Catholic conservatives gatecrash National Synod meeting

Conservative Catholics attempted to gatecrash the invitation-only National Synod meeting in Wellington last weekend.

Before the meeting, a request was made to the bishops asking that at least one independent person might observe, but the request was declined.

However, a statement received by CathNews says that nevertheless, two people who thought they should be at the event walked in “unchallenged”.

They were present only a short time before a woman asked them to leave, but said they would do so only if asked by a bishop.

The two unnamed gatecrashers complied with the request to leave the meeting.

“A woman asked them to leave. The observers said they would comply if asked by a bishop (there were several present) but this spokesperson seemed to believe that as a ‘woman of the Church’ she had the necessary authority, as if as one of this new category of ‘women of the Church’ she was equivalent to a bishop,” reads the statement.

In a statement to CathNews, national Catholic communications adviser David McLoughlin says the agreed process would be disrupted had uninvited people attended the national Synod.

“People were unable to attend the National Synodal Hui as observers because the Hui was for invited people from each of the six dioceses.

“Those people were chosen to ensure the hui was attended by a broad range of local people with a good grasp of the voices of their local churches, as gleaned through the diocesan Synod public engagement process that had taken place in the preceding months,” says McLoughlin.

He says the time for all people to be involved and be heard was during the earlier diocesan phase.

“There was wide publicity of the diocesan/parish phase, not just in Church newsletters and announcements but also through extensive paid advertising online via Stuff, Facebook and Instagram,” says McLoughlin.

He confirmed no new material outside the diocesan syntheses was introduced.

However, the gatecrashers say they tried to get involved at a diocesan level but “uninvited parishioners were sent away”.

The gatecrashers’ motivation for attending the national phase of the Synod process is because they have grave concerns about the conduct of the Synod and its potential impact on Christ’s Church. They are concerned the already published diocesan synod documents seemed to advocate radical change within the Church.

They say that Catholics now seem to be able to develop new doctrine without recognised theological reflection.

“Dioceses seemed increasingly free to create their own rules and doctrine,” they claim.

The group says that the Synodal method used to synthesise the individual diocesan level responses was “captured by factional interest groups”.

They question if the Synodal process is truly representative and that some factions seem to have privileged positions within the process.

“Only a small proportion of Catholics nationally have contributed to the synod, and those who did contribute seem to be dominated by elderly Europeans, especially females.

“New ethnic groups are rapidly filling our pews, but their synodal contributions seem to be minimal,” they say.

About 80 representatives from Catholic parishes across New Zealand had been invited to the meeting.

They, the bishops and only one or two priests came together to produce a final document for contribution to the Synod on Synodality.

When published, the New Zealand contribution will go to an Oceanian Synod meeting where a further synthesis will then be forwarded to Rome in time for the 2023 Synod of Bishops meeting.

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