Reflecting broadly on the experience of being part of the Synod of Bishops for a Synodal Church, First Session, in Rome last month, the Provincial of the Divine Word Missionaries Australia Province, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD, writes that for him, the Synod was a “conversion experience”.
Attending this consultative Synod as one of the 38 small group facilitators is a great honour and privilege – an experience of a lifetime, a Kairos experience! “Come to us, O Holy Spirit” is the consistent cry holding the synodal journey from many languages, cultures and Christian traditions under the leadership of Pope Francis.
Synod delegates hard at work in small group discussions. PHOTO: In the Word.
I am also thrilled to be part of Pope Francis' dream towards a synodal Catholic Church that walks, prays, discerns together in the Holy Spirit. This is subjective, and yet I could openly express in appreciation how the Spirit is gently and surely leading the Catholic Church to a better space in the history of salvation. Like the two disciples walk to Emmaus, I was moved hearing the voices of women and experiences of others on a platform of shared vulnerability and hope. We celebrated the Eucharist with the Eastern Christian churches and prayed with brothers and sisters from other Christian denominations for peace in war-torn parts of the world especially in the Middle East. We laughed, cried, prayed, socialised, and put our hearts and heads together, or at least we tried. Indeed, it was heavy-going from 8:45am – 7:30pm for four weeks except Sabbath.
Emerging Themes
While the journey from the continental stage since October 2021 has been massive, complex, and diverse, and many of you were part of it, Synod participants will depart on Monday 30th October with thankfulness for the opportunity. Many participants say that this synodal process of contemplative listening is the most appropriate context and method for the exercise of primacy, collegiality and synodality as inalienable elements of a pilgrim Church. Other voices say that Pope Francis is starting a revolution of listening in accord with contemporary ideology and this could have serious effects on the Church’s self-understanding on what the Church has always taught and practiced.
Fr Rass, pictured far right, was a small group facilitator during the Synod. PHOTO: In the Word.
New (and old) buzz phrases have consistently emerged from the Synod. I invite you to read through some recurring synodal phrases and see for yourself what you feel the Spirit is saying to the Synod participants -
“deep listening”, “opening horizons of hope”, “healthy decentralization”, “truth and love must embrace in difficult cases”, “the Reign of God as horizon of hope and healing for all”, “the dignity of all baptized persons”, “shared responsibility & mutual dialogue”, “co-responsibility in mission”, “an all ministerial church”, “friendship between equals & friendship never harms”, “new wine into new wineskins”, “listen to experience not ideals”, “revise Canon Law to suit new theologies and pastoral care”, “strengthening sensus fidei”, “synodality as a new way of being church”, “the church can be a home for all”, “orthodoxy is spacious”, “seek the truth together”, “removing ones shoes”, “revising and adding structure and processes to synodality”, “an intercultural church”, “develop systems of accountability in all structures”, “enlarging the tent”, “a church for the poor and with the poor”, “ecumenism of blood is greater than words”, “participatory governance”, “clericalism - a major obstacle”, “from ‘I’ to ‘we’ church”, “a communion that radiates”, “revitalize the whole Church structure, processes and institutions”, “exploring the digital landscape”, “community and family are wombs of ministry”, “care for our common home”, “witness and words as two lungs of the gospel”, “formation at all levels of church”, “a church that is inclusive, eucharistic, missionary, merciful and discerning”, and many more.
From these catch phrases of synodality and trusting your own intuition, you could certainly absorb where the Spirit might be guiding the Catholic Church. Thus far, the deliberations have been positively overwhelming enabling all participants to engage truthfully and constructively in this synodal process. Despite the obvious controversies which were not dealt with in detail, one could feel a kind of fragile hope evolving as participants engaged with tentativeness, respect and deep listening. The more we listened to each other, the more we gradually uncovered truths and obstacles to a new way of being Catholic. We were reminded by Pope Francis that the purpose of the synodal process “is not to produce new documents but to open horizons of hope for the fulfillment of the Church’s mission” (Continental Document, 6).
Voices From the Peripheries
A multitude of voices and perspectives were tabled from Africa, Europe, Oceania, Latin and North America, Asia, the Eastern Rite Churches, and invited delegates from mainstream Christian churches on various faces of a synodal Catholic Church. Prophetic voices from the peripheries continue to challenge a Catholic Church that has generally ignored and undermined the dignity and charisms of the baptised faithful, especially women, and left many outside the tent.
Fr Rass meets Pope Francis during the Synod. PHOTO: In the Word.
The experience in many continents of the world is that the Church has not been a true home for all of God’s children; the Church has not been inclusive but selective; the Church has not been merciful but judgemental, inward looking and not mission oriented and so forth. Positive experiences were also shared and so it’s not all doom and gloom. Reconciling human experience and synodality is not as easy as it sounds, and one of the reasons why Pope Francis has called for this universal workshop to deeply listen to each other and the Holy Spirit, the main protagonist of the Synod. Conceivably, the Pontiff felt something needs to be improved, a pause, perhaps a breath of fresh air. In his public Opening Address the Pontiff said, “we have made the Holy Spirit sad”, 4th October, Paul XI Hall.
The main task of participants is firstly, to listen to the seven continental experiences, to embrace the full reality of what is happening to face our church and society honestly and truthfully. Secondly, to deepen the desire for a robust Christ-centred Catholic faith that can help us face the problems we have created and the type of world we have made, and with the help of the Holy Spirit help us find a better way forward.
Personal Conversion
The fruits of the Synod will take time to emerge like a seed, through more listening, long patience, prayer and persistence, as we reconvene for part 2 in October 2024. Even if this assembly turns out to be a disappointment for some, the experience of what it means to be a synodal Church has been a conversion experience for me. I feel so privileged to facilitate and listen to the constant wrestling of God’s will, the richness of the universal Church, the deep appreciation of history and tradition, and the saints and martyrs who have given their life for the sake of the faith, truth and love.
I believe the Holy Spirit is gently guiding the synod participants. We are listening. We are journeying together, and “it’s good for us to be here”, Mathew 7:4.
Fr Asaeli Rass SVD,
This is a slightly abridged version of an article published in In the Word, the e-publication of the Divine Word Missionaries Australia Province.