One of the major cultural shifts in Western society in the 20th century has been the decline – in many places, the disappearance – of the culture of deference. Many reasons have been advanced for this shift in how people relate in society, but all are agreed that it has occurred. What is a culture Read more
Pope Francis shared his vision for the Church in the Third Millennium with the members of the Synod of Bishops during their meeting in Rome in October 2015. The Synod has a meeting every two or three years and, up until the election of the first-ever Jesuit pope, they were choreographed events attended by selected Read more
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has released a report entitled ‘First Assembly Proposals from Small Groups and Individual Members’ described as the ‘fruits’ of the first of two Plenary Council assemblies. These published ‘proposals’ of the First Assembly of the Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church are neither ‘assembly proposals’ nor ‘fruits’ of the assembly. Read more
By now we should have adjusted to the idea and talk of a synodal Church and the meeting of a Synod of Bishops to discuss synodality. Pope Francis dropped the proposal out of the blue, really, last October, although he had been hinting at the notion for years. We have a date and place, critical Read more
Every human institution – be it a family, a village, a company or a worldwide Church – must rely on certain virtues that are common to its members if it is to survive. This is the truism that is at the basis of every system of ethics – both those that have been written down Read more
Throughout the Catholic Church, something is stirring about the way we are governed. For many of us in the Church and across society, we don’t much care about that subject; we long ago made peace with being parts of communities, organizations, nations and even families where we just get on with our lives and leave Read more
This is a Synod on synodality, we were told. My first reaction was: what is synodality? “Synodality means walking together,” we were then told. But this had to be explained several times, and not only to those less educated. Synodality is a strange word, even for the more literate. So, I have a problem with Read more
A Catholic leader has said that his archdiocese won’t take part in the two-year global synodal process, saying that it would run “the risk of becoming ideological.” Archbishop Wolfgang Haas of Vaduz, Liechtenstein, announced his decision on Oct. 15, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. “I am of the opinion that in our small Read more
The worldwide Catholic Church has now officially embarked on the “synodal process 2021-2023”. Pope Francis launched the project at the Vatican on October 10 with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and bishops around the globe (though not all of them) inaugurated the process at the diocesan level the following Sunday with celebrations in their Read more
The Vatican on Tuesday launched a website and smartphone app to help Catholics pray for the success of the two-year process culminating in the 2023 synod on synodality. At prayforthesynod.va, Catholics can find information in English, Spanish, and other languages about how to support the synod through prayer. “This website, together with the app Click Read more