As many of you know, the Church Universal has entered an historic new phase of being Church with the calling of the worldwide Synod on Synodality. Started in 2021, the synod was originally planned to meet for just two years. However, Pope Francis extended this paradigm-changing process for another year to “promote the understanding of synodality as a constitutive dimension of the Church and help everyone to live it as the journey of brothers and sisters who proclaim the joy of the Gospel.”
He also shared that the synod was being extended, “in order to have a more relaxed period of discernment. The fruits of the synodal process underway are many, but so that they might come to full maturity, it is necessary not to be in a rush.” Accordingly, the Holy Father announced that the upcoming 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops would be held in two moments, two sessions, spaced one year apart.
This past October was the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Francis took this opportunity to reflect on how this event changed the Church. The council — usually referred to as Vatican II — took place from 1962 to 1965. It was convened by Pope Saint John XXIII and brought to conclusion by Pope Saint Paul VI. Bishops and delegates from around the world were called to Rome to begin the process of reforming and modernizing the Church. It produced 16 documents that concern most aspects of Church life. Those who gathered brought forth a new liturgy in the vernacular, or native language, of the hearers.
Another important trajectory of the council was to open the channels of communication with other Christians to continue uniting all the baptized so that we can share real holy communion with one another. It also began the process of opening a dialogue with other world religious communities. In particular, it repudiated the false claim of the collective guilt of all Jews of all time for the death of Jesus.
In marking the Vatican II anniversary, Pope Francis visited the tomb of Pope Saint John XXIII and called the Church of today to move beyond the divisions that continue within the Roman Catholic Church in the reception of the council’s reforms. On that occasion, he said, “Both the ‘progressivism’ that lines up behind the world and the ‘traditionalism’ and ‘moving backwards’ that longs for a bygone world are not evidence of love, but of infidelity.” As he often does, he decried “quarrels, gossip and disputes” over the reception of the council’s reforms, reminding us that they are constitutive of the reality of today’s Church, and that those who still oppose them should “live their faith with joy, without grumbling and criticizing.”
Similarly, the Holy Father called on the Church to enter into the Synod on Synodality so that we can “become experts in the art of encounter.” He added, “Not so much by organizing events or theorizing about problems, as in taking time to encounter the Lord and one another. Time to devote to prayer and Adoration, this prayer that we neglect so much: to adore, to make room for Adoration, listening to what the Spirit wants to say to the Church. Time to look others in the eye and listen to what they have to say, to build rapport, to be sensitive to the questions of our sisters and brothers, to let ourselves be enriched by the variety of charisms, vocations and ministries.”
When Pope Francis announced the change to the synod timeline, he also announced that the upcoming General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops would be preceded by an Ecumenical Prayer Vigil. “We will entrust to God the work of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,” he said, adding that “the path to Christian unity and the path of synodal conversion of the Church are linked.” This prayer vigil will take place in Saint Peter’s Square on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. Young people from throughout the world are invited to this event as well as to special programs and prayer events led by the Taizé Community that are being planned through the weekend. “I invite brothers and sisters of all Christian denominations to participate in this gathering of the People of God,” he said.
May we hear the whisperings of the Holy Spirit, by listening to the hopes, dreams and faith journeys of all our brothers and sisters related to us by Baptism, who listen with us to the same Spirit!
Father Joseph D. Wallace is diocesan director of Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs and pastor of Christ the Redeemer Parish, Atco.
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