SYNOD ON SYNODALITY
• ELECTION OF CARDINAL JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO - Francis of Assisi, as the
266th Pope in 2013, stirred the Catholic Church .
• SPEECHES, ACTIONS, APOSTOLIC LETTERS AND ENCYCLICALS - New era in the Church
• SYNOD PROCESS - A unique initiative for the church’s renewal
THEME
For a Synodal Church: Communion,
Participation and Mission
ETYMOLOGY
• From Greek, ‘SUN’ means together.
• HODOS – Together
• A traveling, journeying, a manner or system, a way, road, path
UNDERSTANDING SYNODALITY
• A STYLE : Discernment and fraternity
• MODUS VIVENDI ET OPERANDI – A mode of living or way of life
• A vision and a practice
• A culture and a spirituality
• Reform of the structures
• The key role of leaders and protagonists
SYNODALITY IS ROOTED IN THE TRINITY
AND SOURCED IN THE EUCHARIST
The practice of synodality, traditional - renewed in the implementation,
in the history of the People of God on their journey, of the Church as a
mystery of communion, in the image of Trinitarian communion.
As you know, this theme is very close to my heart: synodality is a style, it
is walking together, and it is what the Lord expects of the Church in the
third millennium
Pope Francis, Address to members of the International Theological Commission, November 29 2019
A DYNAMIC AND SYSTEMIC VISION -
AN INTEGRAL ECCLESIOLOGY
• Relationship and community
• Listening and dialogue
• Participation and co-responsibility
• Reciprocity and circularity
• The enhancement of charisms
"Synodality is the secret of the links"
G. Costa, SJ, Special Secretary Youth Synod
SYNODALITY IS PASSING FROM THE “I”
TO THE “US”
SYNODALITY IS A PROCESS THAT
"ECCLESIALIZES" US
This stimulates the generation and implementation of
processes that build us as the People of God rather
than the search for immediate results with quick
consequences - Letter of Pope Francis to the Church in
Germany on the synod's journey
JESUS, MODEL OF SYNODALITY
• CV 29. “(…)Hence we can understand why, when Jesus returned from his
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, his parents readily thought that, as a twelve-year-old
boy (cf. Lk 2:42), he was wandering freely among the crowd, even though they
did not see him for an entire day: “supposing him to be in the group of travellers,
they went a day’s journey” (Lk 2:44). Surely, they assumed, Jesus was there,
mingling with the others, joking with other young people, listing to the adults
tell stories and sharing the joys and sorrows of the group.
• Indeed, the Greek word that Luke uses to describe the group
– synodía – clearly evokes a larger “community on journey” of which
the Holy Family is a part. Thanks to the trust of his parents, Jesus can
move freely and learn to journey with others.
PILGRIMS TOGETHER IN A
PILGRIMAGE CHURCH IN THIS LAND
• A "walk together" listening to the Spirit
• A path of spiritual and pastoral conversion
• An open path: accepting not to know in advance, not everything
can be foreseen or framed, remaining open to the unpredictability
and newness of the Holy Spirit.
• We are in a transition phase and a learning process of synodality.
KEY ATTITUDES FOR SYNODALITY
• Faith and trust in God
• Listening
• Humility
• Prayer
• Dialogue and sharing.
• Confidence in others
• Inner freedom
-> A spirituality of synodality
DISPOSITIONS FOR SYNODALITY
• Dialogue and sharing.
• Speaking with courage and frankness, integrating freedom,
truth and charity. Honesty and transparency
• And to the courage to speak must correspond the humility of
listening.
• Interiority and attention to the movements of the Spirit
• An act of faith for an ecclesial exercise in discernment
ON THE SYNODAL JOURNEY,
BECOMING A DISCERNING CHURCH
•A church on the move
•A church on pilgrimage
SYNODALITY IS A CALL OF GOD
• “The world in which we live, and which we are called to love and serve, even with
its contradictions, demands that the Church strengthen cooperation in all areas of her
mission. It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of
the third millennium .”
Pope Francis
Address at the Ceremony Commemorating the 50th Anniversary
of the Institution of the Synod of Bishops, October 17 2015
TOWARDS A SYNODAL CHURCH
A SYNOD 2021-2023 TO FOSTER
SYNODALITY
• Indeed, Synodality refers to the very essence of the Church, her constitutive
reality, and is thus oriented towards evangelization. (…)
• It is an ecclesial way of being and a prophetic example for today's
world. Since this is a unity in plurality in the power of the Spirit, the
Church is called to open new paths whilst embarking on that same journey.
BECOMING A SYNOD
• SYNODALITY - Being Church is being a community that walks together. It is not
enough to have a synod, we must be a synod. The Church needs intense internal
sharing: a living dialogue between the Pastors and between the Pastors and the
faithful.
• Three aspects revive synodality
• First of all: listening
• A second aspect: co-responsibility
• Third aspect – Synodality also means involvement of the laity: as full
members of the Church, they too are called to express themselves, to give
suggestions
PHASES OF THE SYNOD ASSEMBLY
Each Synod Assembly unfolds in a series of
phases:
1. the preparatory phase
2. the discussion phase
3. and the implementation phase.
PURPOSE OF THE SYNOD :WALKING TOGETHER
• By walking together, and together reflecting on the path travelled -
Synodal processes can help it to live in communion, to achieve
participation, to be open to mission.
• A walk together to implement and manifest the nature of the
Church as the People of God on a journey, a sign and instrument
"of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human
race" (LG1), in solidarity with whom she walks.
POPE FRANCIS AS A ROLE MODEL OF « SERVANT
LEADERSHIP » FOR A SYNODAL CHURCH
• AVAILIBILITY
• CLOSENESS
• TENDERNESS
• CONFIDENCE
• MUTUALITY
FROM A CLERICAL CHURCH TO A
SYNODAL CHURCH
• A relational church
• An inclusive church
• A dialogal church
• A discerning church
• A generative church
• A pluricultural church
Communion - participation – mission
Protagonism – co-responsibility - Discernment
SYNODALITY AS AN ART
The art of the mosaïc - A poetic vision of synodality
