On June 20, 2023, the Vatican published the Instrumentum Laboris (or working document) for the first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which will take place in Rome in October this year. It is a document for the discernment of the participants in the October Assembly and is also offered to local parishes and dioceses for their own prayer and discernment.
In March 2020, Pope Francis announced that the theme for the Synod would be “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission”. Pope Francis opened the Synod of Bishops on Synodality in October 2021 with listening phases at the local church level in different countries inviting all Catholics to take part in the diocesan consultation process to promote a sense of communion and journeying together. Here in Australia, over 222,000 individuals participated in the four year journey of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia (May 2018 - July 2022) through prayer, reflection, conversation, consultation and discernment by considering: What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time? For the first time in the history of synods in the Church, Pope Francis has given women the right to vote at a synod and has made a radical change to the membership of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality. At the upcoming Synod, about 20 percent of the members with a right to vote will not be bishops. These members will include consecrated women and men as well as lay women and men.
The Instrumentum Laboris points out that “a synodal Church is a Church that listens and a Church of listening: it is a listening to the Spirit through listening to the Word and listening to each other as individuals and among ecclesial communities.” It is a Church that “desires to be humble, and knows it has much to learn and acknowledges the mistakes she has made.” A synodal Church is a Church of “encounter and dialogue with other Christian confessions, with believers of other religions, and with the cultures and societies in which the Church is embedded.” It is a Church that is ‘’open, welcoming and embraces all.” “The radical call is to build together, synodally, an attractive and concrete Church: an outgoing Church, in which all feel welcome.” The three key words of the Synod: communion, mission, participation call into question the way Dioceses plan as well as the daily choices and lifestyle of each member of the People of God. It is a huge challenge in our multicultural faith communities to be a sign and instrument of union with God and to live unity in diversity.
From my lived experience in Taiwan, it was difficult for the small Taiwanese Catholic communities to welcome the large number of Filipino and Vietnamese Catholic migrant workers who flocked to the churches every Sunday. At the Hsinchu Cathedral where I worked there were three Chinese, three English and one Vietnamese Mass every weekend. Initially, there was no representative from the Filipino and Vietnamese communities on the Parish Pastoral Council. There was diversity in the community but no unity. At the Hsinchu Diocesan Synod in 2010, I proposed that in every parish where there are many Filipino and Vietnamese Catholics there should be a representative from each of these communities on the Parish Pastoral Council. This proposal was affirmed at the Synod and after a few months implemented at the Cathedral parish. Gradually we became a communion that radiated unity in diversity, and everyone felt welcomed to participate in the building up of one Catholic faith community.
On one occasion, a few Indonesian migrant workers came to me asking if they could use a church facility to celebrate Ramadan. I met with the local Taiwanese Bishop John Baptist Lee, and he immediately offered the use of the diocesan hall. On the day of the celebration, Bishop Lee, in giving witness to a missionary synodal church, welcomed the Indonesian Imam and the hundreds of Indonesian migrant workers. “Mission is not the marketing of a religious product, but the construction of a community in which relationships are a manifestation of God’s love and therefore whose very life becomes a proclamation.” Let us pray for Pope Francis and the members of the Synod as they listen to the Spirit who is the true protagonist of a synodal Church.
Fr Peter O'Neill
Regional Director of Oceania
directoroceania@columban.org.au
Listen to "From the Director - Synod of Bishops on Synodality"
<
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - August 2023
