Synod, October 15: Cardinal Hollerich calls for diffusion of synod’s ‘dynamism’; Cardinal Steiner calls for female diaconate

October 16, 2024

On October 15, 347 of the 365 participants in the second and final session of the synod on synodality gathered in Paul VI Audience Hall for the first day devoted to the session’s fourth module, “Places” (synod agenda).

“Places” is the title of the third part of the session’s instrumentum laboris, or working document (pp. 35-46). It has four sections:

• Areas of shared journeying
• Local Churches in the one and unique Catholic Church
• The bonds that shape the unity of the Church
• The service to unity of the Bishop of Rome

The working document states:

In the context of a rapidly changing conception of space, constricting the Church’s action within purely spatial boundaries would imprison it in a fatal immobilism and produce a worrying pastoral redundancy, rendering it incapable of reaching the most dynamic parts of the population, especially the young. Instead, places must be understood from a perspective of mutual interdependency, which becomes concrete in the relationships between Churches and the groupings they form, endowed with a unity of meaning.

The service of unity, which is incumbent upon the Bishop of Rome and the College of bishops in communion with him, must take this perspective into account and find the appropriate institutional forms necessary for its exercise. (p. 35)

Mother Angelini reflects on places, banquets

Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini, OSB, one of the synod session’s two spiritual assistants (along with Cardinal-designate Timothy Radcliffe), offered a three-page reflection in Italian, “The concreteness of places in which relationships are incarnated (Luke 11:37-41).” At present, the Synod of Bishops has made the text available only in Italian, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.

“If the place of the Church is always a concrete space-time of gathering, the path of the Gospel in the world goes from threshold to threshold: it escapes from any staticity, but also from any ‘holy alliance’ with the cultural contexts of the time,” she said. The Church “inhabits them and is led, by its vital Principle—the Spirit of the Lord—to transcend them.”

Reflecting on the words of the angel at the Resurrection—“‘He is not here” (Lk 24:6)—Mother Angelini recalled how St. Paul left place after place.” The memory of Jesus’ words also pushes the Church today to take root in all human places, but makes it vigilant with respect to any homologation,” or official approval by civil authority, she said.

Mother Angelini then offered an extended reflection on the banquet of the Lord (Isaiah 25:6-10) and the table of the Pharisee at which Jesus dines (Luke 11:37-41). At this latter table, “like the ancient prophets, Jesus clearly shows the intention to break, to shake consciences for a new, radical contestation of a culture, of a religious system,” she said. “To reach an ethic of interiority and authenticity, and to reject every vain ritualism.”

“The original place of gathering, for Jesus, is the regenerated interiority, which has the power to summon the many: ‘give as a gift what is within, and everything will be pure in you,’“ she continued, as she described interiority, as a “‘place’ today largely ignored by dominant cultures; but a priority for synodal conviviality.”

“Jesus completes the prophetic work with his risky conviviality,” she concluded. “Jesus, who had no place to lay his head, but loved banquets ... His Spirit draws us to start again from there. So that everyone may be able to enjoy the table where they can draw from, and transmit, the Gift that gives us to others.”

Cardinal Hollerich: Look at one another and diffuse the synod’s “dynamism”

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, of Luxembourg, the synod session’s relator general, then delivered a three-page address (Italian, English) to introduce the module (earlier CWN coverage). Stating that “the dimension of rootedness in a context” has “a far less marked spatial and geographical connotation than in the past,” he asked:

What does this mean for the fulfilment of our mission to proclaim the Gospel? In what way must we rethink our institutions in the logic of missionary service, which takes place in a different context compared to the past? What institutional and organizational forms need to be changed, and how?

The prelate also called on synod participants to have a frank discussion about the role of the papacy and the Roman Curia.

“The Holy Father has summoned us here to listen to our advice also on the way in which his service and that of the Roman Curia can be made more effective today, Cardinal Hollerich said. “He has the right to know what we really think, starting from the life and needs of the People of God and the places from which we originate.”

