• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, delivers his homily during Mass with synod participants at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Oct. 21, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Cardinal calls for communion, continued action as synod nears end

October 21, 2024
By Justin McLellan
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: News, Synodality, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As members of the Synod of Bishops entered the last week of their meeting in Rome, the synod’s secretary-general urged them to resist the temptation of “covetousness” — the desire “to keep everything for ourselves, to possess, to hoard, to define, to close.”

“We must overcome the temptation to believe that the fruits we have harvested are our work and our possession: we must receive everything as a gift from God,” Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Secretariat of the Synod, said in his homily during a votive Mass for the Holy Spirit.

Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, delivers his homily during Mass with synod participants at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Oct. 21, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

The Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Oct. 21 marked the beginning of the synod’s last week of work at the Vatican, a week that was to be dedicated to discussing and amending a final document before putting it to a vote Oct. 26.

Reflecting on the Gospel reading from St. Luke, in which Jesus tells the parable of a man who decides to build larger storehouses after a bountiful harvest, the cardinal drew a parallel to the synod’s work. “We too, faced with the abundant fruits of the synodal journey, might ask ourselves the same question: What to do now?” he said.

Cardinal Grech said that the synodal process has allowed the church to “see the gifts that are flourishing in the people of God today, without hiding our frailties and wounds.”

But “we too could run the risk of doing as this man did, of hoarding what we have collected, the gifts of God that we have discovered, without reinvesting them, without living them as gifts received that we must now give back to the church and the world,” he said. “We too can run the risk of living off our earnings. But the understanding of truths and pastoral choices goes on, consolidates with the years, develops with time, deepens with age.”

The cardinal told delegates, “If we listen to the voice of the Spirit, the conclusion of this synodal assembly will not be the end of something, but a new beginning, so that the Word of God may spread and be glorified.”

Dressed in red vestments symbolizing both martyrdom and the Holy Spirit, Cardinal Grech also highlighted another scene from the Gospel reading in which Jesus is asked how to divide an inheritance among brothers. Jesus “refuses to divide, but invites us to seek communion, since he identifies greed and the pursuit of possession as the root of division,” the cardinal said.

“Jesus rejects all logic of partisanship and division in the search for communion among brothers and sisters,” he said, urging synod delegates to “prepare ourselves in these days to reap the fruits of our synodal journey and of our assembly without dividing ourselves, but seeking communion.”

In the first three weeks of the assembly, synod delegates explored themes of synodality articulated in the session’s working document: the foundations of a synodal church, relationships within the church, pathways for decision-making and the places where people experience the church in their daily lives.

Read More Synodality

Synod office provides guidelines to help local churches, bishops implement synodality

With pope’s support, Vatican to publish document on synod’s final phase

Synods and synodality: Pope Francis’ method, vision for church

Pope approves next phase of synod, setting path to 2028 assembly

Ahead of U.S. Franciscans’ synod, friars say ‘communal discernment’ long-held tradition for order

India’s Syro-Malabar Catholic Church begins synod amid liturgy row

Copyright © 2024 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Justin McLellan

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Hope rises from ashes for St. Rita parishioners

  • Archbishop Lori and Supreme Knight Kelly meet with Pope Leo

  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

  • ‘Big Boss’ begins first day visiting Catholic Charities programs

  • Jurassic World Rebirth Movie Review: Jurassic World Rebirth

| Latest Local News |

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

Archbishop Lori and Supreme Knight Kelly meet with Pope Leo

| Latest World News |

Pope prays for conversion of those resisting climate action at new Mass

Planned Parenthood

Judge blocks, for now, Planned Parenthood defunding provision backed by bishops

school choice

ANALYSIS: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ gives school-choice advocates partial victory with more to do

Notre Dame prepares to reopen towers’ tour with return of famed statues of saints to rooftop

Castel Gandolfo

After 12 years, locals welcome pope back to his summer home

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Pope prays for conversion of those resisting climate action at new Mass
  • Judge blocks, for now, Planned Parenthood defunding provision backed by bishops
  • ANALYSIS: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ gives school-choice advocates partial victory with more to do
  • Notre Dame prepares to reopen towers’ tour with return of famed statues of saints to rooftop
  • After 12 years, locals welcome pope back to his summer home
  • Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students
  • Synod office provides guidelines to help local churches, bishops implement synodality
  • Catholic Church holds firm on not taking stand on political candidates, despite possible IRS shift
  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en