Synod FAQ

The word ‘synod’ is not a typical word we use every day.  Therefore, hearing that there is a “Synod on Synodality” transpiring in the Church likely requires some explanation!  The term ‘Synod’ is a revered word in the Tradition of the Church that refers to the entire People of God journeying together with the Lord Jesus in communion, participation and mission.  In the words of one of the great fathers of the Church, St. John Chrysostum, “Church and Synod are synonymous.”  In other words, the very nature and essence of the Church is the faithful journeying together with the Lord Jesus as the People of God on a pilgrimage of faith toward eternity.

Bearing in mind that ‘synod’ refers to our journey together with the Lord, we can hopefully then appreciate that the Synod on Synodality is the People of God coming together to reflect precisely on our common journey and asking questions like: How are we doing on our journey?  How can we be more active participants on our journey together?  What can we do to invite others to join us on our journey?

An image that may help us understand is the following.  Imagine a happily married couple that truly lives their life as a journey together.  Every evening they go for a walk and discuss everything going on in their family life.  And among the conversations they have, they also discuss the very importance of their evening walk itself, where they have the opportunity to share and dialogue.  This is similar to the synod on synodality, we are on a walk together as a Church, and we are meeting to discuss the importance of our walk together and how we can do it even better!

The Synod on Synodality serves as a reminder to us of the importance of journeying together and provides opportunity to consider how we can be a more synodal Church, namely, to walk together more actively in communion, participation, and mission.

The formal theme of the Synod is entitled: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.”  We have spoken elsewhere of the meaning of the synodal Church, so let’s unpack here the key terms, communion, participation and mission.

Communion, participation and mission are in fact the three vital pillars for a synodal Church.  Each of these fundamental pillars orients and enriches the other two.

The communion we share finds its deepest roots in the communion of the Most Holy Trinity.  Together, we are all inspired to listen to the Word of God through the living Tradition of the Church.

Participation signifies that we are all called to engage in deep and respectful listening to one another.  The entire community is called to pray, listen, analyze, dialogue, discern and offer advice on making pastoral decisions.  Participation also means striving to include all members of the community, even those on the periphery.

Finally, the Mission of the Church is to evangelize!  Our mission is to witness to the love of God in our journey together and to invite people into the Family of God.

Combining the pillars together we can make the following prayer: Most Holy Trinity, gather us together in communion with You and with one another; help us to listen, dialogue and discern well with all members of the community, so that we can be more effective evangelizers, people who joyfully witness to the love of God and invite others to join us on the beautiful journey of faith.

A beautiful Scriptural image of synodality is found in Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God. There are three principal actors in this setting: Jesus, the crowd, and the apostles.  Jesus is the first and absolute protagonist.   He pays special attention to the abandoned and destitute, He offers freedom from sin and conversion to hope in the name of the Father and in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is interested in conversing with the widest possible audience.  The crowd represents all those in dialogue with Jesus.  They include the foreigner – the Canaanite and Samaritan woman for example, they also include the outcast such as the man born blind, dismissed as being outside the perimeter of God’s grace.  The common trait that transforms the crowd in their interaction with Jesus is faith.  Thirdly, we have the apostles.  The apostles have been called by the Lord and have the role of facilitating and mediating authoritatively the crowd’s relationship to revelation.

Each of these protagonists are necessary!  If Jesus is removed, then someone else takes His place and the Church is merely a contract between the apostles and crowd which results in a political game.  If the apostles are removed, then the relationship to truth is broken and the crowd gets exposed to myth or ideology about who Jesus is and what He revealed. And, if the crowd is removed, the apostles’ relationship to Jesus becomes merely self-referential and sectarian, and evangelization ceases to take place.

The Synod on Synodality is a very similar dynamic.  Namely, we are attempting to facilitate encounters with Jesus Christ for as many people as possible.  We want to hear all the voices in the crowd so that we can put them in touch with the Lord.  And we will reflect and discern in the context of the faith that has been handed down to us from the apostles in order to faithfully preserve the truth of the revelation entrusted to us by the Lord Jesus.

As we ponder our journey as a synodal Church, we can ask the question, why are we being called by God at this particular time to hold a synod on synodality. In the preparatory document to the synod, a number of different reasons are given.  In the first place, our synodal journey is taking place during challenging times!  The pandemic has illustrated the nature of our global community but has also exacerbated the level of fragmentation and isolation that exists in society.

