This deficiency is starkly highlighted in paragraphs 26-28 of the Synod's Final Document.

The document equates Eucharistic and synodal assemblies as manifestations of Christ's presence and the Spirit's unifying work.

It also highlights "listening" as a common trait in both.

This creates a flawed equivalence that must be addressed before any working group defines the "celebratory styles that make visible the face of a synodal Church."

This simplification risks diminishing the depth of liturgical rites.

It can obscure their true ritual essence and misinterpret their theological meaning.

While linking synodality with the liturgy is invaluable, such parallels risk reducing the unique purposes of each.

The Eucharist is the focal point of sacramental unity and divine encounter, whereas synodal gatherings are primarily deliberative, geared towards consensus and the governance of ecclesial life.

Treating them as equivalents risks blurring their distinct theological identities, diminishing their respective roles as the lived expression of

• prayerful faith (liturgy) and
• the organisational manifestation of faith in action (mission and management).

Moreover, practical challenges, such as the diverse cultural interpretations of synodality and its application to liturgical practice, remain inadequately explored.

Responding to the "signs of the times" within a liturgical context means prioritising the centrality of the assembly meeting for worship (Synaxis).

It is the Synaxis that informs and underpins the synodal processes, not the other way around.

The liturgy derives its meaning from its direct relation to the Paschal Mystery, serving as its memorial in a liturgical context.

Unlike the synodal process, the liturgical Synaxis uniquely represents and re-presents this Mystery. So it is troubling, though not unexpected, that liturgical theologians are conspicuously absent from the synodal dialogue.

Consequently, significant sacramental and liturgical questions remain neglected, approached only from tangential perspectives.

This oversight occurs when auxiliary theological disciplines and Canon Law, a non-theological field, marginalise the primary discipline of liturgical theology.

The synodal discussions commendably focused on dialogue, inclusivity, and governance reform, have largely sidestepped the liturgy despite its pivotal role in Catholic life.

This sidestepping can be attributed to several factors.

The synodal agenda primarily addresses structural and cultural challenges within the Church, such as clericalism and lay participation.

These efforts are necessary for cultivating an inclusive Church that listens to and integrates the experiences of all its members, especially those who feel alienated.

Within this framework, liturgy often becomes a secondary concern, perceived merely as ritual or ceremonial, with little attention given to its deeper theological dimensions rooted in baptismal ontology.

Moreover, liturgical discourse is inherently contentious.

Decades of "liturgy wars" over issues such as the use of Latin, lay participation, and other practices have sown division between traditionalist and progressive camps.

This contentious history makes many Church leaders hesitant to reopen discussions that could reignite conflict and detract from the Synod's wider objectives of unity and reform.

The liturgy, firmly anchored in tradition and doctrine, presents a complex area for reform.

The Eucharist, as the "source and summit" of Christian life, is integral to Catholic identity. Therefore, conversations around liturgical change touch upon fundamental theological beliefs and ecclesial authority.

The spectre of perceived challenges to doctrine makes some prelates wary of undertaking such discussions, fearing potential disquiet among the faithful.

There are also voices within the Church who believe synodality, by influencing the values of unity and inclusivity in governance, will naturally extend these values into the liturgy without requiring direct liturgical reform.

This perspective avoids more profound theological questions of baptismal ontology, sidestepping the liturgical implications of issues like the ordination of women or blessings of non-canonical unions.

While the Synod's Final Document calls for the liturgy to embody the synodal principles of dialogue and inclusivity, it overlooks the pressing reality many parishes face: an "eucharistic and sacramental famine."

Even as synodal efforts remain focused on governance and pastoral strategies, the central Synaxis—the heart of ecclesial life—weakens under the weight of scarcity.

Many communities endure prolonged periods without access to sacramental celebrations due to an entrenched prioritisation of celibacy over Eucharistic necessity.

This imbalance has led to a phenomenon where clergy from Africa and Asia are brought in to sustain sacramental life, a practice that increasingly resembles a form of "reverse colonisation" with significant consequences already emerging.

In such a landscape, the liturgy is often appropriated as a stopgap solution, a practice born out of necessity when leadership fails to address these pressing realities adequately.

Addressing this issue is vital, for without a robust Synaxis, there will inevitably be no meaningful synodos.

• Dr Joe Grayland is priest of the Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North (New Zealand) for nearly 30 years. He is currently an assistant lecturer in the Department of Liturgy, University of Wuerzburg (Germany).
• A version of this opinion piece originally appeared on La Croix International.

This is the first time any Pope has allowed lay people to do this. It is a substantial development, say several prominent experts.

The changes "make the synod more rooted in the nature of the people of God," says one.

