Cardinal Hollerich sees current synodality as return to ‘the original Church, the primitive Church’
August 01, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, the relator-general of the synod on synodality, said in a recent interview that he sees the contemporary version of synodality, with its themes of listening and harmonizing differences, as a return to the early Church.
“I think that now we are going back to the original Church, the primitive Church, because in between we had Christendom ... [when] the culture was mainly formed by the Catholic Church in Europe,” he said. “But that time is over, and now we come back to a Church of the first centuries where the Church has to confront other mentalities, other ways of thinking. Sometimes it is apologetic, but it always has to enter into dialogue with this world because God is present in this world.”
The implication that the early Church was focused on dialogue in this manner is difficult to reconcile with the history of the early synods, such as the Synod of Elvira and the First Synod of Arles, which emphasized strict penitential discipline, the sanctity of Holy Eucharist, theological orthodoxy, and sacramental validity.
Underlining the importance of listening, Cardinal Hollerich said that “when we say now that the Church is not a democracy, I completely agree, but the Church is not an absolute monarchy either.”
The prelate also emphasized the importance of formation in synodality in seminaries.
“A woman theologian once said, if you have a Tridentarian seminary, you should not be surprised if you get Tridentarian priests out of it,” he said. “So we have to look carefully and see how we can give a synodal formation to young people in seminaries and to people throughout the Church.”
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Posted by: feedback -
Aug. 01, 2024 7:13 AM ET USA
Hollerich is the same cardinal who said publicly that the Church's teaching about sinfulness of homosexual acts is false. I can only imagine the "dialogue" and the "listening" that His Eminence would get from the Bishops of the original primitive Church. catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=53759
