What can change from the Synod?
Plus: Israel declares a defensive war on Hamas
Good morning and happy Saturday everyone. Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. Our Lady of the Rosary provided significant help to Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto. The Catholic News Agency has a great summary of the story.
This week:
Sunday is the start of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time. The Sunday readings are Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalm 80:9, 12-16, 19-20, Philippians 4:6-9, and Matthew 21:33-43. Jesus shares a particularly difficult message in this Sunday’s Gospel: “I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” Many are anxious about the Synod on Sydnoality (my thoughts are below) and Carl E. Olson over at the Catholic World Report successfully tied our world events to this Sunday’s Gospel in a reflection called, “God is in charge of managment; I just work in sales.”
For those of you who pray the Liturgy of the Hours, we will be using Week III of the Psalter this week and in the Office of Readings, we’ll be reading St. Paul’s first letter to Timothy.
Monday, October 9th - Memorial of St. Denis and Companions (optional) or Memorial of St. John Leonardi (optional)
Wednesday, October 11th - Memorial of St. John XXIII (optional)*
Saturday, October 14th - Memorial of St. Callistus I (optional)
*St. John XXIII is not in the Proper of Saints in the current volumes of the Liturgy of the Hours. Use the Common of Pastors for the Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, and Evening Prayer.
In the news:
The Synod on Synodality
What to know about secrecy at the Synod on Synodality - National Catholic Register
And what to know about the other rules at the Synod - The Pillar
Rosary to be prayed in St. Peter’s Square every night during October - Vatican News
Opinion: The most important Catholic event since Vatican II? - First Things
Around the United States:
In your teens or twenties? Want to walk the Eucharistic pilgrimage in 2024?
Video - Pennsylvania voters disappointed about a Trump-Biden rematch - Meet the Press NOW
The winners and losers of a wild week in Congress - 538.com
For those who need some blue: USCCB Committee on Migration chair welcomes Biden administration’s efforts for refugee resettlement
Around the World:
More than 250 killed in surprise attack against Israel - The Times of Israel
Catholic lawyers in Liberia warn against “voter apathy” - ACI Africa
For those who need some red: What Pope Francis misses in Laudate Deum - Catholic World Report
80% of Italians say they’re Catholic but few go to church - Associated Press
Catholic convert wins Nobel Prize for Literature - Aletaia
Requiescat in pace:
Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, India’s first tribal cardinal, dead at 83 - Crux
Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Birmingham of Chicago dies at 51 - Crux
What could actually change as a result of the Synod on Synodality?
I participated in a young(er) adult group this week with my wife and some fellow parishioners and the primary topic of discussion was the Synod on Synodality. Undoubtedly, there are reports from the fringes saying that the Synod represents the end of the Church as we know it with glee or that it is the end of the Church as we know it with angst.
Simply put: it isn’t.
Pope Francis himself has warned people that synodality is not about making the Church into a parliament where we vote on issues and change our priorities. Catholics differ from the Southern Baptist Convention and the Church of England in this regard.
I can recall that Venerable Fulton Sheen said in one of his television programs that the Church government is more of a theocratic monarchy than anything else. Jesus Christ is the sovereign and his delegate, the Pope, carries out his will on Earth.
Back to the Synod. Those who believed secular publications (and one Catholic publication) this week that Pope Francis has opened the door to LGBTQ+ blessings or female ordinations are going to be disappointed. These are issues that have been asked and answered and even so in recent years.
This week on Kresta in the Afternoon, a radio program that I used to work on, Al Kresta and Dr. Matthew Bunson had a discussion about the opening of the Synod and the history of synods in the Church.
Many of you will likely remember the Synod on the Amazon several years ago and recall that radical changes were proposed to Pope Francis and almost none of them were adopted. In fact, the one that was, the ability to ordain holy married men as priests in regions that need ministers, has barely been used since its implementation.
Remember that when Pope Francis was elected pope he was very clear that he wanted to reach and hear from the peripheries of the Church. He wants to hear from people. He wants to hear from the gay man who doesn’t go to church anymore, he wants to hear from the tribal village in the Okavango Delta, he wants to hear from the Catholics unable to go to Mass in China.
Synodality can be understood as a way of listening to these people. Is it the most effective way? I don’t know. It may be the worst way except for all of the other ways available, to modify a quote from Winston Churchill.
I do want to point out that it is significant that there are a number of religious sisters and lay individuals participating and have voting authority in the Synod. Women in particular have had a massive impact on the Church from Mary Magdalene sharing the news that Christ was risen on Eastern Sunday, to Catherine of Siena convincing the papacy to move back to Rome, to Therese of Liseux reminding us about being simple. I am excited that there is active participation of women in the Synod.
So in the abstract, the Pope will be hearing from the peripheries. In reality, however, I understand people’s concerns and have some of my own. I have lived in four different Catholic dioceses since 2020 and only one of them invited me to participate in a survey or listening session in preparation for the Synod. None of them published how they sent their reports to the USCCB in Washington DC and I have no idea who is representing the United States in Rome at the synod. I just know it isn’t me.
This can understandably lead to a disconnect in the process. “If the pope isn’t listening to me, what’s the point?” At least the Pope is hopeful that what will be said will be said from the Holy Spirit and not personal agendas.
I’ll part this week with two closing thoughts. The Church thinks and moves in centuries, even if the rest of the world doesn’t. We are coming up on sixty years since the end of the Second Vatican Council. In the grand timeline of the Church’s history, that is not very long. We are still adjusting to the growing pains of working in the Church participating in the modern and post-modern worlds.
If synodality is the way forward, as Pope Francis believes, so be it as long as real listening takes place. From everyone. Not just listening to those working in the diocesan chancery and those who we want to hear from. Perhaps the synodal process will smooth out and be more effective in the decades and centuries to come.
Finally, I want to remind myself that building a better Church and a more evangelical Church begins with me and you. I know that there are things in my own life that I must change to better follow Jesus. I know there are things you must do too. One step up from that is building better local parishes and then better local dioceses. But it all starts with me and you.
This week we celebrate the feast of St. John XXIII who opened the Second Vatican Council, understanding that just like during the Council of Trent, the world was a very different place than it was one hundred years prior. Let’s pray for his intercession for the Synod, us, and the whole Church this week as we work to build a better Church home for us here on earth.
Let me know what you think in the comments or email me.
Matthew
This post was republished after a Substack glitch prevented updates and corrections.