You might have heard that in October of 2021, Pope Francis launched the Synod of Synodality.   If you are like me, you are probably wondering, “Just what is a synod” and “What is synodality? and, oh my, “What is a Synod of Synodality?”   Put your mind at ease….it’s actually quite simple:  A Synod of Synodality is the People of God beginning down the same path (synod) together on a journey of listening and of dialogue with one another, so as to discern how the Holy Spirit is directing the Church.     

Traditionally a synod in the Catholic Church has consisted of primarily Bishops and is usually held in a one month time span.  This Synod of Synodality 2021-2024 is unique and special.  Pope Francis recognizes that the Holy Spirit can speak through all baptized in the Church and knew this was the time to listen to all the Church.   He says: “the voice of EVERYONE matters because God can talk though ANYONE — not only bishops, priests, deacons, brothers, or sisters but ALL OF US!” Pope Francis has stated that this collaborative, inclusive approach of synodality is precisely the “the path that God expects of the Church in the third millennium.”

Synodality is about journeying together. This happens through listening to one another in order to hear what God is saying to all of us. It is realizing that the Holy Spirit can speak through anyone to help us walk forward together on our journey as the People of God. 

The point is not that we take two years to understand some new buzzword that will soon fade. Synodality is no passing phase! Rather, “walking together” is at the heart of what the Church is all about, as the People of God on pilgrimage in the midst of the world. In this sense, synodality is a way of renewing the Church from her deepest roots, in order to be more united with one another and better carry out our mission in the world.  Being “synodal” is a way of being and a way of working that takes a more grassroots, collaborative approach, taking time to discern the path forward together. It highlights the fact that we all have something precious to contribute to the Body of Christ.

In this way, a “synodal Church” is a Church that listens: “It is a mutual listening in which everyone has something to learn. The lay faithful, the bishops, the pope: all listening to each other, and all listening to the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of truth” (Jn 14:17), in order to know what He is saying to the Church” (Pope Francis, Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops, October 17, 2015).

This will naturally call us to change our ways of doing things, in order to become more and more who we truly are as a Church: walking together, amidst the entire human family- humanity, guided by the Holy Spirit.

The path to a Church that listens and walks together starts with you and me. Let’s walk forward together!  Also please be praying for the Church as we listen to journey together during this Synod of Synodality.

A Synod is a gathering of the faithful in order to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church and asking her to be and to do. This gathering can involve the faithful in different ways: pastors with lay people, bishops with the other ordained ministries, pope with bishops, etc.

Pope Francis calls it “an exercise of mutual listening, conducted at all levels of the Church and involving the entire People of God” (Pope Francis, 18 Septemeber 2021). It involves encounter, listening and the discernment of spirits.

The word synod comes from the Greek synodos, which has the general meaning of “walking together”. It offers an image of the Church as a pilgrim people, growing and developing on a journey of faith; a very different image from that of the Church as a static institution. A synodal Church expresses the Second Vatican Council vision of what sees the Church called to be: the People of God in which all baptized share the same dignity, and the essential distinction between lay people, clergy, bishops etc. is a difference of vocation and role, not of superiority

Synodality is a style, a culture, a way of thinking and being, that reflects the truth that the Church is led by the Holy Spirit who enables everyone to offer their own contribution to the Church’s life. This synod process seeks to “strengthen cooperation” in all areas of the Church’s mission, to enhance communion, participation and mission.

While “Synodality is an expression of the Church’s nature, her form, style and mission” (Pope Francis, 18 September 2021), the Church in our day lacks the habit and practice of synodality. This is what Pope Francis invites us to examin and discern for the future.

Synodality is also reflected in a synodal style of governance, in which people participate in decision making, share responsibility for the Church’s mission , and cooperate and collaborate more in the day to day life of the Church. Some call this “co-responsibility”. Church is neither a monarchy nor a democracy. Pope Francis has made clear that the synod is not a parliament, or a convention, or an opinion survey. Although it has many elements familiar to political and similar processes – listening, speaking, taking votes – what differentiates a Synod is that it is a spiritual process that takes place within the Church. “The Synod is an ecclesial event and its protagonist is the Holy Spirit.  If the Spirit is not present, there will be no Synod” (Pope Francis, 09 October 2021).

“The mission of the Church requires the entire People of God to be on a journey together, with each member playing his or her crucial role, united with each other. A synodal Church walks forward in communion to pursue a common mission through the participation of each and every one of her members. The objective of this Synodal Process is not to provide a temporary or onetime experience of synodality, but rather to provide an opportunity for the entire People of God to discern together how to move forward on the path towards being a more synodal Church in the long-term” (Vademecum for the Synod on Synodality #1.3).

Through the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis is asking the Church to rediscover its deeply synodal roots and to reflect on how the path of synodality is the way for the entire People of God to journey forward together.

“…the objective of the current Synod is to listen, as the entire People of God, to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church. We do so by listening together to the Word of God in Scripture and the living Tradition of the Church, and then by listening to one another, and especially to those at the margins, discerning the signs of the times” (Ibid).