Pray with the Pope: Let the Church’s Mission be Shared
Every month Fr Chris Chatteris SJ reflects on Pope Francis’ prayer intention
Intention: Let us pray that the Church continues to sustain a synodal lifestyle in every way, as a sign of co-responsibility, promoting the participation, communion and mission shared by priests, religious and laity.
Synodality and hierarchy — how to put the two together? That, I think, is the great challenge for the Catholic Church at this historic moment, as the 2021-24 Synod on Synodality holds its final session in Rome this month.
Unfortunately, we seem to be living through a revival of clericalism in the Catholic Church, which sharpens the challenge. The clericalist mentality naturally favours hierarchy over synodality — not that the two should be opposed to one another.
Hierarchy concentrates leadership within the priesthood, but this form of governance can be open to abuse if checks and balances are not put in place and the separation of powers is unclear.
Some might object that this is a far too political way of viewing the matter. Of course, we are dealing with structures that are infused by the Spirit of God, but these structures are made up of human beings and therefore they are subject to the shortcomings of the human condition. Hence the need for checks and balances through which the Spirit can work.
In contrast to hierarchy, synodality is defined as “journeying together as the people of God”. No mention of the priesthood or hierarchy there. Nor is there in the principle of synodality as a way of listening to each other, as members of the Church, to understand how God is speaking to all of us.
I wondered if the Holy Father’s intention for October isn’t a little over-optimistic when it uses the phrase “sustain a synodal lifestyle”. From anecdotal evidence, it seems that there are parts of the Church where synodality is yet to make much impression.
Already quietly synodal
And yet, and yet, there is a sense in which the Church has already quietly become synodal, for example when it comes to mission. I am constantly inspired and consoled at how mainstream and taken as normal is the weekly work of extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. When the ministers come up to receive the hosts which they are about to distribute to the sick of the parish, they will quietly tell the priest how many they need. The numbers are quite telling. One man recently asked me for nine!
This discreet yet indispensable work of ministering to the sick, the housebound and those in hospital is a powerful form of synodality in action, and a great tribute to those so selflessly involved.
There are other examples of synodality in action at parish level. You just have to look at the various organisations that comprise the parish community and note their impact and contribution. In many parishes in South Africa, organisations like the sodalities are the local church, and their indaba-like structures, with plenty of dialogue and discussion, are already synodal — and they cooperate happily with the hierarchy.
St Henry Newman put it amusingly to the priest who asked him what he thought of the laity: “Well,” the great 19th-century English cardinal said, “we clergy would look rather silly without them!”
Synodality is “a thing”, as people a fraction of my age say these days. What we need to do is to acknowledge it joyfully where it exists and encourage it prayerfully where it is still to flourish.
Published in the October 2024 issue of The Southern Cross magazine
- Pray with the Pope: Through the Eyes of a Child - January 9, 2025
- Pray with the Pope: Why Hope is for the Brave - December 15, 2024
- Pray with the Pope: The Tragedy of Losing a Child - November 6, 2024