It's a "notable ecclesiological development", says another.

"For some time, many ecclesiologists, including me, have been complaining that we did not yet have an ecclesial institution capable of bearing the expectations that Pope Francis' vision of a synodal church brings.

"We are now much closer to that reality."

The changes

• 70 non-bishop members (about quarter of synod members) will participate in this October's synod of bishops in Rome.
• Half the non-ordained members will be women.
• 10 elected male religious participants will be reduced to five; five female religious will be elected.

This is important, says one theologian. It will force the Church to discern all the voices it needs to hear, she says. "Although the changes don't alter Catholic doctrine, they are "expanding participation."

The synodal process needs these voices when examining how the entire Church can live in community, she says.

Another theologian says the new balance of ordained and non-ordained members will help bishops realise "they are first and foremost part of the people of God, not above or outside it."

The changes will help the whole Church more fully embody the concept of synodality. "It's not a revolution, but it is an evolution of the synod," says a Church historian.

However, consultation notwithstanding, the Pope is the final decision-maker, he cautions.

"This is not the beginning of a democratic church."

Eliminating the auditor's position or those of issue experts is concerning, he says. It could change the dynamic of synod discussions which have established processes.

Lobbying for change

The Vatican's decision to include lay women as full members in the synod comes after years of lobbying.

One reform advocate is looking forward to having "lots of important conversations ... we haven't been able to have for several decades now."

These include women's "full and equal participation in all aspects of Church life" and better inclusion for LGBTQ+ persons.

"Pope Francis is taking very seriously the call to enlarge the tent, [but] there's still a ways to go ..." she says.

She's concerned, however, there is no specific mechanism that ensures lay people - like those raising families - would be adequately represented.

Many advocates are lobbying for full gender parity at the synod.

Unanswered questions

One commentator asks if October's meeting can be called a Synod of Bishops with so many non-bishop members.

He also questioned whether the changes would apply in all future synods.

Another wonders how the non-ordained members of the synod would be chosen. It's important to include diverse voices - women, LGBTQI people, Catholics of colour, disabled Catholics ... and others "excluded from this process for so long,".

"There is still a real danger that this more expanded membership will be stacked with 'safe' voices," another says.

However, Francis is making it clear a synodal church needs more than male clerics' voices, says yet another.

"We certainly see the hand of the Holy Spirit throughout the whole process," she says.

Source

• NCR Online

Bishop Georg Bätzing (pictured) said, "After only one year, this Synodal Process has generated a dynamic that has led to a new understanding of the dignity of all the baptised, to a broader co-responsibility of the faithful for the mission of the Church, and to a clearer perception of the challenges we face in the worldwide Church.

"Thus, the Synodal Process has already changed the Church."

Bätzing, the Bishop of Limburg, is the co-president of Germany's controversial "synodal way": a multi-year gathering of bishops and laypeople to discuss four main topics: power, the priesthood, women in the Church, and sexuality.

Bishop Bätzing also welcomed the publication of a new Vatican document guiding the synod on synodality's continental phase. The document incorporated the wishes and experiences of many local churches.

He said the new Vatican text "makes it clear that the synodal way of the Church in Germany is to be understood as part of a synodal dynamic that has taken hold of the entire Church."

"The issues we deal with in the four forums and at the synodal assemblies are also being discussed in other parts of the Church," he commented.

Bätzing added: "The working document can therefore also be read as an encouragement to the Church in Germany to seek dialogue with the other particular churches even more strongly than before, especially with regard to synodality. It is an invitation to listen to one another on the worldwide synodal journey and to walk the next stage together."

According to the bishop, in many parts of the Church an active role for women in leadership structures, their ministry and a women's diaconate are advocated.

The document expressly refers to the situation of LGBTQ people and people in same-sex partnerships. "The issues that we deal with at the synodal assemblies are also discussed in other parts of the church," said Bätzing.

Germany's bishops are preparing for an ad limina visit to Rome in November. It will be their first in seven years and include a meeting with Pope Francis and prefects of Vatican dicasteries scheduled for 18 November.

Cardinal Mario Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, has lamented public criticism of the synodal way by bishops outside Germany.

"I have trust in the Catholic Church in Germany, in the bishops, I trust they know what they are doing," Grech said earlier this year.

Sources

The Pillar

News in Germany

A joint letter from two Rome-based cardinals recommends leaders of Christian communities take part in the bishops' synodal discussions and help them draft the official reports.

It also suggests that delegates from other churches are sent to take part in the diocesan synods taking place across the world; that they address synod assemblies, send in written reflections and organise "listening sessions".

