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So I Send You: all synodal missionaries

Pope Francis’ three-year consultation on the future of the Catholic Church concluded on October 26, outlining the challenges and proposing ways for all the baptised to be involved in mapping the path ahead.  Part five of the Final Document “So I Send You”, “allows us to look at the first step to be taken: caring for the formation of all, of the People of God, all synodal missionaries”.

The 51-page Final Document was approved and published after three years of tens of thousands of listening sessions, continental assemblies and two major summits in Rome. It stops short of proposing certain dramatic changes — such as the restoration of the female diaconate or greater recognition of LGBTQ Catholics — that many reform groups have sought during the multiyear project known as the Synod on Synodality.  But neither does it close the door on such possibilities. The synod’s document notes that access to the diaconate for women “remains open” and calls for a church that does not exclude people because of their “marital situation, identity or sexuality.”

The document, was produced by some 400 delegates from around the world, with each paragraph (155 in total)  voted on by those present.

Pope Francis said that he hoped the document would be a “gift to the people of God.” He said that he did not intend to publish an apostolic exhortation, a magisterial document that is typically published at the conclusion of the synod offering the pope’s own reflections.

The pope also noted the work of the special study groups on some of the most contentious issues that surfaced throughout the three-year process. Their work is expected to continue through to June 2025.

The synodal church, the pope said, now needs its words “to be accompanied by action.” 

Women’s ministerial and leadership roles in the church

Looming large over the synod process since it began in 2021 has been women’s ministerial and leadership roles in the church. While the pope has said the proposal to restore the female diaconate is not yet “mature” and needs further consideration, the final document declares that the issue is an open question. “This discernment needs to continue,” it states.

At an October 26 press conference following the synod’s final vote, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich emphasised that the pope’s immediate publication of the document means that Francis has made the synod’s proposals “his own,” including to keep open the question of women deacons.

“The Holy Father has not said women will be ordained deacons. He has not said women will not be ordained deacons,” said Hollerich, one of the synod’s lead organizers. “This is not a decision for, it’s not a decision against.”

The final document goes on to note that “women continue to encounter obstacles in obtaining a fuller recognition…in all the various areas of the church’s life.” It requests full implementation of all leadership opportunities granted to women under canon law that are currently under-explored.

The text goes on to envision a broader reliance on lay-led ministries within the church and a greater voice for the laity in choosing bishops. In a synodal church, the document states, the ministries of bishops and priests are marked by broad collaboration and greater co-responsibility with their flock, included within seminary formation and serving as judges in canonical processes.

Among other proposals in the synod’s final text:

  • Consultation from Roman dicasteries with bishops’ conferences and other relevant parties prior to the publication of major documents;
  • More collaboration among members of the College of Cardinals — the elite body responsible for advising the pope on church governance — in order for the diverse group to better know one another;
  • Creation of a new synodal study group to examine how liturgical celebrations can offer a better expression of synodality;
  • Establishment of a council of patriarchs, major archbishops and metropolitans of Eastern Catholic Churches to advise the pope; and
  • More formation and training for those working with minors and vulnerable adults to improve the church’s safeguarding efforts.

Surrounded by the summit’s global delegates, Francis encouraged the church to be attentive to “the challenges of our time, the urgency of evangelisation and the many wounds that afflict humanity.”

“A sedentary church, that inadvertently withdraws from life and confines itself to the margins of reality, is a church that risks remaining blind and becoming comfortable with its own unease,” said the pope. “If we remain stuck in our blindness, we will continuously fail to grasp the urgency of giving a pastoral response to the many problems of our world.”

As he officially brought the three-year synod process to its end, Francis declared that it is now time for the church to “get its hands dirty” and “carry the joy of the Gospel through the streets of the world.”

The Synod is a process

“Everyday Catholics with time will see a Church where they count, where they are important, where their talents, their gifts, their life experience, are important because they belong to the people of the baptised.”

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Relator of the Synod, expressed this to Vatican Media on this final day of the Synod on Synodality, as he discussed the impact of this gathering.

