Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation

412 The Australasian Catholic Record Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation Elissa Roper* Introduction: Synodality Promotes Transformation The contemporary Catholic Church is experiencing a breakthrough into a fuller stage of self-understanding, and of self-appropriation as the Body of Christ, known as ‘synodality’. It is an opening to the possibility of a new experience of transformation on all levels of being Church. Synodality is being promoted and provoked by the papacy of Pope Francis,1 which has been accompanied by the progressive uncovering of sexual abuse within the Church, prevalent and deeply wounding. Both synodality and the scandal of abuse demand the transformation of all members, processes and structures of the Church. With this article I intend to illustrate how the key elements of the emerging synodal Church are oriented to transformation, and how this transformation is effective at the three levels of ecclesial life as individual, community, and universal Church. Synodality as an ecclesiology is yet to be expressed clearly and systematically; however, several themes are emerging as foundational to the task of building a synodal Church. I shall focus upon three in order to demonstrate synodality as commitment to transformation: journeying, bridgebuilding, and responsibility. * 1. Mrs Elissa Roper is a doctoral candidate at the Yarra Theological Union. Her thesis has a working title of ‘The Catholic Church as Synodal: Towards a Contemporary Ecclesiology’. Elissa is a member of the Victorian Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission, and the Archdiocese of Melbourne’s Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission. Elissa’s skills from her previous career in communications network engineering are used in her role for the Sisters of Mercy as a coordinator for their Program of Theology in Papua New Guinea. Elissa and her husband have four children. Twitter: @elissa_roper. Blog: onwiththesynod.wordpress.com. ‘I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them.’ Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (Apostolic Exhortation; Strathfield, NSW: St Pauls, 2013), #3. Hereafter EG. Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation 413 This article will employ the theology of Bernard Lonergan and the Transcendental Method of intentional consciousness as the most appropriate means of engaging with synodality and its demands upon philosophical and theological thinking. Concrete examples of the paradigm of synodality at work in the life of the contemporary Church will be drawn from recent Diocesan Synods in the United States of America, and from the words and actions of Pope Francis. These are instructive for Australia’s own Plenary Council, not only in practical terms but theologically, through a demonstration of the overall aims of synodality, which are: building up processes that are open and oriented to transformation, and that facilitate the working out of this through ongoing conversion; being led by the Spirit, penitent, merciful and loving; and, fundamentally, enabling the Church as Pilgrim People to answer the call of taking responsibility as the Body of Christ.2 Transformation Transformation is not simply change but something far larger. I hesitate to attempt to define it and instead offer the words of Rosemary Haughton, who describes transformation as a ‘total personal revolution’; it begins with repentance and rejection of sin, the desired ‘dissolution of all that ordinary people ordinarily value in themselves or others’, and it results in the ‘birth of the whole human being’ in a process that is ‘at once personal and communal’.3 These words point to the power of transformation as being at the core of 2. 3. It is helpful at this point to note the difference between a Diocesan Synod and a Plenary Council. At a local (i.e., diocesan) level, the Church can hold a Diocesan Synod, which does not have legislative power. The purpose of a Diocesan Synod is to ‘assist the Bishop in the exercise of the office proper to him, namely, that of governing the Christian community’. Congregation for Bishops and Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Instruction on Diocesan Synods (1997), http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cbishops/ documents/rc_con_cbishops_doc_20041118_diocesan-synods-1997_en.html. A Plenary Council unites a large geographical region, bringing together a Conference of Bishops (and advisors) to reflect upon local issues and propose legislation for the future. The decrees of a Plenary Council, once approved by the Vatican, are implemented for the Church in that region. On Diocesan Synods, see Canon Law Society of America, Code of Canon Law (1983), canons 460–8, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P1M.HTM. On Plenary Councils, see canons 439–46, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P1K.HTM. Other forms of ‘institutional synodality’ (i.e., walking together in communion within the institutional