Most Catholics had never heard the word “synodality” until a few years ago. Then the Holy Father started to use it often in his letters and homilies. He urged all of us baptised to take part in becoming more synodal. Why this change?
This kind of change has always been part of the Church. 60 years ago, the bishops of the world gathered in Rome, invited by Pope St John XXIII, for the Second Vatican Council. St Pope John wanted to “open the windows of the Church” to let in the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. Pope John knew the Church always needs to be renewed and revitalised. He asked the bishops to do this by looking back to the early Church and its traditions and by looking forward to find new ways of being Jesus’ followers suited to our times.
In response, the bishops used the term, “People of God” to speak about all the members of the Church, lay women and men, children, priests, bishop, even the Pope. All the baptised are the people of God and we are a pilgrim people, always travelling through this life, always on the way to our eternal home, engaging with all women and men, of all faiths and of no faith.
Now Pope Francis is inviting all of us in the Church to be renewed in our faith and in our mission. We know that our mission, as the Second Vatican Council told us, is to make God and Jesus Christ visible and present in our world. We need to reflect about how we can best do that now, in the 21st Century, here in Australia. Bishop Vincent is convening a Synod in October this year in the Diocese of Parramatta to reflect, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, on the needs of our people in Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains.
Pope Francis did not make up the word “synodality,” but he uses it because it means “walking together.” He does not mean just a casual walk in the park or even a longer trek through the bush. He is referring to the lifelong pilgrimage that the Church is making as the People of God. “Synodality” describes the kind of pilgrimage that this is: it is a prayerful way of walking together as baptised people. In synodality, we do not walk as isolated individuals, racing each other to the finish line. We travel as a community of people who are trying to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Synodality is about listening to each other, to people of other faiths, to our society and to creation to try and discern what God wants of us at this time.
When the apostles and first disciples gathered together in Jerusalem, as faithful Jews, they had to reflect together to work out (discern) how Jesus might have wanted them to carry on His mission. Our world today is very different from that world 2000 years ago. The challenges of our society are not the same as those in the first century – our resources are different, our history and way of life are different. So how we carry on Jesus’ mission today has to be different too.
And this is what synodality is about: it is about today’s Church coming together in community to listen to each other and to listen to the Holy Spirit guide us in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our world now.
Dr Anne Benjamin is a writer, educator and a parishioner of St Anthony of Padua Parish, Toongabbie. She is on the Writing Committee for the Diocesan Synod and is a former Executive Director of Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese (formerly Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta).
