Media attention may have moved on, but the Synod on Synodality is still moving forward. After its first general assembly in October 2023, which for the first time in history included lay and religious participants with voting rights in addition to Catholic bishops, the General Secretariat of the Synod issued guidelines for local churches to prepare for the second and final assembly to be held in Rome in October 2024. As the church readies a new round of global consultations, America heard from three Brazilian synod participants about their experiences and expectations going forward.
Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner: The synod treats “all as disciples, all as missionaries...every baptized person receives the grace of following and proclaiming the Gospel.”
Among the main concerns they mentioned were the role and ministries of the laity, especially of women; the potential contribution of the church to ecological issues in light of the encyclical “Laudato Si’”; and “spiritual conversation,” a method of discernment that was adopted to structure discussions during the first assembly that could become a major legacy of the synod.
Sônia Gomes de Oliveira, president of the National Council of the Laity in Brazil, had been chosen by the country’s bishops to be a member of the synod. Although she left the first meeting in Rome extremely satisfied, she said, there is still a need to “strengthen the ecclesiology of the church as the people of God,” something that “is still not widely understood in many countries.”
According to the synthesis report, published at the end of the first general assembly, the church is both “Mystery and People of God, called to holiness,” as affirmed at the Second Vatican Council. Among other things, this means that all members have equal dignity, conferred through baptism, but manifest their gifts and charisms in different ways and, concretely, in a variety of ministries.
Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, O.F.M., archbishop of Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon, one of the five bishops elected by Brazil’s bishops’ conference for the October 2023 assembly, noted that the synod treats “all as disciples, all as missionaries.” This, he said, “is the acceptance that every baptized person receives the grace of following and proclaiming the Gospel.”
“Everyone, as a church, lives and proclaims the Kingdom of God, as ‘Lumen Gentium’ tells us,” he said. Cardinal Steiner also made reference to Pope Francis’ intervention at the 18th session of the synod, reflecting on the concept of the “church as people of God.”
Both the laity and the clergy should be trained to understand that “lay people are not just collaborators or servants of ordained ministers.” Instead, they are co-responsible for the mission.
“I like to think of the church as the simple and humble people who walk in the presence of the Lord—the faithful people of God,” the pope said on that occasion. “Either the church is the faithful people of God on a journey, saints and sinners, or she ends up being a business offering a variety of services. And when pastoral ministers take this second path, the church becomes a supermarket of salvation, and priests, mere employees of a multinational company.”
The role of the laity (including women)
According to Ms. Oliveira, the discussion of the meaning of “church as people of God” needs to mature, and both the laity and the clergy should be trained to understand that “lay people are not just collaborators or servants of ordained ministers.” Instead, they are co-responsible for the mission.
“Clericalism is still very strong in many places, even among the laity. And when we talk about offering greater formation, we talk much more about the formation of priests, even in terms of mobilizing more resources for their formation, and not so much for the laity,” she said. “We need to think about lay leadership, too. It still feels like some are trying to lull us to sleep.”
In this sense, she is “very happy” that the topic of women’s participation in the church has been a central theme in the reflections so far. But “we are still invisible,” she said. “We, women, do a lot in the church, but we have little say in decisions.”
Ms. Oliveira believes that the issue cannot be dismissed out of hand. On the contrary, she hopes that this debate will be seen as essential to understanding what the church’s mission is and how women are called to be co-responsible.
Spiritual conversation “has been the great treasure that this synodal process is leading the church to rediscover. It is not something new, but something that the great fathers, mystics and saints of our church have always taught.”
“It’s not a power struggle, it’s not a demand, it goes much further,” Ms. Oliveira said. “It’s not just about discussing ordaining us as deaconesses or giving us new ministries. Women already do a lot in their communities.
“The problem is that they are not included in the decision-making and governing processes,” she said. “Men need to see us as a living force, not as a workforce. Now we need conversion to understand what it means to be a woman in the church.”
The cry of the Amazon
For Cardinal Steiner, the church in the Amazon is an example of how “the dynamic of the participation of representatives of the whole people of God in evangelization” can operate. Diocesan and regional pastoral assemblies are always attended by lay people, religious people, deacons, priests and bishops, he noted, including recently also members of Indigenous communities. His expectation for the synod, he said, was to enrich how the Catholic Church could better assume Jesus’ exhortation to “Go forth” (Mt. 28:19-20).
