnaires were sent to participants in advance.

Grech said that it “really aches me” that people may not have felt heard during the opening session, but stressed that “never before has there been such a listening process in the church.” Out of 114 bishops’ conferences, 112 submitted reports for the current Synod, and over 20,000 people participated through a special digital platform, he said.

“We would wish to have listened to more, but the participation was very, very good,” he said, adding that such robust participation holds promise for the future.

Asked to name something important he has learned from the Synod, Grech replied, “The liturgy of baptism.”

“You cannot make your profession of faith unless you listen,” he said, adding that “listening is fundamental” to both the church’s mission and its “culture of encounter” that is “fundamentally an encounter with Jesus.”

Describing the Holy Spirit as a “connective force,” he said, “We don’t only listen to opinions, views, but we try to listen to the Holy Spirit.”

To questions about why young people should “care about synodality” and how the church might “create synodal spaces for young people who have been hurt by the church or are outside of the church,” Cardinal Hollerich spoke of the Synod as a model for dialogue that the church can share with the world.

“Not just listening to an opinion, but listening to a person, is something important for our postmodern societies,” Hollerich said. He spoke of the political climate in the US as “two worlds which seem to be opposed.”

“That thinking is very far from synodal thinking,” he said. “The person with a different opinion is not an enemy.”

“We do not want confrontation, we want common solutions” to the problems of war, climate catastrophe, and other crises, he continued. “Therefore, you have to listen, full of respect. And listening is always an encounter with the other, who leads you in an experience that is wider than your own.”

Such encounter presupposes an ecumenical viewpoint where one is open to other religions “in global fraternity” to discuss “the big issues of our world,” he said.

Another questioner raised the issue of the tension between church teaching and the Synod’s emphasis on personal experience, which may be less dogmatic or doctrinaire, asking, “What does faithfulness to tradition and truth look like in a process like synodality?”

In his response, Bishop Flores said of synodality that “before it’s a structure, it’s a style.”

“We want to be a church, we want to be a people” who listen to others, he said, attentive to what he called “the reality under the words.” This “reality” includes people’s personal experiences, pains, hopes, and longings, he said.

Synodality brings a sense of belonging and communion that affirms “I’m not in this life alone,” he said. He acknowledged that the hardest part of synodality “is listening patiently to somebody you’ve already decided is wrong.”

Part of the synodal process involves “listening to the voice of those who go before us,” he said. He explained how the Synod “heightens our senses” to all voices, including those of the past and the voice of Christ itself.

“The aim of synodality is for the sake of the mission” to announce the gospel, he said. “I do not worry that the faith of the church will be compromised if we listen to each other. It will make us better sharers of the gospel.”

Asked how the Synod might move from discussion to “concrete and tangible action,” Sr. Salazar identified one step as: “We realize that we are in communion, that we are in the church, that we are one church.”

Defining the Synod “a way of being church, a way of journeying together, a way of finding Jesus in one another in our experiences,” she said that by “prolonging” the synodal experience “in time,” it becomes real within the local churches. She used her own Diocese of San Bernardino as an example.

“I always think, my God, how am I able to do mission in these mountains?” she asked. She described how the diocese “started training people for the [synodal] listening sessions,” including reaching out to detention centers and other places.

“We began being transformed,” she continued. “It was amazing to see that we were doing the church together.”

Synodality is “not a narrative, it’s not an idea,” she said, but “a building together, a finding together, a searching together” and “a gentle way of announcing the good news in a very respectful way.”

“Synodality is possible, it is real,” she added. “Whatever happens, it will continue in San Bernardino, and hopefully in the whole church.”

The panelists fielded questions on priestly formation and interreligious dialogue, two issues that have been raised throughout the synodal process.

To the question of formation, Sr. Salazar said that “all formation processes need to prepare us to be our best.” She added that formation “is not for us to be greater, it is for us to serve,” and that formation “brings out the best of the qualities and abilities that God has given you.”

Grech said, “It is important to rewrite [formation] programs in the key of synodality.” He noted that synodality is not only “a program, a subject” but should take on “the whole formative program.”

Speaking to the question of interreligious dialogue, Hollerich referenced the 24 years he lived and taught in Japan, where “99 percent” of his students were neither Catholic nor Christian. Still, “the dialogue with them was something very important,” he said.

Part of the mission of proclaiming Christ is walking and working with other religions, he said. “We should show the world that we are sisters and brothers. That we can walk together, and that we can act together.”

He added, “We have to grow esteem, love, and friendship for each other, and then take common action for the good of humanity.” ♦

Michael Centore
Editor, Today’s American Catholic

Image: Students and panelists in dialogue on the floor of Paul VI Hall, October 18, 2024. Image from live-stream, Vatican News.

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