Michael Whelan sm – Speaker’s Notes, 13 Nov 2024

1. A Catalyst forum

In 2022 we completed several years of discernment concerning our mission. This discernment process – emerging from our more than 25 years of experience, prayer and reflection together – sharpened our focus and deepened our appreciation of our call to promote conversation. In part, this is what we came up with:

“Conversation is a process whereby we encounter others in a mutual search for what is true.

Conversation requires a willingness and ability

• to listen at depth for what is happening within me and between us,
• to refrain from preempting the outcome,
• to be transformed through this encounter with the other.

Conversation is much more than mere talk or discussion or debate or argument.

Conversation is at its best when the participants are together actively seeking to submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” 2   

 2. Historical context – 5 interdependent themes:

• a. Tradition is more than custom: ““The Church has rules or precepts which may have been quite effective in their time, but no longer have the same usefulness for directing and shaping people’s lives. Saint Thomas Aquinas pointed out that the precepts which Christ and the apostles gave to the people of God ‘are very few’ [S. Th., I-II, q. 107, a. 4]” (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (November 2013), #43).
  b. Dialogue emerged in the early part of the 20th century as a major topic for consideration
  c. Ecclesiology emerged at Vatican II in a new way. Two particular concepts have become very significant: Pilgrim People and Collegiality
  d. Interconnectedness and relationship have also emerged as significant factors for us all. We human beings are constituted in our humanity through a fourfold relating – for better and for worse:
• With the “more than”
• With ourselves
• With other people
•  With the events and things of our world
  e. Unity in diversity has emerged as both danger and opportunity
  Pope Francis has a lovely statement in a recent reflection on the place of literature in the formation of the clergy. When reading literature we encounter people we would normally not encounter, “We step out of ourselves to enter into their lives, we sympathize with their struggles and desires, we see things through their eyes and eventually we become companions on their journey” [Pope Francis, Letter on the role of literature in formation (17 July 2024)].

In a way, this summarizes all the foregoing and introduces us to the simple but profound vision of synodality.

3. The Final Document – 4 key interdependent words

1. Baptism

“The identity of the People of God flows from Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This identity is lived out as a call to holiness and a sending out in mission, inviting all peoples to accept the gift of salvation (cf. Mt 28:18-19).” (#15) 

2. Conversation (dialogue)

“Conversation in the Spirit is a tool that, even with its limitations, enables listening in order to discern “what the Spirit is saying to the Churches” (Rev. 2:7). Its practice has elicited joy, awe and gratitude and has been experienced as a path of renewal that transforms individuals, groups, and the Church. The word “conversation” expresses more than mere dialogue: it interweaves thought and feeling, creating a shared vital space. That is why we can say that conversion is at play in conversation. This is an anthropological reality found in different peoples and cultures, who gather together in solidarity to deal with and decide matters vital to the community. Grace brings this human experience to fruition. Conversing “in the Spirit” means living the experience of sharing in the light of faith and seeking God’s will in an evangelical atmosphere within which the Holy Spirit’s unmistakable voice can be heard.” (#45) 

3. Unity in diversity (relationships)

“The whole Church has always been comprised of a plurality of peoples and languages as well as of local Churches. In turn, these local Churches have always possessed their own rites and disciplines as well as their own distinctive theological and spiritual heritage; so too, their own vocations, charisms and ministries at the service of the common good. Unity in diversity is realised by Christ, the cornerstone, and the Holy Spirit, the source of all harmony (1). This unity in diversity is precisely what is meant by the catholicity of the Church. The plurality of the Churches sui iuris, of which the synodal process highlighted the richness, is a sign of this very catholicity. The Assembly asks that we continue along the path of the encounter, mutual understanding and exchange of gifts that nourish the communion of a Church of Churches.” (#38)
“(I)nteraction by people from diverse cultural contexts can also lead to distorted relationships that are not in keeping with the Gospel. Throughout history, relational failures have turned into structures of sin (cf. SRS 36), which in turn shape the way people think and act. In particular, structures of sin create obstacles and generate fear. We need to face these in order to set out on the road to the conversion of relationships in the light of the Gospel. (#53)
“(B)eing open to the world allows one to discover that the Spirit has sown the seeds of the Gospel in every corner of the planet, in every culture and in every human group. These seeds bear fruit in the ability to live healthy relationships, cultivate mutual trust and forgiveness and overcome fear of diversity. They also give life to welcoming communities, promote an economy respectful of people and the planet and bring about reconciliation after conflict. (#56) 

4. Listening

“We felt His presence in our midst as we lived conversation in the Spirit and listened to one another: the presence of He, who, in bestowing the Holy Spirit, continues to build among his People a unity that establishes harmony amidst differences.” (#1)
There are more than 50 references to listening! Apart from conjunctions, definite articles and prepositions, the word listen (listening etc) is one of the most used references in the whole document. 

Other key words

– apart from the obvious ones of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), synodality, Church, authority, organization, decision, harmony, unity etc – include:
    • Discernment – especially “ecclesial discernment”
    • The poor
    • Encounter
    • Mission
    • Transparency
    • Accountability
    • Evaluation
    • Conversion

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(1). The realization of this truth in practice may be the real genius of synodality.

(End of Michael’s notes)
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Other conversations on this topic:

Geraldine’s podcast series from the Synod:
    https://plenary-matters.zencast.website/

Eureka Street article by Joanna Thyer:
    https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/the-quiet-revolution-in-womens-roles-in-the-church

Book Suggestion:
    Reforming the church: a synodal way of proceeding
    by Serena Noceti; Paulist Press

The Synod final document, in English:
https://www.synod.va/en/news/final-document-of-the-xvi-assembly.html