There are also great concerns regarding the challenges faced by the poor and the manner in which we exhibit responsible stewardship over God’s creation.  Further, the Church too is facing great challenges from within on account of our own lack of faith and corruption.

All of the above has contributed to various fractures that exist within and outside of the Church, and which impact synodality, or our capacity to journey together in communion, participation and mission.

In light of all of these challenges, our Holy Father Pope Francis, is calling for the Church to be renewed under the action of the Holy Spirit and through the power of listening to the Word of God.  Gathered in the power of the Holy Spirit, and grounded in the Word of God, we listen, dialogue and discern together in order to be inspired by the Holy Spirit to hear what God is asking of us as a Church in these challenging times.  How can we proceed forward in the best possible way to be the ecclesial family God has called us to be!

The synodal path, or our journey together in synodal consultation, is a kind of construction site or pilot experience to assist us with synodal conversion.  In other words, the very experience of the synodal process in the Diocese of Corpus Christi is intended to lead us down a road of becoming a more synodal Church.

In fact, the fundamental question of the entire Synod is: “How is our ‘journeying together’ happening today in our particular Church?  What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our ‘journey together?’”

We are invited to consider these questions from a variety of different levels or perspectives. We can speak of a personal perspective, e.g., how can I be a better co-pilgrim on the journey; or, we can speak from the level of our family which is called a domestic church - what practices can our family do to journey better together; or, from the level of our local parish - what can we do better as a faith community to journey with others; or, we can even reflect from the perspective of our diocese, or even from the level of the universal Church.

At each level, and in consideration of the aforementioned fundamental question, we are invited to listen to the Holy Spirit and consider: How can we be better listeners?  How can we participate more actively in our faith journey together?  How can we enhance and grow in the way we pray and worship?  How can we be better evangelizers?

The synodal path involves asking ourselves all of these questions and listening to the Holy Spirit to show us the path forward.

The objective of the synod is primarily to listen, as the entire People of God, to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church!  We accomplish this by listening together to the Word of God and the living Tradition of the Church, and then by listening to one another, including those on the margins, in order to discern the signs of the times.

The purpose of the synod is not to produce documents, but as Pope Francis described, “to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create a bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands.” (Pope Francis, Address at the Opening of Synod of Bishops on Young People, 3 Oct. 2018)

Therefore, by listening to the Holy Spirit speak to us, whether in quiet interior inspirations or through the voice of others, we hope to discern the will of God for the Church that will enable us to grow in communion, participation and mission.

In the Vademecum, the following pitfalls or temptations to be avoided are listed.

• The temptation of wanting to lead ourselves instead of being led by God.
• The temptation to focus on ourselves and our own immediate concerns.
• The temptation to see only problems and have a complaint session.
• The temptation of focusing only on structures.
• The temptation to lose focus on the goal of discerning how God calls us to walk forward together.
• The temptation of conflict and division.
• The temptation to treat the synod as a kind of parliament
• The temptation to listen only to those who are already involved in Church activities.

The synodal process in the diocese of Corpus Christi will take place through three particular phases.  The first phase will take place through the diocesan Encounter sessions.  The Encounter sessions are synodal consultations intended to include the widest possible audience.  Participants will be gathered together from all of the parishes of the Diocese and from various special groups such as those in prison and the homeless.  The Encounter sessions will be prayerful consultations, rooted in the Word of God and oriented to the express purpose of listening to the Holy Spirit speaking to us regarding a number of important synodal themes.  In groups of six, participants will listen, dialogue and discern together.  Each table will produce a synthesis of the ideas and thoughts shared, and each person will be asked the following question at the end: Name one insight you heard today that you believe can be attributed to the Holy Spirit?

Following the Encounter sessions, all of the feedback will be collected, collated and synthesized.  The resulting synthesis will then be utilized in the second phase of the synodal process called the Discernment Sessions.  In the Discernment session, table groups will reconvene in a prayerful setting and go over the synthesis from the Encounter Sessions.  This will enable the group to also hear what the People of God in others parts of the Diocese of Corpus Christi contributed.  Then, participants will be invited to once again listen to the Holy Spirit and share on the sharing!  In other words, it will be an opportunity to confirm the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through the various ideas presented, and also to perhaps contribute new thoughts and ideas.  Following the Discernment Sessions, the feedback will once again be collated and synthesized in order to prepare a ten page document that will be the contribution of the Diocese of Corpus Christi to be submitted to the USCCB.

