According to US Bishop Daniel Flores, October’s Synod on Synodality aims to address human reality – not abstractions.
Flores (pictured) is a member of the global assembly’s preparatory commission.
He says the Synod aims to share Christ and his Gospel more effectively. We can’t respond with the Gospel if we don’t know the reality people face, he says.
“We can’t respond to the air.”
He says the synod is designed to teach Catholics to speak with one another – not past one another..
“It’s that basic … Sometimes we’re not even addressing the same issues, even though we’re using similar words.
“There’s a need to hear, think and pray, and hopefully the synod will suggest … we can integrate certain ways by which respectfully things can be spoken without fear.
“The church can afford to be realistic about what people think – there’s no need to be afraid of what people think,” Flores says.
“There are voices in the church that are also the voices of our own history, of our own tradition, of our own previous experience — and that too has to be taken into account,” he added.
“If we do this right … in our own local churches, we can develop a style of listening and decision-making that involves more hearing from people ‘in the trenches,’ …” he says.
Issues of importance to the universal church are being discussed “ultimately so we can be effective in the missionary work of the church,” he said.
“The communion of the church is at the heart of it — how we talk to each other, how we work together, how we listen to each other, how we make decisions in the local church and even the universal church” he said.
“There’s a way to do that that is uniquely in keeping with the way of Christ, and that’s what the synod will be asking about.
“It’s really a ‘how’ question: How can we do this?”
Flores is also leading the US Bishops Conference on the synod process.
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