The Boston College School of Theology and Ministry has launched an online lecture series that will help informed theologians and lay Catholics better understand what this synodal process is all about. The first series of video lectures focuses on the history, theology and practice of synodality. And they are wonderful.
THE seriessponsored by CELAM, the Episcopal Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean Religious or CLAR, among other groups, opens with an introduction from Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, who is general rapporteur of the synod. He begins by pointing out that we live in a time where “normal authorities are not accepted, especially authorities from above.” And he asks: “How can decision-making take place in a world that rejects authorities from above?
“Synodality is the answer to this question,” he says. Furthermore, “synodality is a treasure of the Church of old. Synodality brings back the Holy Spirit as an actor in the Church.”
It evokes the Christocentrism that characterized Vatican II and invites us to now consider the role of the third person of the Trinity. I would have liked him to add something about the relationship between pneumatology and Christology, because the Holy Spirit is always the Spirit of Christ.
The cardinal adds that synodality is important not only for decision-making, but also “for the mission aspect of the Church. A synodal Church is always a Church on mission.” He invited viewers to create not just a theology of synodality, but “theologies of synodality,” in the plural.
Hollerich does not give the impression of being “a man who has rejected his solemn obligation as a bishop and cardinal, much less a baptized disciple of Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church, to “cling to the deposit of faith in its entirety. ” like Father. Gerald Murray of The Catholic Thing and EWTN describe him.
Hollerich’s introduction is astute and provocative, and it certainly poses a challenge to those who think that the doctrine is not developing and that they have mastered the riddles of salvation. I suspect most people find a lot of common sense in what he says.
The next pre-recorded lecture comes from Rafael Luciani of Boston College, who was part of the group that met in Frascati, Italy, last year and wrote the Working Document for the Continental Stage of the Synodal Process, “Expand your tent space“Here he discussed “Form and Reform in a Synodal Church.”
Luciani begins by evoking the sensus fidei, the sense of the faithful, emphasizing that it was invoked in the dogmatic definitions of the great Marian dogmas of recent times, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. “But today it deepens in the light of synodality and is conceived as a spiritual dynamic that activates the co-responsibility of all ecclesial subjects, of the Christifidelis, of all the faithful,” he added.
This emphasis on spiritual dynamics is often absent from discussions of synodality, and it deserves continued attention because it belies the idea that it is simply a “meeting for the sake of meetings”, an exercise in management, of the modern business mentality invading ecclesiology.
Later, Luciani quotes Cardinal Mario Grech, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, on the same theme of the spirituality involved in this process: “The strength of the synodal process lies in the reciprocity between consultation and discernment, and this will lead to future developments of synodality.
In other words, we listen to the Holy Spirit by listening to one another in prayer, as well as to the Word of God and the teachings of the Church.
The process cannot be mechanical or outdated. “Synodality does not only propose a method,” Luciani said, “it allows exchange, consultation and participation processes that allow (the Church) to integrate the diversity and originality of the gifts of all the faithful”.
This is of course a radical change from the days of “pray, pay and obey”. He quotes Lumen Gentium 32: “Pastors and other faithful are linked to one another by mutual necessity. »
Synodality is intended to enrich this bond with one another for which the fathers of the Council called for. This synodal process does not consist of introducing a theology or a libertine praxis of “everything is permitted”. It is about renewing and enlivening the bonds that exist because of our common baptism in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Italian theologian Serena Noceti’s video lecture also focuses on “form and reform in a synodal Church.” His presentation is simultaneously translated, so the original Italian shines through in the background. You must listen carefully.
Noceti begins by focusing on the relationship between synodality and mission, noting the emphasis on the missionary aspect of the Church in Pope Francis’ programmatic apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudiumwhich he repeated in his first complete encyclical, Laudato Si’. “Pope Francis also proposes a reform from a synodal perspective, that is to say a Church which wants to rethink its internal relations, its structures, its way of being and acting according to this journey together, to make a synod according to community discernment and synergy in pastoral life,” observes Noceti.
Placing synodal reform in the context of the ecclesiology of Vatican II, Noceti asks: “When is reform effective? What should we experience and achieve? (How) is this ideal vision that drives us realized concretely in our daily life? the conditions, the preconditions for an effective reform?
These are the kinds of questions that demonstrate the value of a synodal process. It is not uncommon in the life of the Church for a bishop to institute a reform without knowing whether or not it is “realizing” in the life of the people of God. You have to ask them.
This online course – called a MOOC, or massive open online course – also includes presentations from Argentine theologian P. Carlos Galli, one of the key theologians of the theology of the people it shaped Pope Francis so much; Massimo Faggioli, the most eminent ecclesiologist in the United States; and theologian Christine Colberg from St. John’s to Collegeville. And a host of heavy hitters. The free course, intended to be viewed over three weeks, is available until March 26.
Congratulations to the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry for successfully completing this colossal undertaking. This is a real service to the Church and a valuable resource for anyone trying to better understand this synodal journey.