Upholding the synod session as a model for the life of the Church—and indeed, as a model for the life of the world—Cardinal Hollerich invited the synod participants to look at each other. He also asserted that an encounter with others leads to an encounter with the Lord:

I invite each of us to take a minute to look around, first of all casting our eyes over the people sitting at our own table. [BRIEF PAUSE]. And then I invite everyone to widen their gaze, embracing the whole room. I admit that for me, from this raised table, it is easier [BRIEF PAUSE] ...

In this place we have made the relationships between us grow, in a network that is not limited by these walls, but which truly embraces the whole Church and the entire world. In this place we have lived a rich and intense experience. As in any synodal encounter, but in an even more special way, we have experienced that the encounter between brothers and sisters in faith is not without hardships and difficulties, but leads to the encounter with the Lord and brings forth the joy of the Gospel.

Cardinal Hollerich concluded by asking the synod participants to propose “tools” that will facilitate the replication of their own synodal experience in the life of the Church. Linking the “wealth” and “dynamism” of the synod to a renewal of Christian life in the world’s dioceses, he said:

If we were to keep this treasure only for ourselves, we would transform it into a privilege. This Module thus offers us the opportunity to ask ourselves what methods and organizational and institutional forms can make the wealth of the experience we have lived here, in this place, become accessible to the entire People of God, and not only through our narrative, but through the renewal of our Churches. It will not be possible to bring all the Baptized into the Paul VI Hall, but this is not the point: it is not necessary to come here to enter into the dynamism of the synodal Church. The purpose of our work in the coming days is to propose tools that make it easier.

Press briefing: Cardinal Steiner calls for female diaconate

The presenters at the October 15 press briefing (video), the Holy See Press Office noted, were

• Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication and chair of the synod’s Commission for Information
• Sheila Leocádia Pires, communications officer of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and secretary of the synod’s Commission for Information
• Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, OFM, of Manaus, Brazil
• Cardina-designate Roberto Repole of Turin and Susa, Italy
• Sister Nirmala Alex Maria Nazareth, superior general of the Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel

Ruffini and Pires summarized highlights of the texts of Mother Angelini and Cardinal Hollerich.

“Cardinal Hollerich invited us to reflect on shared experiences, underlining how the growth of relationships within Paul IV Hall has enriched everyone,” said Pires. Cardinal Hollerich, said Pires, also “reminded the synod delegates not to keep this experience to themselves but to ensure that the richness of the synodal encounter is accessible to the people of God.”

Sister Nazareth, according to the Vatican newspaper, described the synod as a “unique experience” in which “a wealth that grows in diversity” is being “breathed.”

“We feel we have great hopes: we have begun a journey and we cannot go back, only look forward and continue the journey,” she said. “The real challenge, with discernment, will be to understand how to do it best.”

Cardinal Steiner said that “new paths that are opening up and that help us understand what synodality concretely is”. What is being born, he said, “is a new way of being Church to announce the Kingdom of God and the Gospel”

Cardinal-designate Repole told reporters that “phases of change are being experienced that need to be read also in the light of the synodality experienced here in Rome.”

“We are in search for the voice of the Spirit, also in the voice of the brother and sister who are next to us,” he added. “We see the catholicity of the Church in action, which truly breathes all cultures and is ready to offer the Gospel to different cultures as well.”

Journalists asked questions about ecology, women in the Church, the Church in the Amazon region, and persons with disabilities.

“We have been without water for a month, the large rivers are no longer navigable, and without the active river circuit many communities remain unreachable,” said Cardinal Steiner, referring to a drought that is afflicting much of Brazil. “Even if we are not dealing with it specifically, we know that the environment is part of synodality.”

Synodality invites all the faithful to “participate in a mode of being Church by virtue of baptism, where everyone must feel responsible for the mission,” he continued. “I have lived in the Amazon for 55 years. I have been living this process: we have consulted more than a thousand communities to understand how to be more missionary, thanks above all to the vibrancy of the laity.”

Cardinal Steiner added:

Many of our women are de facto deacons, for us they are in all respects [deacons], even if not officially. We do not have a word that suits the role, but they do it and it is admirable. Why not restore the ordained female diaconate? We have already had a Church with this face; the female diaconate can go hand in hand with the male one.

