LWF Assistant General Secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Dirk Lange. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
Reflections after the first week of the 2024 Synod of Bishops
The Synod on Synodality, convened by Pope Francis in 2021, began its final Session this past week. “For a synodal church: communion, participation, mission” has entailed listening to voices from around the Roman Catholic world and beyond. First, listening to the local church (dioceses and ecumenical partners), then listening to continental (or we might say “regional”) bishops’ conferences. The fruits of these two years’ work were brought to the table last year at the First Session for discussion by bishops from around the world, ecumenical participants, theologians and special guests.
This First Session indicated major questions that then were compiled into a text, known by its Latin name ‘Instrumentum Laboris’. We are now listening deeply to one another, discerning what the Spirit says to the church based on themes developed in the ‘Instrumentum’.
The process is unique. It is not a “democratic” process, that is, trying to get a majority on this or that issue, but it is a “conversation in the Spirit.” We are seated at round tables. There are 10-12 participants at each table. Pope Francis himself sits at one such table. We begin in prayer and then everyone shares for no more than three minutes on the theme of that particular day.
This is followed by silent prayer and then a second round of conversation in which each person shares what resonated for them, what they heard from others. After this, there is prayer again and then a general discussion leading to a brief report of the conversation. These reports are gathered, summarized by another group, and then shared back with the plenary for more conversation. By the end of four weeks, we will have discussed the entire ‘Instrumentum Laboris’.
Listening and discerning is a risky process. It is closely linked to and supported by prayer, so that the Holy Spirit can break down barriers behind which we too often hide. It requires honest speech (or as Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes it in Life Together, “genuine speech”). It is rooted in Ignatian spirituality, which comes as no surprise since Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope.
The process is also unique because participants are not only Catholic bishops (despite the title “Synod of Bishops”). Lay persons, women, and youth are participating with voice and vote. Ecumenical participation has also been invited, not simply as “observers” but as “fraternal delegates”, fully integrated into the table discussions, with voice though not vote. We share meals, we pray together, we discuss and explore with an eucharistic imagination: that all are gathered around one table, very much as we see depicted in the Lund Cross and the Joint Commemoration of the Reformation.
The Second Session began with a Vigil of Repentance on Tuesday evening, 1 October. It was a profound moment for participants as we heard testimonies of survivors of abuse and the confession of church leaders. In the midst of the powerful vision of Isaiah, quoted at the beginning of the Instrumentum Laboris (Isaiah 25:6-8), we are reminded of our own brokenness and failing and of God’s infinite mercy. At the heart of trust is a shared forgiveness.
The key question for the Synod is how to be a missionary synodal church. This requires deep reflection on what synodality has to say for the life and mission of the church. A synodal church is one that, first and foremost. confesses the gospel that we are liberated by grace. Justified by faith alone, we are liberated to engage with the world (unhindered by personal agendas and ambition), to proclaim the immeasurable goodness and mercy of God, and to serve our neighbors together. When synodality is joyfully confessing the gospel, our understanding of mission becomes discerning the gospel in every context, discerning God’s ongoing “mission” in every time and place.
In this sense, mission implies a process of transformation. It means not only giving or sharing something with others, but also being vulnerable and taking the risk of being transformed by others. The hope is that this Synod will open the door to a fuller participation of all people in discernment and decision-making, recognizing God’s presence in each other and allowing us all to be transformed by the Holy Spirit.