The 2021-2023 synod process launched by Pope Francis last month is the most ambitious Catholic renewal project in 60 years. It includes a listening and consultation process across the 1.3 billion-member Church.

Read More

He made the comments during his homily on Sunday, launching a two-year consultation of all the world's Catholics.

The synodal process begins on October 17 in local diocese around the world and Francis is calling it "an adventure" in with everyone must take part.

However, Francis questions whether the Church is ready for the adventure of the journey and challenges.

He asks Catholics, "are we fearful of the unknown, preferring to take refuge in the usual excuses: 'It's useless' or 'We've always done it this way'?"

True to his description of the Church as a "field hospital" engaged in the midst of the world's turmoil, the Jesuit pope elaborated on his vision of a God who "is not found in neat and orderly places, distant from reality" but who "walks ever at our side. He meets us where we are, on the often rocky roads of life".

Francis encouraged Catholics to become "experts in the art of encounter", and like Jesus, "not afraid to listen… with his heart and not just with his ears".

The pope warned that listening has nothing to do with "organizing events" or with "theorizing about problems".

New languages

He said the synodal process should "suggest fresh paths and new ways of speaking" for the Catholic Church. But he warned against a number of possible pitfalls.

"Let us not soundproof our hearts; let us not remain barricaded in our certainties," the pope insisted.

He also encouraged Catholics to get out of their "old habits" by totally avoiding "artificial and shallow and pre-packaged responses".

Francis warned that the synod is not a "Church convention, a study group or a political gathering", nor is it "a parliament".

Baptism as an "identity card"

The pope and his closest aides are putting a lot of hope in the Synod.

He identified three risks for the synod: "formalism", "intellectualism" and "complacency".

He emphasised the importance of everyone participating, not just those regular Mass-goers in parish structures.

Francis said the Synodal process if "for all the baptised for baptism is our identity card".

"Enabling everyone to participate is an essential ecclesial duty!" Francis said.

Where to

After the consultation phase with Catholics around the world, which will last until February, all the bishops' conferences are being urged to publish a report on these first meetings in April.

Then the discussion will continue continent by continent, or in the case of smaller countries, joining together to form "a continent".

Finally, national episcopal conferences will elect representatives to attend the final stage of this novel synodal process - the ordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops, that will take place in October 2023 at the Vatican.

Source

• La-Croix International

It is perhaps the most audacious project of his pontificate.

The official launch of the synodal process will take place October 9-10 in Rome. Its purpose is to engage the entire Church in preparing for the Synod of Bishops' next ordinary assembly, which will be held in October 2023 in Rome and focus on the very issue of synodality.

Local Churches throughout the Catholic world are scheduled to actually start engaging in the synodal process next October 17th.

At least this is what is supposed to happen, according to documents from the Synod's secretariat.

"The local diocesan bishop will celebrate the same programme [the pope celebrated one week earlier]: 1) Opening session and time for reflection; 2) Liturgical prayers and celebration of the Eucharist".

But in reality, it is not clear what is going to happen in the local Churches.

The silence of the US Catholic leaders

Anecdotally, I have heard from many friends and colleagues around the world that in their dioceses nothing is happening: they have not heard anything about the preparation for the celebration of local synods not from their bishop nor from their parish priest.

In the Churches of two countries in particular — Germany and Australia — a synodal process started ante litteram, that is, before Francis made it a project for the entire Catholic Church.

In other countries, such as Italy and Ireland, the bishops have initiated the process. And in Latin America there is already a synodal culture that pre-exists Francis' pontificate (and from which the Argentine pope comes); therefore this synodal process could insert itself seamlessly in the life of many local Churches.

But in the United States, for example, nothing has been announced or said at the national level by the bishops' conference (USCCB). Instead, there has been total silence.

The "2021-2024 USCCB Strategic Plan" does not mention the synodal process — not even in passing.

And the same can be said for most dioceses.

Experiences of synodality at the diocesan level are very rare in the United States — a sign of ecclesial underdevelopment, even within a Church that is much more sociologically vital than the Churches in Europe, for example.

A referendum on Francis' pontificate

Let's remember that the pope's push for synodality began much earlier than May 2021. It was actually in October 2015 during an assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

This is a delicate moment for Francis' pontificate. It is true — as he said in the lengthy interview that the Spanish Catholic radio, COPE, aired on September 1st — that "whenever a pope is ill, there is always a breeze or a hurricane of conclave".

In the same interview Francis said the idea of resigning never crossed his mind.

The danger for the pope at this moment does not consist in rumors about the next conclave, but the kind of episcopal referendum that he has called on himself during the last few months.

Cautious and unenthusiastic bishops

First, there was the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, which he issued on July 16. This gives each bishop the authority to decide on the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass in his diocese.

