Re-forming the Church

Pope Francis is safe in Iraq as you read this, I hope. His venturing out to such an unstable place is a testament to his willingness to take risks for the good of the people, Christian and Islamic alike. America and NCR will have reporters covering this trip and generating stories about this remarkable outreach; I hope they are safe as well. 

Francis is also willing to take risks in Rome. He’s in the midst of Re-Forming the Curia, which I don’t think I have written much about. I know it’s more substantial than bureaucratic, but something else more interesting always seemed to appear. Robert Mickens writes about it again so I decided to also write a few words about it and other Re-Forming initiatives at this moment around the world.

First, the Curia. Mickens admits that he doesn’t know when the document announcing the Re-Formation will arrive, but he sees retirements like that of Cardinal Sarah presaging the new leadership Francis wants in place to implement his changes. Mickens’ headline is a tease; his speculations about leadership only includes male clerics. I am interested to know whether women will be involved, as the appointment of Sister Becquart suggests. Jesuit Thomas Reese writes about women appointed to the Congregation on Religious (CICLSAL), and presents some other offices where it’s logical to appoint women, though he doesn’t name names. 

Second, Synods. One is coming up in the Fall of 2022 at the Vatican on Synodality itself, and Sister Becquart will have a major role in planning and running it. Colleen Dulle at Sacred Heart University provides a good description of the process, which we saw at work about the Amazon: 

a synodal model of leadership [is] a model in which bishops and lay people speak freely together about the issues affecting them and where they believe the Spirit is calling them, and, through discussion and voting, reach decisions together.

Synodality is not necessarily a process of democratization, as final decisions still rest with the synod of bishops and, ultimately, the pope, but embracing co-responsibility between the bishops and lay people does help “overcome clericalism and arbitrary impositions” and gives “special attention to the effective participation of the laity in discernment and decision making, favoring the participation of women” (Querida Amazonia 88, 92).  

This gets at the strengths and weaknesses of the model. It is the one Francis prefers and is being adopted around the world. Some women are involved in its leadership. 

1. Germany is most advanced in its Synod process; I have written about that before. Recently the bishops there elected Beate Gilles, a theologian, to be the secretary-general of their conference. She is the first noncleric and woman to be so elected, and her gender was not even an issue. There is a great controversy about cover-ups of sexual abuse, so Gilles immediately confronts a difficult problem; to say that too often confronts women in leadership is unnecessary. 

2. Ireland is also developing plans for a Synod. Jesuit theologian Gerry O’Hanlon spoke to the Irish hierarchy about Synods extending “to all of the faithful, including, of course the laity, who are called to that kind of walking together. And for that to happen, we need a culture of open discussion and honest debate. We need that word that Francis uses: parrhesia.” The definition I like from Wikipedia means le “one who speaks the truth to power.” Go forward with it, Ireland. 

3. And even in the United States, there will be a Synod, in Dallas. Bishop Edward J. Burns notes that the last council was called “in 1934 by Bishop Joseph P. Lynch, who was the third bishop of Dallas and ‘the longest serving bishop in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States.’” So it’s about time for the ten-year process once again. No mention yet of women in leadership, but we can hope.

Third, there’s another appointment of an American Cardinal to the Vatican group that selects bishops. To characterize the placement of Cardinal Joseph Tobin to the Congregation as “good news” is an understatement, both for the future of the USCCB in this country but also for the world church. I like Tobin because he is “the kind of leader Francis wants — someone close to the people, not a culture warrior, and with a heart for the poor and the marginalized,” as Michael Sean Winters says. I have observed the same since Tobin has been in Newark as Archbishop. Winters’ conclusion, “We can count the days — OK, maybe the months — until Team Francis has a majority of the bishops voting at the bishops’ conference plenary meetings!” is my sentiment exactly, especially in this week that the USCCB has again generated coverage that once again embarrasses us before the nation. I don’t have to write about that; I will keep in your mind some of the positive news instead.