A dividing line has emerged at the Synod between those who believe this Synod, with its different process and the inclusion of lay delegates, marks a positive development and those who think it is a serious mistake.
The Synod’s sceptics, who are not numerous but have been vocal, are questioning the status of the assembly: how can it be a Synod of Bishops if it includes non-bishop voting members?
By questioning its authority, however, they make it easier to distance themselves from any reforms it adopts.
I raised this issue with the Dominican Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, perhaps the most respected theologian in the Church’s hierarchy.
He studied under Joseph Ratzinger – later Pope Benedict XVI – before becoming a university professor and was the editor of the Catechism before being appointed the Archbishop of Vienna. He has attended many Synods.
Did he think the inclusion of laypeople diminished the Synod’s status?
“I can’t see the problem,” he said at a press briefing. “It remains an episcopal Synod, with the real participation of non-bishops.”
Cardinal Schönborn agreed it has been “enlarged”, but the nature of the Synod has not changed.
He pointed out that lay experts had made important contributions to Synods in the past. There was a stronger connection with lay people, but he saw this as a “positive” thing.
Several bishops have taken to the Synod floor to ask about the nature of the Synod’s structure and authority.
Furthermore, the Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher — a Dominican, like Cardinal Schönborn — raised the point in an interview with the Catholic News Agency: “What is its [the Synod’s] authority? …
“Is it trying to be the bishops like the gathering of the apostles? Or is it trying to be the gathering of all the baptised?” he said.
“I think we need to do probably a lot more thinking about, well, what does all that mean ecclesiologically, canonically, practically?”
The Tablet understands that Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary-general of the Synod office, responded to those questioning the structure and authority of the body on the Synod hall. Continue reading
- Christopher Lamb is a British journalist who is the Rome Correspondent for The Tablet Catholic newspaper.