The Synod started in 2021, and in fact, the Synod of Bishops of 2023 and 2024 were just the celebration phase of that process. Now, we give the discernment to the Holy Father who has to continue it, and the Holy Father has given it, in a certain sense of the whole Church, to the local communities. So the process continues even if this 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is finished.

Catholics will see with time a Church where they count, where they are important, where their talents, their gifts, their life experience, are important because they belong to the people of the baptised. They belong to the holy people of God, and by their baptism and confirmation, they have received a mission. And this mission, we fulfill together as a Church, local community, small community, parish, diocese, and beyond.

As Fr. James Martin, SJ said in a brief video at the conclusion of the Synod: ” … the Synodal way of working is as much part of the Church now as Social Justice is”. (Fr. James Martin SJ in video).

The Final Document, was adopted and published after each of its 155 paragraphs were approved.  With the additional important novelty, that it will not become the basis of an Exhortation by the Pope, but was released immediately in order to inspire the life of the Church.

“The synodal process does not conclude with the end of the current Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, but it also includes the implementation phase” (9), involving all in the “daily journey with a synodal methodology of consultation and discernment, identifying concrete ways and formation pathways to bring about a tangible synodal conversion in the various ecclesial contexts” (9).

It is precisely the local Churches that are at the centre in the missionary horizon, which is the foundation of the experience of plurality of synodality, with all the structures at the service of mission, with the laity increasingly fulfilling their role as subjects, or protagonists, of the process.

The structure of the Final Document

The Final Document comprises five parts, rooted in the Gospel accounts of the Resurrected Jesus appearing to the Apostles.

The first identifies “The Heart of Synodality”. The second part, “On the Boat, Together”, is dedicated “to the conversion of the relationships that build the Christian community and shape the mission in the intertwining of vocations, charisms and ministries”; while the third, “Cast the Net”, “identifies three practices that are intimately connected: ecclesial discernment, decision-making processes, and a culture of transparency, accountability and evaluation”.

The fourth part, “An Abundant Catch”, “outlines how it is possible to cultivate in new forms the exchange of gifts and the intertwining of the bonds that unite us in the Church, at a time when the experience of being rooted in a place is changing profoundly”; with the fifth, “So I Send You”, “allows us to look at the first step to be taken: caring for the formation of all, of the People of God, all synodal missionaries”.

The introduction of the Document (1-12) immediately clarifies the essence of the Synod as “a renewed experience of the disciples’ encounter with the Risen One in the Upper Room on Easter evening”. “Contemplating the Risen One”, the Document continues, “we have seen the mark of His Wounds (…) that continue to bleed in the bodies of many brothers and sisters, including through our own faults. Looking upon the Lord does not distance us from the tragedies of history. Instead, it opens our eyes to the suffering of those around us and penetrates us …”.

The synodal way is markedly ecumenical, oriented towards “a full and visible unity of Christians” (4) – and “constitutes an authentic further act of reception of the [Second Vatican] Council, thus deepening its inspiration and reinvigorating its prophetic force for today’s world” (5).

It was not easy, the Document recognises: “We cannot deny that we have faced fatigue, resistance to change, and the temptation to let our own ideas prevail over listening to the Gospel and the practice of discernment” (6)

“In simple and concise terms, synodality is a path of spiritual renewal and structural reform that enables the Church to be more participatory and missionary, so that it can walk with every man and woman, radiating the light of Christ” (28).

Recognising that the unity of the Church does not mean uniformity, “the appreciation of contexts, cultures and diversities, and of the relationships between them, is key to growing as a missionary synodal Church” (40). And with the revival of relations with other religious traditions, the Church strives “together with them to build a better world” (41).

The second part of the Document (49-77) opens with the recognition of “the call for a Church with a greater capacity to nurture relationships: with the Lord, between men and women, in the family, in the local community, among social groups and religions, with the earth itself” (50).

“To be a synodal Church, we are required to open ourselves to a genuine relational conversion that redirects each person’s priorities and we must once again learn from the Gospel that attending to relationships is not merely a strategy or a tool for greater organisational effectiveness. Relationships and bonds are the means by which God the Father has revealed Himself in Jesus and the Spirit” (ibid.).

The final document goes on to acknowledge “the widely expressed pain and suffering on the part of many women from every region and continent, both lay and consecrated, during the synodal process”, which “reveal how often we fail to live up to this vision” (52).

