How did this year’s session of the Synod on Synodality differ from last year’s? What does the final document include and exclude? What does this mean for our church? For my parish? For me, personally?
America Media’s team of experts answered these questions and more in an exclusive, subscriber-only Zoom event on Nov. 19, a recording of which is available above. The panelists include:
- James Martin, S.J., synod delegate and America’s editor at large
- Gerard O’Connell, America’s Vatican correspondent
- Colleen Dulle, host of America’s “Inside the Vatican” podcast
- Moderated by Sebastian Gomes, America’s executive editor for audio and video
The support of subscribers made this event and all of America’s comprehensive, on-the-ground coverage of the three-year synod process possible. Dig into some of the documents and themes discussed by our panel through the articles and interviews below.
The Final Document
On the final day of the synod, delegates—cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay women and men—voted to approve the body’s final document. Afterward, Pope Francis announced he would not write the customary post-synodal apostolic exhortation but would offer the final document to the entire church to implement. Father James Martin, a voting member of the synod, offered his top takeaways from the document: Synodality—and ‘controversial’ issues—are here to stay: Takeaways from the Synod’s final document
Find a working English translation of the synod’s final document here.
Study Group 5
During a month marked by a spirit of prayer and comity, one issue remained contentious: the work of “Study Group 5,” one of the 10 study groups created by Pope Francis last year to tackle some of the more complex and controversial issues raised at the first global meeting of the synod. Study Group 5 is tasked with considering some theological and canonical questions about ministries in the church, including the possibility of women deacons, and falls under the leadership of Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
While in Rome, Colleen Dulle reported that there was “palpable outrage” when a meeting intended to give synod delegates the opportunity to pose questions to Study Group 5 included no members of the group: ‘Palpable outrage’: Synod delegates react to women deacons study group meeting
This week, Colleen reported on a follow-up meeting between Cardinal Fernández and synod delegates on Oct. 24. (The full transcript of the 90-minute meeting is available here.) At that meeting, Colleen reports, the cardinal revealed for the first time the names of some of those the dicastery has consulted with on the question of women’s ministries and faced questions from participants on the group’s relative lack of diversity: Cardinal Fernández faced tough questions at synod meeting on women’s ministries
The U.S. Church
After the conclusion of the synod, Gerard O’Connell caught up with two leaders from the U.S. church who took part in the month-long synod gathering: Cardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of San Diego, and Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago. In these exclusive interviews, Gerry asks the cardinals what they make of the synod’s final document and what it will take for synodality to take root in the United States:
- Why Cardinal McElroy is ‘very happy’ with the results of the synod
- Cardinal Cupich: The final synod document is not a landing strip. It’s a launching pad.
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, spoke about his experience at and hopes for the synod on America’s “Jesuitical” and “Inside the Vatican” podcasts:
- Cardinal Tobin on the synod and the future of women deacons
- Cardinal Tobin: Key takeaways from the synod
Living Synodality
In the “Our Take” for the November issue of America, the editors wrote, “The second session of the Synod on Synodality concluded at the end of October in Rome—but the work of the synod is far from over, with its implementation phase just beginning.”
What that implementation will look like will vary from country to country and even from parish to parish. But there are resources that can help Catholics interested in synodality bring it to life in their communities.
A key component of the synod assemblies in Rome was “conversations in the spirit,” a way of practicing communal discernment that emphasizes prayer, silence, active listening and sharing. Colleen Dulle reported on the methodology and its origins: The Jesuit roots of the synod’s ‘conversations in the spirit’
Thomas Reese, S.J., a former editor in chief of America and a columnist for Religious News Service, offers a practical guide to practice synodality in a parish setting: Pope Francis wants the synod in every parish. Here’s how to bring it to yours.
And in Rome, the hosts of the “Jesuitical” podcast spoke with Avril Baigent, a facilitator at this year’s synod assembly and a co-founder of the School for Synodality, a U.K.-based organization that provides resources for promoting “the synodal conversion”:A synod insider on making your parish synodal