The third phase of the synodal process in the Diocese of Corpus Christi is the culminating event of the diocesan phase of the Synod.  On Saturday May 7, Mass will be celebrated to formally close the diocesan phase of the Synod.  Following Mass, there will be a gathering in St. Joseph’s Hall at the Cathedral, to reflect on how we can continue forward on the path of synodality as a local Church.

Every Diocese was given freedom by the Vatican to decide what areas they would like to focus the synodal conversation.  General guidelines and potential themes were provided by the Vatican Synodal committee so these were used to form the basis of the reflection themes used in the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

There are six primary areas of reflection.  The first is entitled, “Companions on the Journey” and is based on the fundamental question of the entire Synod, namely, “What steps does the Holy Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our journey together?”  The second theme is called “Listening” which is the first step in the synodal way, but requires an open mind and heart, without prejudice.  The third theme is called “Being Heard” and invites us to speak openly with courage, freedom, truth and charity.  The fourth theme is entitled “Celebration” and reminds us that it is only possible to journey together if it is based on communal listening to the Word of God and the celebration of the Eucharist.  The fifth theme is “Co-Responsibility for our Common Mission and Sharing Authority and Participation.”  Here, we are invited to reflect on the fact that synodality is at the service of the mission of the Church and all members are called to participate.  A synodal Church is a participatory and co-responsible Church. (PD 30)

Finally, the final theme is really the most important one and is the reason we are all gathering together in synodal consultation!  We are hear to listen to the Holy Spirit!  The final theme invites participants to prayerfully reflect on the entire synodal consultation and share one insight that they think can be attributed to the Holy Spirit.

I sometimes hear people ask the question, “What is the synod really about?”  “What are they hoping to accomplish?”

I think there are a few answers to these questions.  The first is to say that one of the main pragmatic goals of the synod is precisely to awaken within us an awareness that the Church is synodal, namely, it is the People of God journeying together with the Lord toward our eternal destiny of communion with God in heaven.  In fact, by our very gathering together to listen to the Holy Spirit through the Word of God and even through one another, we are having a concrete experience of the synodal Church and that has a great value in and of itself.

On the local level, be it that of the family which is called the domestic Church, the parish, or the diocese, the hope is that the synodal experience will lead us to becoming a more synodal Church.  By listening together to the Holy Spirit, how can we carry forward concretely in a spirit of listening, discernment and participation so that we can grow in our communion with God and one another, and live better the mission of the Church to evangelize.

From the perspective of the universal Church, our contribution to the Synod on Synodality will be captured in our ten page summary report or synthesis of the synodal consultation in our Diocese.  The ten page synthesis from the Diocese of Corpus Christi will be submitted to the USCCB who in turn will prepare a synthesis for all of the dioceses of the United States.  Eventually, the various summary feedback from across the world will go to the Vatican where it will help form the preparatory document for the Synod on Synodality to be held in Rome in October of 2023.

The Encounter Session is the name of the first phase of the synodal consultation taking place in the Diocese of Corpus Christi.  The name, “Encounter” was chosen because the primary purpose is for us to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Word of God, the Church and through one another.  As such, the hope of the Encounter session is that it will be a prayerful experience of communion with God and one another, that leads us to listen, discern and participate.

In striving to achieve this prayerful setting of encounter with the Holy Spirit and one another, the journey begins with a guided Scriptural reflection on the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  There are many synodal themes present in the passage and participants are intended to immerse themselves in the synodal way of the Church by reflecting on the passage.  Participants are then invited to share one insight with their group, composed of six people.

Following the Scripture reflection, we move through our six synodal themes.  Each theme contains a passage from Scripture, a passage from the synod documents provided by the Church, and a series of reflection questions, followed by a period of prayerful silence and then sharing among group members.  The last question of each theme asks us how the Holy Spirit is inviting us, as a People of God journeying together, to grow in that particular area.

Finally, the last theme is the all important one of the Holy Spirit.  Each participant is invited to share one inspiration that they believe is coming from the Holy Spirit.  That inspiration could be something we heard from someone else, it could be from our own reflection, or it could be an idea that came to us while listening to someone else sharing.  Every member of the group will be asked to write down their one idea.

At the end of the Encounter Session, the participant feedback will be submitted to the Diocese so that it can be incorporated into a summary report.