The Perils of Predictions

On October 26, the day of the vote, I posted a blog predicting what the final document that the Synod on the Amazon would say. Ellie Harty, my fellow blogger and editor of SEPA WOC’s Equal wRites, suggested that I write what actually was done “in the room where it happens.” Sorry. That’s my trite cultural reference, not hers. My predictions are in bold. What happened is not. You can access a fuller discussion of each issue by going to last week’s blog post.

My prediction is that this is the last Synod in which no women vote. And after that, the lay members will vote as well. You read it here first. Well, no women voted, except maybe in their hearts. I assume they were in the room, but I haven’t seen that anywhere. Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego is quoted in a long NCR article by Joshua McElwee:

McElroy also said he would like to see more discussion about women being made full voting members in future synods.

Although 33 women attended the synod, they did so as auditors and experts, who do not have a right to vote on the final document.

“I would like to see some discussion on that,” said McElroy, noting that the umbrella group for the male members of Catholic religious orders was represented in the synod hall with voting rights but the umbrella group for female members of religious orders was not.

“The major superiors of men elect representatives and it strikes me it would be possible to have the superiors of women do such a thing,” said the bishop.

Just as we’ve been saying.

Women deacons? Maybe not significant change, despite bishops ready and willing to ordain women deacons and eager to praise women working with their communities. The Synod recommendation was for some way of recognizing women’s ministry as community leaders, which was more or less like my pessimistic expectation. They want to give their deacon deliberations to the commission the Pope agreed to reconvene, with new members. This means more study, as the excellent WOC statement stressed:

WOC continues to challenge the prolonged “study of women,” particularly in light of the scarcity of sacraments in the Amazon and many regions around the world, the repeated calls for ordained ministries for women at the synod gathering, and the tireless and courageous testimonies from WOC members for decades. As Cardinal Michael Czerny said at the Vatican press briefing about the final document, “We cannot keep repeating old responses to urgent problems and expect to get better results.” 

My concern is that the new members may have a more compromised view than some of the old ones, but my prediction is that something will result, not this year.

Married priests? Nobody seems to be calling for another Synod on the ordination of viri probati, so my guess is that there will be a proposal for a council to implement this for the Amazon. … How much emphasis is given to compromise and how much to a prophetic response to the need presented will determine what gets proposed. I vote for the prophets. Well, the prophets got top billing in all the news stories and a whiff of real change. The synod calls for the ordination of current married permanent deacons to “sustain the life of the Christian community through the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the Sacraments in the most remote areas of the Amazon region.” I think the compromisers actually won; this is quite a limited role, but a beginning.

Environment? I expect strong statements critical of deforestation, mining, luxury goods – meat, especially – with condemnation of destructive colonization now and in the past by North Americans, Europeans, and Chinese. The Vatican News summary of the final document left me in awe, frankly. I admit I have not been paying attention to the many presentations on the environment over the three weeks of the synod. There are issues I never anticipated, among others migration, urban ministry, and trafficking; those I did, above, were all covered. For example, economic colonization is alluded to, but less specifically than I did.

The definition of “ecological sin” could have come from the Baltimore Catechism: “an action or an omission against God, against one’s neighbor, the community, the environment” and the whole world is called to stop committing them. That means all of us.

There are proposals for an Amazonian Catholic University to research the faith and the tradition of the region and an Amazonian liturgical rite, similar to the 23 other rites that already exist in Roman Catholicism. This quotation, one among many, encapsulates the understanding and respect for the worship and environment in the Amazon:

there is an emphatic rejection of “colonial-style evangelization” and “proselytism”, in favour of an inculturated proclamation that promotes a Church with an Amazonian face, with full respect for and parity with the history, the culture, and the lifestyle of the local populations. … an ecclesial rite would complement the way in which the Amazonian people take care of the territory and relate to its waters.

For other synods, I remember seeing specific numbers voting on each lengthy item, which I have only seen for viri probati and women deacons. I am hoping that there is much more unanimity among those who could vote on both the ecological and religious ideas.

This document goes to Pope Francis and it has been his practice to write his own document incorporating the recommendations voted on by the Synod. So it’s not over yet.