The good cardinal gave a very, very, very long and wordy talk about synodlaity recently you can read it HERE by way of Mike Lewis and the Where Peter Is blog.
Cardinal Fernandez highlights first the several fears that orthodox Catholics have about synodlaity and the heterodox highjacking the process to promote heterodoxy by changing the morals and doctrines of the Church. He highlights that yes there are groups or individuals trying to do that but they don’t understand synodality.
He refers to the Eastern Church’s version of synodality as a model for the West. I would suggest that is the way to go because what’s happening now ain’t how the east does it. The east wants orthodoxy whereas so many in the Church of the west want liberal Protestantism heterodoxy.
I think too, we in the USA have been practicing synodality since Vatican II. But we didn’t call it synodality. Most parishes in the USA have canonically mandated Finance Councils. Most have pastoral councils and committees galore to help the parish do this, that and the other.
Most Catholic parishes in this country have hired lay men and women for both administrative and pastoral purposes. Most parishes in the USA have more women involved in formal ministries than men and more paid women than men. Most Catholic parishes elementary schools are run by lay principals and teachers, the majority are women. The same for CCD or Religious Education programs.
Most youth ministers are laymen and women. And the laity in parishes are quite active not only in liturgical ministries but other ministries like helping the poor by feeding, clothing and offering shelters for the homeless at night or during the day.
Most parishes have active pro-life ministries organized and run by the laity.
On diocesan levels the same is true. Most pastoral centers, i.e. chanceries are staffed by more lay women than clergy and bishops have various consultative bodies.
In other words, the USA is doing synodality. We do it not to change morals or doctrines but to save souls. Sometimes we spend way too much time in meetings and the laity spend too much time in churchy things to the neglect to their spouses and children.
That’s the dark side but there is a side of light too.
17 comments:
Instead of sticking with this money wasting project, the Holy See should be heading the words of this author about the Vatican's love affair with illegal immigration which is destroying Europe:
https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2025/09/will-leo-xiv-visit-lampedusa-grave.html
I'm just not sure how synodality on the Eastern models works within Roman Catholicism. I say that for a couple reasons: first, in Orthodoxy, a synod is the final authority because our ecclesiology is such that each Church is self-governing. Second and relatedly, that system is sustainable because, as you mentioned, synods aren't really resolving doctrinal disputes or, as unfortunately seems to be the case in Roman Catholicism, trying to push doctrine in a particular direction.
Obviously, since you have a universal bishop in whom you've vested absolute authority, the first aspect that makes synodality workable is either totally missing or largely absent. Instead, feeding into the second issue, you have factions trying to push whatever agenda in hopes of gaining the buy-in of the universal bishop.
So, it is difficult for the Roman Catholic Church to define what synodality means because it is not an inherent feature of your ecclesiology. That's not to say it's impossible to bring it about since your ecclesiology can obviously change; but, it seems like making an actual change to the system would be necessary before beginning the project. Ultimately, though, I'm not sure what the goal is from the Roman Catholic perspective.
Father McDonald,
If I had your email I would send this to you there. Again, Dem hypocrisy on steroids and the usual suspects here will continue to make their lame moral equivalency arguments, but this is a great read from Jonathan Turley:
https://jonathanturley.org/2025/09/13/when-words-no-longer-matter-nancy-pelosi-and-politics-of-violence/#more-235679
Most people, lay and clergy, are fed up with all the talk about synodality because it appears to be a way for some to manipulate the system for their own means and turn the Church from a hierarchy to a let’s hold hands and sing kumbaya. This language of walking together doesn’t capture my imagination in the least and I wonder how many others. As a Catholic before all this synodality talk and when Benedict XVI was pope, we walked together in our Liturgies celebrated by the book, either ancient or new. We walked together with what Christ teaches us in the Deposit of Faith. We walked together together trying to figure out how to teach a world that doesn’t like Humanae Vitae and the Scriptural underpinnings of all our sexual and pro-life teachings also found in natural law by trying to help people see the sense of all of this in a simple way. I find the Vatican doing this on a world stage a waste of time. I prefer the synod of bishops guided by the pope and orthodoxy doing it with some lay input and not voting. Just my two sense. I do think the Eastern Rite not in schism with the Church and thus respectful to the papacy has the right idea about synodality and we need their model.
I don’t think what you describe is synodity but lay involvement in ministries of charity and administration -or- if you like the practical implementation of synodity.
A synod is a council or assembly within a Christian church, originating from the Greek words for "together" and "way," symbolizing a collective journey or meeting. Synods are convened to address issues of doctrine, administration, and policy, and their composition can vary, from a meeting of bishops in some traditions to a representative governing body of clergy and lay members, as seen in the Church of England's General Synod. The term can also refer to the process of "journeying together" in a contemporary sense, as exemplified by the Catholic Church's recent Synodal Process launched by Pope Francis.
Purpose and Function
Decision-Making: Synods are often responsible for making decisions, approving legislation, and shaping the direction of a church.
Doctrine and Administration: They address matters of doctrine (though some bodies may be restricted from doing so, like the London Diocesan Synod), administration, and the practical application of church matters.
Representation: In churches with representative synods, they serve as an assembly of elected or appointed members, including both clergy and ordinary church members (laity).
Synodal Process: In a broader sense, a synod can be a process of listening, discernment, and dialogue, where a church community seeks to understand the will of the Spirit and grow together in communion.
Maybe the Eastern Catholic synodality would work. It's hard to understand their exact position since they profess communion with the rest of you while apparently not sharing your doctrine. The cynic in me thinks that is precisely the sort of thing that Roman Catholicism wants to promote in its goal of furthering the one world religion on the antichrist.
I’m also not sure the majority are fed up of synodity, although that might be your perception within the local context. Certainly the majority of cardinals at the conclave thought continuity with the project was a deal breaker and chose someone they felt would continue with the broad direction set by Francis.
What sonority means within a Catholic context is still vague and undefined which is why this synod is on sonority itself.
Synodity has a long precedent within the church but had fallen by the wayside in modern times. Indeed diocesan synods every decade or so are mandated in canon law.
The cynic in me thinks that is precisely the sort of thing that Roman Catholicism wants to promote in its goal of furthering the one world religion on the antichrist.
Utter tosh!
I have been a priest 45 years and my diocese has never had a synod meeting. Where in canon law is that?
Structural reform sounds dangerous. Like my brother-in-law tinkering with the plumbing.
Not a fan of Dostoevsky, I gather.
Or like the changes of the 1960s, which yet another bishop (Eleganti, this time) has pointed out went disastrously. (Brace yourselves for another MT quote-rant about vile venom schism trads etc. etc.)
Nick
I’m not certain but I read it somewhere.
https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/synodality-is-antidote-to-polarisation-says-pope-leo-xiv/
Many in the church prefer to blame the world for its problems rather than to undergo a thorough self-examination. Secularism, consumerism, liberalism, anticlericalism, capitalism and other "isms" are easy explanations for the church's failures.
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/why-synod-synodality-confusing-american-catholics
Yes, do cite the "Catholic" publication that has twice rejected the directives of the bishop in whose jurisdiction they operate.
And an article by a priest who has explicitly stated that he rejects the doctrine of transubstantiation despite the Council of Trent defining it sometime ago.
Nick
Robert William Finn (born April 2, 1953) is an American bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph from 2005 until his forced resignation in 2015.
Finn is the only American bishop to be convicted of failure to report a priest suspected of child sex abuse to government authorities.
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