Synodality takes time, members say, and tension is natural part of it

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Three weeks into the second session of the Synod of Bishops, journalists wanted to know what outcomes the synod members were moving toward, but several synod members said it is too soon to tell.

The 2021-2024 process for the synod on synodality “is preparing us to be women and men capable of listening to others who think differently, who see things in a different way,” Canadian Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix of Québec told reporters Oct. 17.

“If we continue as the people of God, as a church, to work in this direction, I think we will give the world a witness that it is possible to listen to each other and to make good judgments, to make good choices,” the cardinal said at the synod’s daily briefing for journalists.

But asked about the synod’s thinking on specific topics — ranging from whether parish pastoral councils should be mandatory rather than simply encouraged or whether bishops’ conferences should have greater authority in making decisions about liturgical translations — he and the other synod participants said the process has not finished yet.

Cardinal Lacroix told the reporters that some of the issues being discussed, including the power of bishops’ conferences, have created tension in the synod hall, “and this is good” because it is a sign of life, and a sign of the variety of cultures and experiences represented by the synod members.

“We can’t just debate and decide, we have to reflect,” the cardinal said.

Bishop Pedro Cipolini of Santo André, Brazil, told reporters, “Sometimes ideas need time to mature. The church’s challenge isn’t to respond to all questions but to be faithful and respond to the Holy Spirit.”

But one thing is clear, the bishop said, the synod recognizes that “changes are necessary in the face of everything that has been treated in the synod. Some things must change.”

“In ecclesial language, in biblical language, the word ‘change’ translates as conversion,” and that is a process that takes time.

The bishop said he saw three areas where synod members agree there must be change or conversion: a pastoral conversion that recognizes it is no longer enough to evangelize within the walls of the parish, but the church must reach out, including digitally; “structural conversion,” in the way parishes, dioceses, bishops’ conferences or even the Roman Curia are organized, “and this is more challenging”; and conversion to a “synodal spirituality,” that is focused on Jesus and on concretely witnessing to him in daily life.

“It is necessary to learn to give thanks for old things that have already fulfilled their function, and to welcome the new that the Holy Spirit is indicating at every moment in this world,” the bishop said.

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