From what we have seen so far, most bishops, even the most ardent defenders of the liturgical reform of Vatican II, have been cautious and quite pragmatic in embracing the pope's push to reduce and limit the use of the pre-conciliar missal.

Second, there is the kind of referendum that in the next weeks and months will give individual local bishops the power to vote: a vote on if and how they want to participate in the "synodal process".

We must be ready for the possibility that, in some local and national Churches, synodality will never arrive, or at least not during this pontificate.

In some cases, this is because the objective, material conditions of the local Church do not allow for a celebration of diocesan and national synods.

In other cases, it is a matter of ecclesial and theological conditions: local clergy, bishops, and other influential ecclesial actors who have never heard of synodality.

Some think that it is a waste of time or a substitute for evangelization.

A history of failure

The synodal process is about "helping develop the synodal conversion of the Church", said Synod secretariat undersecretary, Sister Nathalie Becquart, during the September 7 briefing at the Vatican.

It is to be expected that in the global Catholic Church there will be a wide variety of kinds of reception — and even of non-reception — of Francis' invitation to the synodal process 2021-2023.

This is not new. Historians know well that the history of synods is, from an institutional point of view, also a history of failure.

The Council of Trent mandated that the bishops would hold regular diocesan and metropolitan synods: a provincial synod to be celebrated every third year and a diocesan synod every year (Council of Trent, twenty-fourth session, 11 November 1563, decree de reformatione, chapter II).

A similar norm can be found in the Code of Canon Law of 1917, which then mandated that diocesan synods be held every ten years (CIC 1917, can. 356-362).

Of course, the synods that Trent and the 1917 Code had in mind were different from what Pope Francis is espousing. They are less participatory and less inclusive of the laity. In any case, the regular celebration of local synods never really got off the ground.

It must be noted that John Paul II renounced the idea of frequent synods.

The revised Code of Canon Law, which he promulgated in 1983, reads: "A diocesan synod is to be celebrated in individual particular Churches when circumstances suggest it in the judgment of the diocesan bishop after he has heard the presbyteral council" (can. 461, 1).

Visibility and verifiability

There is a difference between the failure to celebrate synods in the Church after Trent or according to the Code of 1917 and the possible failure, in local Churches, to receive Pope Francis' invitation to participate in the synodal process 2021-2023. It is a difference of visibility and verifiability.

Now it is instantly possible for any Catholic to see the gap that exists between a diocese in Germany and in the United States, for example, or even between dioceses within the same country and even the same state, such as San Diego and San Francisco (both in California, but led by two very different bishops).

It will also be possible to see if the synodal process in the local Church is genuine or just for show.

There is also a difference of ecclesial order.

In the Church of Trent and of the Code of 1917 it was the institutional, hierarchical element that was covering for all manners of sins.

In the contemporary Church, charismatic leadership — at least until recently — was supposed to sustain the Church's credibility, even when it was confronted with the unsustainable.

That institutional and charismatic ecclesial order has been swept away by massive forces: the abuse crisis, the globalization of the Church, and a new media ecosystem, just to name a few.

Francis' pontificate embodies a different ecclesial order. And the success or failure of his pontificate is likely to be determined by the success or failure of this synodal process

Ecclesial synodality relies on both the institutional and the charismatic.

It's the hierarchical component of the Church — the pope and the bishops — that calls and leads the synods. And, yet, there is no synod without a spiritual participation that is stronger than simple obedience to the hierarchy.

Whether it succeeds or fails, this synodal process will contribute to stripping our ecclesial discourse of institutional pretense and deceit in the name of charisma.

But the success or failure of Francis' pontificate is likely to be determined by the success or failure of this synodal process.

• Massimo Faggioli is a Church historian, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University.
• Published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

If the incongruity of making the Church more synodalitous by papal diktat ever occurred to him, neither he nor his lieutenants and mouthpieces have given any evidence of it.

(Yes, I know "synodalitous" is not a word, but if Cardinal Czerny can pass on giving even a working definition of synodality while also reiterating Pope Francis's call for the whole Church to be governed by it, then I can play the "let's make up a word" game, too.)

It isn't the first time he's done something like this.

He ordered the Italian bishops to have a synod after they offered fairly studied refusal to take his subtler hints.

For a guy who's so frequently down on legalism and legal rigorism, he's been doing a lot of fiat legislating. He's issued six letters motu proprio - basically laws the pope makes "of his own initiative" and by decree - in the first four-and-a-half months of 2021.

Some of that has to do with his need to get his ducks in a row before he promulgates his much-ballyhooed Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, but that's kind of the point. His biggest project right now is reforming the Curia.