Ministries for Mission

“Charisms, Vocations, and Ministries for Mission” (57-67) lie at the heart of the document, which focuses especially on a greater participation of lay men and women. The ordained ministry is “at the service of harmony” (68); and the ministry of the bishop aims at “discerning and bringing together in unity” the gifts of the Holy Spirit (69-71).

The Document notes, “practised with humility, the synodal style enables the Church to be a prophetic voice in today’s world.”

The conversion of processes

In the third part of the Document (79-108), the Synod notes that “in prayer and dialogue, we have recognised that ecclesial discernment, the care for decision-making processes, the commitment to accountability and the evaluation of our decisions are practices through which we respond to the Word that shows us the paths of mission” (79).

The Conversion of Bonds

The essence of the fourth part of the Final Document (109-139) is expressed in its first paragraph: “In a time when there is great change occurring in the places where the Church is rooted and on pilgrimage, we need to cultivate new forms of the exchange of gifts and the network of bonds that unite us. In this we are sustained by the ministry of the bishops in communion amongst themselves and with the Bishop of Rome” (109).

The expression “Firmly Rooted yet Pilgrims” (110-119) recalls that “The Church cannot be understood apart from its roots in a specific territory, in that space and time where a shared experience of encounter with the saving God occurs” (110).

This part of the Document also gives due consideration to the phenomena of “population mobility” (112) and “the spread of digital culture” (113).

Forming a People for Missionary Discipleship

“The Holy People of God require proper formation so that they can witness to the joy of the Gospel and grow in the practice of synodality: first of all, in the freedom of sons and daughters of God in following Jesus Christ, contemplated in prayer and recognised in those who are poor” (141), the Document affirms at the beginning of the fifth part (140-151).

“One of the requests that emerged most strongly and from all contexts during the synodal process is that the formation provided by the Christian community be integral and continuing” (143). In this regard, too, we see the urgent need for “an exchange of gifts between different vocations (communion), in the perspective of a service to be performed (mission) and in a style of involvement and education in differentiated co-responsibility (participation)” (147).

“Another area of great importance is the promotion in all ecclesial contexts of a culture of safeguarding, making communities ever safer places for minors and vulnerable persons” (150).

Finally, “The themes of the Church’s social doctrine, such as commitment to peace and justice, care for our common home and intercultural and interreligious dialogue, must also be more widely shared among the People of God” (151).

Entrustment to Mary

“Living through the synodal process again, we have become aware that the salvation to be received and proclaimed is inherently relational”, the Document says in its penultimate paragraph:

“We live it and witness to it together. History reveals itself to us tragically marked by war, rivalry for power, and thousands of injustices and abuses. We know, however, that the Spirit has placed the desire for authentic relationships and true bonds in the heart of every human being. Creation itself speaks of unity and sharing, of diversity and of variously interconnected forms of life” (154).

The text concludes with a prayer entrusting “the results of this Synod to the Virgin Mary”. “May she… teach us to be a people of disciples and missionaries together, to be a synodal Church” (155).

We entrust the results of this Synod to the Virgin Mary, who bears the splendid title of Odigitria, she who shows and guides the way. May she, Mother of the Church, who in the Upper Room helped the newly formed community of disciples to open themselves to the novelty of Pentecost, teach us to be a people of disciples and missionaries walking together, to be a synodal Church. #155

The full text of the Final Document, in Italian, can be found here, along with the results of the voting on each paragraph.

The following articles and resource links have been used to compile this framework document on the Final Document of Synod (26 October 2024):

from www.ncronline.org: calling all baptised catholics to shape the future church

from www.vaticannews.va/cardinal-grech-and-cardinal-hollerich-reflect-on-synod

from www.vaticannews.va/synodality-a-conversion-aimed-at-becoming-more-missionary

from www.catholicbishops.ie/bishops-brendan-leahy-and-alan-mcguckian-welcome-new-synod-document

See also https://presentationsistersne.ie/a-synodal-church-on-mission/

PDF of Final Document ENG-final-document-Synod-2021-24

Final Document from the Universal Synod Published

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