Synod, October 19: Cardinal Grech calls for reevaluation of seminaries, theology programs

October 22, 2024

As the second and final session of the synod on synodality neared its final week (synod agenda), Pope Francis met with women participants and lay participants in two separate October 19 audiences.

The previous evening, synod leaders met with 140 university students, primarily from North America, at an event called “University Students in Dialogue with Synod Leaders“ (video). Six students asked questions during the hour-long event.

Vatican News, the agency of the Dicastery for Communication, reported that “Sondra, a student from San Francisco, raised concerns about how the emphasis on experience in the synodal process might affect faithfulness to tradition and truth.”

Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, “responded by reassuring her that synodality does not compromise the Church’s mission to proclaim the Gospel. He acknowledged the challenge of listening to those with different views but affirmed that it is essential to understanding the realities people face.”

“I do not worry that the faith of the Church will be compromised if we listen to each other,” he said.

Responding to a question from a student from El Salvador, Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, “added that seminaries and theological programs must be re-evaluated through a synodal lens. He invited students and theologians to contribute to this ongoing conversation, underscoring that synodality must permeate every level of Church formation.”

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, the synod session’s relator-general, lamented polarization in the United States and said that the world “could learn from the Church’s approach to synodality, particularly in creating spaces for respectful dialogue that addresses global issues like peace, justice, and ecology,” Vatican News reported.

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)
• Synod, October 15: Cardinal Hollerich calls for diffusion of synod’s ‘dynamism’; Cardinal Steiner calls for female diaconate (CWN, 10/16)
• Synod, October 16: pushback against devolution of doctrinal authority to episcopal conferences? (CWN, 10/17)
• Synod, October 17: Chinese bishop professes adherence to ‘sinicization of Catholicism’ (CWN, 10/18)
• Synod, October 18: some delegates angered by Cardinal Fernández’s absence from dialogue (CWN, 10/21)

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