Tensions were high inside the Vatican press room in October as Pope Francis’ high-stakes summit on the future of the church barreled toward its close, when a correspondent representing a right-wing website that had spent the month warning that the gathering was about to abandon long-standing church teaching took to the microphone.
The correspondent began his question to Dominican Fr. Timothy Radcliffe by referencing comments the priest had made some 20 years prior, asking if he stood by his assessment that it would be “unacceptable” if the Vatican banned the admission of homosexuals to the seminary.
For Radcliffe, such questions — even if complicated — can be clarifying.
And for nearly 50 years, both in his native England and traveling the world as the head of the Order of Preachers, Radcliffe — now 78 — has garnered a reputation as a spiritual authority, unafraid of asking the difficult questions and challenging underlying assumptions.
Looking ahead to the concluding session of the synod Oct. 2-27, Radcliffe believes the “synodal adventure will prove to be deeply transformative of the body of Christ.”
How the journey ends and what steps are next are unclear to the British Dominican, as they are for much of the church. But unexpectedly — though joyfully — Radcliffe has found himself at the heart of the adventure.
“At the heart of good synodality is that you actually give the other space to disagree with you, that you help them disagree with you,” he told me. “The role of prior is to help those who disagree with the majority to speak.”
But, he added: “I don’t think that’s a skill that many of us have in the church.”
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With thanks to National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Christopher White, where this article originally appeared.