Pope Francis, who as Mario Cardinal Bergoglio became a front-runner and eventual winner of the horse race for the See of Peter in 2013 after a stirring speech on how the Church needs to be less-self-referential, has ordered all the faithful everywhere in the world to spend the next two years gazing at their navels.

It's like someone said, "You can't get any more self-referential than that," and Francis turned to his nearest handler and told him to hold his maté.

Forget about all that, for just a second.

Pope Francis has talked a great game when it comes to the need for worldwide solidarity in response to the coronavirus emergency.

He's made great gestures, which have genuinely inspired.

Now, he is placing a significant burden of time and resources on the faithful and upon the local Churches, just as they're struggling - some near-desperately - to come out of the 'ronatide pandemic shambles.

The faithful can hardly go to Mass in many places.

Francis wants them to organize synods.

For that reason alone (one could adduce others), contrary to just about everything Francis has been preaching since Day One of his pontificate, the particular Churches in wealthy Western nations will have an outsized influence, while poorer nations and developing countries — especially in the global south — will still have to fight to get their voices heard.

That's if the "consultation" phases mean anything at all.

They may not.

Previous synods have seen consultation via preparatory gatherings, questionnaires, and other means.

There were the 300 young people invited to Rome for the "pre-synod" on youth, to name one.

There were the questionnaires that went to particular Churches, bishops' conferences, and Vatican departments ahead of the 2014 assembly on the family.

Similar questionnaires have been a pretty regular part of preparations for synod assemblies, as a matter of fact.

This isn't exactly re-inventing the wheel.

It isn't the first time a Churchman oversold a product, either.

Talking about the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Christus vivit, which Francis issued after the youth synod a few years back, then-General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri said the document "will constitute for the near future a Magna Carta of youth and vocational pastoral ministry in the various ecclesial communities."

Lots of Churches will basically ignore him, which is bad.

Many won't, and that's worse.

What in heaven's name is he thinking? Continue reading

• Christopher R. Altieri is Executive Editor of The Catholic Herald. He spent more than a dozen years on the news desk at Vatican Radio. He holds a PhD from the Pontifical Gregorian University.

The Church needs spiritual renewal, not just structural, he wrote as the Germany's Catholics prepare to embark on a synodal process.

"We are all aware that we are living not only in an age of change but also of epochal change that raises new and old questions which call for a justified and necessary debate," he wrote in a letter published by the Vatican last Saturday.

"You would have a good ecclesial body that is well organized and even 'modernised' but without soul and evangelical newness; we would live a 'gaseous' Christianity without evangelical bite."

Trying to eliminate tension just by "being in order and in harmony" would "numb and domesticate the heart of our people and diminish and even silence the vital and evangelical strength the Spirit wants to give us," he wrote.

In a study released in September last year, the German bishops identified three themes for the syndoal process to examine: sexual abuse by the clergy and religious; issues such as the lack of vocations and the non-acceptance of Catholic teaching on sexuality; and the lifestyle of priests.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German bishops' conference, has pledged to create "formats for open debates" and to "bind [the German church] to proceedings that facilitate a responsible participation of women and men from our dioceses".

Noting the synodal path is a process that must be guided by the Holy Spirit with patience, the Pope warned that it does not involve a "search for immediate results that generate quick and immediate consequences but are ephemeral due to the lack of maturity or because they do not respond to the vocation to which we are called."

He also noted that true transformation cannot be made as a "reaction to external data or demands".

The Church "seeks to live and make the Gospel transparent and breaks with the gray pragmatism of the daily life of the church in which everything proceeds normally but in reality, faith wears out and degenerates into pettiness," Francis wrote.

"True transformation responds to and calls for demands that are born of our being believers and of the church's own evangelising dynamic."

In his view, it calls for "pastoral conversion," with a central aim of evangelisation. In addition, ensuring the Spirit is central to the process will shape the way debates are conducted.

"The synodal vision does not eliminate contradictions or confusion," he said.

"Evangelisation lived in this way is not a tactic of repositioning the Church in today's world" or "an attempt to recover habits and practices that make sense in other cultural contexts.

"It is true, there are hard times, times of the cross, but nothing can destroy the supernatural joy, which adapts, transforms and always remains," he said.

The Church's primary concern must be to share this joy with others, he said, especially those "who are lying on the doorstep of our churches, in the streets, in prisons and hospitals, squares and cities".

With the rise of xenophobia, indifference and individualism, the pope added, the Church must connect with those who suffer and "awaken in our communities, especially in young people, the passion for his kingdom."

Source

• La Croix
• Crux Now
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: LifeSite