Asked about women preaching, Cardinal Steiner said, “In the celebration of the Word of God, the reflection is always done by God; it is not a man or a woman who reflects.” Cardinal-designate Repole added:

“When the Second Vatican Council deals with the Eucharist, it defines it as the “summit of Christian life”. If we speak of a summit, it means that there is something underlying. There are many female theologians, the catechism is in the hands of women above all: the need is not for space but for co-responsibility between all.

Responding to a question about priestly celibacy, Cardinal Steiner spoke about the challenges of having relatively few priests in his large archdiocese. (The number of diocesan priests in the Archdiocese of Manaus more than doubled under his two predecessors, but has remained flat under Steiner’s leadership.) Cardinal Steiner also spoke of the “wealth of forms of ministry” in Eastern churches that permit the ordination of married men to the priesthood. Sister Nazareth, on the other hand, “hypothesized that on some issues in her country more time might be needed,” the Vatican newspaper reported.

In response to a question about persons with disabilities, Ruffini said, “At least in my circle, it is being discussed, we will see in the next few days if it will be discussed in the general congregation. The topic is certainly close to everyone’s heart and more can be done. But when we talk about the little ones, the marginalized, we also talk about people with disabilities.”

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Earlier coverage

• Synod retreat, day 1: ‘Stripping ourselves before the other and before God’ (CWN, 10/1)
• Synod retreat touches on homosexuality, ‘new ministries’; culminates in penitential vigil (CWN, 10/2)
• Opening Synod session, Pope stresses listening (CWN, 10/2)
• Synod, October 2: Pope defends inclusion of non-bishops; Cardinal Fernández: ‘no’ to women deacons (CWN, 10/3)
• Synod, October 3: Working groups discuss ‘Foundations’; ‘nothing new,’ says Cardinal Hollerich (CWN, 10/4)
• Cardinal Grech: Every Catholic is invited to weigh in on synod study groups’ deliberations (CWN, 10/4)
• Synod study group calls for ‘paradigm shift’ on controversial moral issues (CWN, 10/4)
• African bishops preparing document on polygamy (CWN, 10/4)
• Synod, October 4: leading African cardinal criticized for inadequate consultation in rejecting same-sex blessings (CWN, 10/5)
• Synod, October 5: work on ‘Foundations’ concludes; Lebanese, Haitian prelates recount suffering (CWN, 10/7)
• No synod meetings on Sunday, October 6
• Synod, October 7: Cardinal Hollerich calls for suggestions to make Church less ‘pyramidal’; women’s ministry discussion resurfaces (CWN, 10/8)
• Jesuits hold outsized influence at Synod on Synodality (CWN, 10/8)
• Synod, October 8: final document commission members chosen; leading Latin American prelate raises prospect of married priests (CWN, 10/9)
• Synod names commission to prepare final document (CWN, 10/9)
• Synod, October 9: Cardinal Fernández invites synod participants to weigh in on forthcoming document on women and ministry (CWN, 10//10)
• Synod, October 10: New synod guidelines announced, but not made public, as discussion of transparency begins (CWN, 10/11)
• Synod, October 11: opacity shrouds discussion of transparency, accountability in the Church (CWN, 10/14)
• Papal address: Christian unity is an unexpected gift, a journey, harmony, and for the sake of mission (CWN, 10/14)
• Synod, October 12: participants pray for migrants on synod’s least transparent day (CWN, 10/15)
• No synod meetings on Sunday, October 13
• Cardinal-designate Radcliffe links African bishops’ opposition to homosexuality to pressure from evangelicals, Moscow, and Muslims (CWN, 10/15)
• Synod, October 14: abuse of nuns, need for women in seminary formation discussed (CWN, 10/15)
• How ‘Special Interest Advocacy’ works at the Synod on Synodality (CWN, 10/15)
• Cardinal Hollerich introduces final ‘module’ of Synod working document (CWN, 10/15)

 

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