Synodality is the “way” of being Church. Pope Francis says it is the “path… which God expects of the Church of the third millennium.” The Synod preparatory documents describe this way or path as one where the faithful journey together and reflect together on how the Church can live communion, achieve participation and open itself to mission as the pilgrim and missionary People of God, especially in the complexity of the world situation today.

The first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops takes place from October 4 to 29, 2023, with the second session taking place in October 2024. This assembly will also have 70 non-bishop members in attendance. It is apt that we reflect on the Synodal Church proposed by Pope Francis. 

The purpose of the Synod on Synodality is to discuss the fundamental question: A synodal Church, in announcing the Gospel, “journeys together”. How is this “journeying together” happening today in your Church? What steps does the Holy Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our “journeying together”? “The synod is the dialogue between the baptized, who in the name of the Church, [discuss] the life of the Church, [and] dialogue with the world on the problems that affect humanity today,” says the Pope.

It is still not very clear what a Synodal church will look like, or how we will live out the life of Christ as best we can. Synodality means that the whole people of God, all members of the church, will be involved and participate in being the church. We will all share our faith as best as we can; we will all figure out together how to develop our sacramental life and prayer; we will all participate in bringing these decisions to fruition.

Over the centuries, especially in Europe, the structure of the Church involved more and more the clergy and bishops. The institution took over from the ordinary life of the people. Slowly and steadily, this had influenced other churches elsewhere. In our own memories, the ordinary people were told to do what the clergy told them, to obey, and not to ask too many questions. Very little training or intellectual depth was offered to ordinary men and women, especially on theological matters. 

So, the church has developed very much into a ‘clerical church’. The clergy were the only people who ‘clearly understood how things worked’! And so, they made all the decisions. In many ways also, because of the male domination that was widespread in society, women were excluded from any kind of decision-making. Ordinary believers were to contribute funds to all the projects decided by the hierarchy but had very little say in what was decided or how projects were to be carried out. This is happening in the Church even today in many places. It is proved that a clergy-dominated church is self-destructive. 

We have inherited a clerical church, where Priests and Clergy have been in charge. As Pope Francis says, [Clericalism is] “one of the ills of the Church. But it is a sin of complicity, as priests are subject to the temptation to clericalize the laity, while many laypersons ask on their knees to be clericalized, because it is convenient. … So, this is a sin committed by two hands. We must resist this temptation. The layperson must be a layperson, baptized and with the strength that comes from baptism. A servant, but with a lay vocation, and this cannot be sold, bargained for, and one is not complicit with the other, because it is a question of identity. … Is the deacon or the priest more important than the layperson? No! … The function of the layperson cannot be exercised by the priest, and the Holy Spirit is free; sometimes it inspires a priest to do something, and at other times it inspires a layperson.”

The Second Vatican Council, in the 1960s, sowed the seeds of great change in the church. In many ways, the changes need to be searched for, as they have been slow and difficult. But now Pope Francis is calling for this change to be accelerated. Different consultations have taken place, and the first major gathering of Bishops and advisors is to begin on the 4th October, and this will carry on until the 29th October. So, a huge investment is being made in searching together for the way forward.  

Pope Francis says that without an increase in prayer throughout the church, by communities and by individuals, the Synod in Rome will be without the fire of the Holy Spirit, and it will be a non-event. He has composed a beautiful prayer for all of us to pray during the Synod. “We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we gather together in Your name. With You alone to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts; Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it. We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder. Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path nor partiality influence our actions. Let us find in You our unity so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right. All this we ask of You, who are at work in every place and time, in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever. Amen!”

The title of the meeting in Rome says: For the Synodal Church, Communion, Participation, and Mission. We need to build Community and Communion, so that together we can be active Christians in this new life. And we must include all believers in Christ in this new and wider community. We need to participate in whatever way we can in the development of new ideas and new organisational and spiritual practices. Our Mission, for each one of us, is to be more involved in the promoting of Christianity and of reaching out to others as Christ asked us to do. 

This will not be easy, and often means sticking our necks out, and doing things or becoming leaders in ways that we can’t think of now. How this will develop is not clear as of now, but we trust in the Holy Spirit. Everyone must be involved in the process cooperating with the Spirit.

A new church will emerge, in which Clergy will not be the only source of decisions. Everyone will have a say in the affairs of the Church. It will be a slow process, but it will happen with the help of the Spirit and in the foundation of our deep faith. There will be a lot of oppositions and challenges by power groups. These are natural. We must persevere and search in our prayer and in our beliefs for the courage to keep moving. Change is not easy. It will have to overcome the hurdles, but change is the only reality. 

It is time for us to do things differently. We will be a better church if we return to the way decisions were made in the early church. Priests, religious, and lay people are going to make decisions together, and walk together, and listen to each other, and that is what the word Synod means. It means walking together. 

On the 30th September night, in Rome, there was a vigil of prayer for the success of the Synod. A Synod is different from a debate or a Parliament, where people talk to one another. We have grown used to this way of decision making, where people shout one another down, and ridicule each other’s opinions. And that’s why there was a vigil of Prayer in Rome to put the members in perspective. And the Head Bishop of the Church of England, Justin Welby, was there praying, and the Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox churches was praying at this vigil too, because it was about finding God’ will. 

We too need to pray for the success of the Synod. This Synod is a process of finding out what God wants from all of us in the Church. It is a process led by the Holy Spirit. We all need to pray to know the will of God. It requires us to discern what God is saying to all of us through personal and communal prayer, reflection, paying attention to our inner disposition, listening, sharing and talking to one another in an authentic, meaningful and welcoming way in order to find answers to the fundamental question posed by the Synod: How can the Church better “journey together” in communion, participation and mission into the third millennium?

Please remember, our national or regional TV Channels or newspapers do not give any coverage, but I am sure we will get the progress of the Synod through social media, or Vatican News. There are YouTube videos from an American journalist named John Allen, which last 30 minutes, and tend to be balanced and well presented. We can make special efforts to read, reflect, discern, and pray along with the ongoing Synodal meetings in Rome. We must prepare our hearts to expect some changes, so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be heard in a new way to the new circumstances. This is an enormous change, and we can take part by praying and by hoping and by following it keenly. Let us hope for a renewed, revitalised, and relevant church to all people of God. 

(Author is the Assistant Secretary of the Global Jesuit School Network, Rome.)