‘How should we be Church together?’

In the past few months, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, the relator general of the 16th Annual General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, has given some interesting interviews on the progress of the Synod on Synodality, as well as the thorny issue of women’s ordination.

Cardinal Hollerich, 66, a member of the Japanese Jesuit province – having lived there before his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI as Archbishop of Luxembourg – is a member of Pope Francis’ council of cardinals advisers. As realtor general, he serves alongside Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod on Synodality.

As the overseers, Cardinal Hollerich and Cardinal Grech are making the final preparations for the October synod. Cardinal Hollerich has presented the working document, titled “Instrumentum Laboris,” emphasizing that the synodal conversations are centered on the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

“I would say it is taking up Vatican II again, taking up ‘Lumen Gentium’ [the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church] and looking at possible consequences of ‘Lumen Gentium’ for the life and the function of the Church today,” Cardinal Hollerich said in an interview with “America” magazine. “We had this document of Vatican II, but we continued as if nothing had happened. Now is the time to reflect [on the fact that] if the people of God are made up of all baptized persons, what does this imply? How should we be Church together?”

Both Cardinal Hollerich and Cardinal Grech place great emphasis on one of the primary fruits of the synod: the process of becoming a listening Church. I think, reflecting on their views – especially as we have now entered a time of national elections in our country – we are constantly looking at polls as our barometer for which way the election is moving. We could get the impression that this is what the synod is about.

However, Cardinal Grech said that the Church “is not interested in surveyed polls. The Church is always and only listening to the voice of God.” The synod is a vehicle to discern the voice of God by listening to one another. He said that God speaks to us through Sacred Scripture, certainly, “but also through the sense of faith of the people of God, the voice of pastors and the charism of theologians.” 

He added that synod findings thus far reveal that the process of listening “has been always and only in order to seek, with the certainty perfectible tools we have at our disposal, what God wants to say to the Church in this hour of its journey.”

Cardinal Hollerich added that the reports coming from bishop conferences across the world “unanimously testify, without hiding the struggles and difficulties of synodal conversion, also a feeling of joy and gratitude.”

When asked by “America” magazine about what the synod findings are saying about the role of women in the Church, Cardinal Hollerich said, “That is the most important point for the Church today. If women do not feel comfortable in the Church, we have failed our living as Christians. Genesis tells us that God created man in his own image and likeness, woman and man he created them. Which means that if I do not respect women, if I think that they, for whatever reason, are less competent because they are women, it is a scandal today, and it cannot be accepted.”

When, in a different interview, he was asked about ordaining women, he responded that the issue is not yet settled. It is “not an infallible doctrinal decision.” He added, “The way I see it, most bishops are in favor of a greater role for women in the Church. I am in favor of women feeling fully equal in the Church. And we will also work toward this.”

Cardinal Hollerich was also asked if Pope Francis would allow women priests. “It’s very difficult to say. The pope is sometimes good for surprises. But I would actually say no. Shortly before the synod, there was a ‘dubia’ from a few cardinals. They asked whether John Paul II’s rejection of the priesthood of women was binding for the Church. Francis replied very wisely: It is binding, but not forever.’ And he also said that theology would have to discuss further.”

Cardinal Hollerich cautioned about pushing too hard for this change, because “if you push too much, you won’t achieve much. You have to be cautious, take one step at a time, and then you might be able to go very far.”

Father Joseph D. Wallace is diocesan director of Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs and pastor of Christ the Redeemer Parish, Atco.