He believes the synod has put this correct notion of “mission” back in the spotlight.
His larger concern, however, remains how Catholics can respond to the technical-minded, strictly rational society—a problem that “Laudato Si’” defines as “the technocratic paradigm,” at the roots of the current ecological and social crisis. According to the encyclical: “Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used.” For many who live there, the Amazon is a victim of a dismantling process that is often justified by governments and multinational corporations in the name of progress or human development, which never seems to reach marginalized people.
The cardinal said that this is not a question of criticizing the development of science and technology, but a recognition of the fact that “the human being has become ‘cold and calculating,’ and the Mystery withdraws,” leaving little space for faith and harmony with divine creation.
The Amazon is a victim of a dismantling process that is often justified by governments and multinational corporations in the name of progress or human development, which never seems to reach marginalized people.
“The tip of this iceberg is the domination and destruction of our ‘common home’ and the disappearance of ethics as a possibility for harmony in society,” he said. A good map for this reflection, he believes, can be found in the apostolic exhortation “Querida Amazonia,” which outlines “the social dream, the cultural dream, the environmental dream and the ecclesial dream” as pillars of evangelizing action.
He also hopes that the second synodal assembly will help the church establish a “synodal culture” that will last. “One synod is not enough.” It is necessary for all to take on an overreaching process of “strengthening communion and participation,” he said.
For Cardinal Steiner, this will happen by “letting ourselves be touched by [all] cultures,” for example, by “inviting native peoples to express the Gospel in their own culture.” The archbishop called for a church that presents “the Kingdom of God as a fulfilling way of life, as a path to holiness” to all, and believes that synodality comes with a powerful “openness to the Holy Spirit” in the entire church.
Spiritual conversation as a method
Despite the differences of opinion among the more than 460 participants in the synodal assembly, “a climate of respect and openness prevailed among them,” said Adelson Araújo dos Santos, S.J., a professor of Spiritual Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He held the role of “expert-facilitator” at the synod.
Although the first general assembly of the Synod on Synodality did not aim to produce concrete solutions to the many issues discussed, the method of “spiritual conversation” used at the meeting is already a real legacy of the synod, he said.
“In my opinion, the spiritual dynamic of the assembly helped to create a climate of greater fraternity,” he said. The first synodal assembly had several moments of prayer every day, and Eucharistic celebrations at the end of each important stage. For the first time, the synod opened with a prayer vigil in the style of Taizé—a French ecumenical community—and a spiritual retreat led by Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. Father Radcliffe and Maria Ignazia Angelini, O.S.B., were the spiritual guides of the month-long gathering.
Despite the differences of opinion among the more than 460 participants in the synodal assembly, “a climate of respect and openness prevailed among them.”
“The spiritual conversation prioritizes listening in view of common spiritual discernment. It is appropriate for touching on subjects that normally generate controversy and division,” Father dos Santos said.
The Secretariat of the Synod describes “spiritual conversation” as a way of creating “an atmosphere of trust and welcome, so that people can express themselves more freely.” It entails an “interior attentiveness that makes us more aware of the presence and participation of the Holy Spirit in the process of sharing and discernment.” It is about “active listening” and “speaking from the heart.”
During the first general assembly, this method, inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola’s spirituality of collective discernment, was adapted for the synod’s purposes.
Participants, seated at round tables in the Paul VI Audience Hall, discussed each topic in three rounds. Each person spoke for about three to five minutes, without interruptions from the others. After each cycle, everyone remained silent for a few more minutes before resuming a new round of interventions. The ultimate goal is to identify points of convergence and divergence among them.
The encounters were mediated by a facilitator, such as Father dos Santos. “For me, this has been the great treasure that this synodal process is leading the church to rediscover because it is not something new, but something that the great fathers, mystics and saints of our church have always taught,” he said. “That is the value of spiritual discernment, which requires preparation and formation to be done well, personally and as a community. I believe this is the path the pope wants us to take.”
The Brazilian Jesuit hopes that “as many Catholics as possible are well trained in the ability to make personal and community discernment, with the greatest possible participation of all voices, in a church that is ever more circular and less pyramidal, under the spiritual guidance of the successor of Peter.”
