VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Synod participants are now examining questions related to the exercise of authority in the Church, involving laity, and particularly women, in the hierarchical and decision-making structure, and implementing “synodality” as the “standard” way of Church life at “all levels.”
The assembled members and non-voting members of the Synod on Synodality began the fourth of five modules on October 18. Introduced by synod relator general Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the overarching theme for the module is:
Participation, governance and authority. What processes, structures and institutions are there in a missionary synodal Church?
Previously, the participants have examined synodality, issues related to “polygamous” relationships, homosexual relationships, female deacons, and married priests, among other topics. While these have been more clearly controversial topics, this fourth module arguably deals with topics that could be equally polemic, given their focus on the manner in which the Church is actually governed.
Hollerich asked the groups not merely to theorize, but – in a statement that seemed to contradict the repeated statements from officials that the synod is not looking to usher in change – to present “concrete proposals for moving forward.”
Exercise of authority
Addressing the hall, Cardinal Hollerich summarized the five worksheets that synod members will be discussing over the course of the coming days, starting with the question of authority. He stated that there was no intention “to question the authority of ordained ministers and pastors: as successors of the apostles, we pastors have a special mission in the Church.”
But he added that “we are pastors of men and women who have received baptism, who want to participate and be co-responsible in the mission of the Church.”
“Where clericalism reigns, there is a Church that does not move, a Church without mission,” said Hollerich. Continuing, he argued:
Clericalism can affect the clergy and also the laity, when they claim to be in charge forever. Clericals only want to maintain the “status quo,” because only the “status quo” cements their power. Mission… impossible!
The worksheets for the discussions on authority certainly highlight themes that paint a picture of a move away from a hierarchical and teaching Church, into a Church centered on discussion and dialogue. The synodal practice of “conversation in the Spirit” is presented in worksheet B3.1 as being “a way of managing decision-making and consensus-building that builds trust and fosters an exercise of authority appropriate to a synodal Church.”
READ: Synod officials waffle when asked about following Catholic norms on ‘pastoral’ care for homosexuals
Seminary formation is mentioned, along with a call for training to be given so that future priests “develop a manner of exercising authority that is appropriate to a synodal Church.”
This in turn gives rise to the question of possible, unspecified lay ministry:
To what extent does the shortage of Priests in some regions provide an incentive to question the relationship between ordained Ministry, governance and the assumption of responsibilities in the Christian community?
Lay or clerical?
Section B3.3 of the Instrumentum laboris calls on members to discuss how the laity might become more involved in regular governance and decision making in the Church: “how can we make listening to the People of God the ordinary and habitual way of conducting decision-making processes in the Church at all levels of its life?”
The worksheet also contains a call to alter canon law, thus “rebalancing the relationship between the principle of authority, which is strongly affirmed in the current legislation, and the principle of participation.”
It is interesting to note that in all of the Instrumentum laboris, the word “pope” appears only four times: thrice when referring directly to Pope Francis by name and once as part of a direct quotation from Evangelii Gaudium.
READ: Pope Francis suggests the Synod is a continuation of Vatican II: ‘The Church has to change’
At all other times, the discussion of a new way of exercising authority refers simply to the “Bishop of Rome,” the title under which Pope Francis has preferred to be chiefly known by.
But, the document nevertheless presents a contradictory message. It highlights the calls for increased lay roles in ecclesial governance, yet also seeks to downplay this possibility. Section B3.3 states that “co-responsibility in the mission deriving from Baptism must take on concrete structural forms.”
Yet it adds that such “frameworks” should “not be read as a demand for a redistribution of power but as the need for the effective exercise of co-responsibility that flows from Baptism.”
Permanent synodality
The Synod on Synodality was already extended from one year to two, and finally into a three-year process. But this 2023 session of the event has highlighted how the undercurrent of its themes and ideologies are set to be implemented as a new course of life for the Church.
Participants are asked to discuss what “structures can be developed to strengthen a missionary synodal Church,” and the work of the continental stage of the synod is also highlighted:
Continental Assemblies express a strong desire that the synodal way of proceeding, experienced in the current journey, should penetrate into the daily life of the Church at all levels, either by the renewal of existing structures—such as diocesan and Parish Pastoral Councils, Economic Affairs Councils, diocesan or eparchial Synods—or by the establishment of new ones. (Emphasis added. Worksheet B3.3)
Section B3.5 argues that the synod “is clearly demonstrating that the synodal process is the most appropriate context for the integrated exercise of primacy, collegiality and synodality as inalienable elements of a Church in which each subject performs its particular function to the best of its ability and in synergy with others.”
READ: Synod official refuses to answer whether members must follow Church teaching in discussions
Furthermore, the working document highlights the request for synod members to implement a process of synod methodology throughout the Church. The text states:
The synodal process introduces into the Church “a dynamism of communion which inspires all ecclesial decisions”: a) How can this dynamism become the standard way of proceeding at all levels of Church life? b) How does the principle of authority fit into the synodal process? c) How does the synodal process affect our understanding of authority in the Church at different levels, including that of the Bishop of Rome?
Participants of the synod have repeatedly praised the new style of proceedings: the round tables and lay voting as equal to the clerical and episcopal votes. With such an emphasis on this in the synod, it is likely that similar emphasis on the equation of lay people with the bishops could be seen as a result of the Synod on Synodality.