framework of the Church) include Parish Pastoral Councils and Ecumenical Councils. Of the greatest scale and historical significance are Ecumenical Councils, which, through the exercise together of the office of the Pope and of the College of Bishops, hold the highest authority in the Catholic Church. Decrees and statements made by Ecumenical Councils remain permanently within the historical development of the Church’s self-understanding. Parish Pastoral Councils, while least in authority, are not least in the life of the Church. Canon 536 states that ‘a pastoral council is to be established in each parish, over which the pastor presides and in which the Christian faithful, together with those who share in pastoral care by virtue of their office in the parish, assist in fostering pastoral activity’. Rosemary Haughton, The Transformation of Man: A Study of Conversion and Community (New York: Paulist, 1967), 7. 414 The Australasian Catholic Record baptismal identity and experience for the followers of Christ, and as central for the Catholic Church as it approaches self-appropriation as synodal. The Catholic Church is familiar with the institutional understanding of synod; the Council of Trent planned to use annual Diocesan Synods, and triennial Provincial Councils, across the universal Church, to reform the diseased structures of power in the sixteenth-century Church.4 Pope Paul VI’s motu proprio Apostolica Sollicitudo created the Synod of Bishops in 1965,5 forming a formal expression of collegiality, aiming for improvement of the institutional functions of authority and communications and to enable in these a more balanced participation by bishops across the global, institutional Church.6 When seeking the origins of Synods, Cardinal Walter Kasper frequently refers to the ‘Apostolic Council’ (the meeting in Jerusalem described in Acts 15) as an occasion of consultation, decision and leadership.7 Pope Francis’ moves for reform have also involved Synods, particularly through the areas of preparation, celebration and implementation of Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops (such as the Synod on the Family8). These reforms have had a swift impact upon the 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Regular Councils and Synods were for the purpose of ‘the regulating of morals, the correcting of excesses, the composing of controversies, and for the other purposes allowed of by the sacred canons’ (‘The Decree on Reformation’, session XXIV, chap. II). All bishops and metropolitans were bound to attend. The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, trans. J. Waterworth (London: Catholic Publication Society Company, 1848); cf. chap. XIII, sec. I; also chap. XXV, secs. II, IV, X, XXI. Paul VI, Apostolica Sollicitudo (Apostolic Letter Issued Motu Proprio Establishing the Synod of Bishops for the Universal Church, 15 September 1965), http://w2.vatican.va/content/paulvi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19650915_apostolica-sollicitudo.html. Members of the Synod of Bishops are men who have experienced episcopal consecration; cf. Vatican II, Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 21 November 1964), appendix n. 2, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vatii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html. Hereafter LG. The concept of ‘college’ (Latin: collegium), which was discussed in chap. 3 of LG, as well as the theological and practical understandings of authority in the episcopal-papal relationship, were clearly problems for the Council Fathers. LG was given an appendix of Notificationes by the Secretary General of the Council, 16 November 1964, to explain these issues more fully, but not entirely. In November 1959 the Archbishop and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio in the United Arab Republic (Egypt), Silvio Oddi, proposed the establishment of a central governing body of the Church. Archbishop Oddi’s statements clearly represented the concerns of many over the concentration of institutional authority and governance within the Roman congregation: ‘From many parts of the world there come complaints that the Church does not have a permanent consultative body, apart from the Roman congregations’. Holy See Press Office, ‘General Information on the Synod’, 6 October 2012, http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/ documents/sinodo/sinodo_documentazione-generale_en.html. Walter Kasper, The Catholic Church: Nature, Reality and Mission (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), 91–2, 184, 246, 269, 290. The Third Extraordinary General Synod of Bishops—On the Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization—was held 5–19 October 2014. The next session, while still known as the ‘Synod on the Family’, was the Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops—The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World—and was held 4–25 October 2015. Pope Francis’ institutional reforms also affect structures within the Curia, and arguably the process and form of papal documents. Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation 415 planning and use of Synods and Councils throughout the global Catholic Church.9 I would now like to approach a broader understanding of synodality through an exploration of three key metaphors or elements of synodality: journeying, creativity, and responsibility. Each will highlight different aspects of transformation. These elements of synodality reveal the potential of the human person in community for progress and development, engaging with our Godgiven desire for wholeness and communion, and ultimately participation in Christ’s work of redemption for the world, while also demonstrating the frailty of human structures, our weakness in understanding the true nature of authority and responsibility, and the constant need for repentance, humility, and listening to the Spirit. I hope to show how journeying, creativity, and responsibility are essential to understanding the nature and mission of a synodal Church and necessary for the Australian Church as we move, hopefully, into a synodal process of Plenary Council. Within the paradigm of synodality these three elements have the potential to encourage structures, processes, and, most importantly, people, who are open to, and active in, transformation. Just as a candidate for baptism is called to repent, believe, enter into new life and radical new relationships, and work this out through constant conversion, the Catholic Church is likewise called to intentionally enter more deeply into baptismal identity through constant commitment to transformation. A synodal Church appropriates this commitment at all levels of ecclesial life: individuals, their communities, and the wider Church. Committed to Transformation: Synodality Is a Journey A unity done walking.10 The roots of the word ‘synod’—syn, ‘together/with/united/at the same time’, and hodόs, ‘way’—indicate that ‘synod’ is understood more fully in terms of 9. Pope Francis’ quotes from Bishops’ Conferences in Evangelii Gaudium are the first such quotes by a Pope in an Apostolic Exhortation. In the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis makes reference to the Conferences of Bishops from: Spain (chap. 2, fn. 3), Korea (chap. 2, fn. 14), Argentina (chap. 2, fn. 31), Mexico (chap. 2, fn. 32), Colombia (chap. 2, fn. 42), Chile (chap. 4, fn. 34), Australia (chap. 5, fn. 13), Latin America and the Caribbean (chap. 5, fn. 25), Italy (chap. 6, fn. 15), and Kenya (chap. 6, fn. 20). The language is in a very inclusive form, usually: ‘the Australian Bishops have observed …’ Francis, Amoris Laetitia (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation; Strathfield, NSW: St Pauls, 2016). Episcopal Conferences existed as informal entities until the Second Vatican Council established them as formal bodies in the Decree concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church: Vatican II, Christus Dominus (28 October 1965), #38, http://www.vatican.va/ archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651028_christusdominus_en.html. Episcopal Conferences were implemented by Pope Paul VI (Apostolic Letter Ecclesiae Sanctae of 1966) and their operation, authority, and responsibilities are currently governed by the 1983 Code of Canon Law (canons 447–459). 10. Francis, ‘Address to Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity’, 10 November 2016, Zenit Online News, https://zenit.org/articles/popes-address-to-pontifical-council-forpromoting-christian-unity-2/. 416 The Australasian Catholic Record communion, as a way together or journeying together.11 This understanding of ecclesial life is a key metaphor for the paradigm of synodality, and provides the many aspects of journeying as appropriate to Christian corporate living: planning, dreaming, packing, worrying, walking, conversing, listening, observing. Where is transformation in journeying? Transformation is not the little steps or the many paths and decisions taken; these are the preparation and formation. It lies around the corner as the moment a breakthrough occurs, and one realises upon reflection that an expansion of self has occurred.12 Transformation for a synodal Church at the universal level begins with an acknowledgement of the baptismal authority and responsibility of all members.13 The journey together can be approached with fear or apathy, but Pope Francis, in his address at the ceremony commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops, described how the Church’s ‘organs of communion’—that is, the particular Churches, Diocesan Synods, and other structures—must ‘keep connected to the “base” and start from people and their daily problems, [only then] can a synodal Church begin to take shape: these means, even when they prove wearisome, must be valued as an opportunity for listening and sharing’.14 Historian Massimo Faggioli declares that ‘there has been no radical change in the governance of the Church at the universal level beside the institution of the C9 advisory council of cardinals, but it is showing signs of fatigue. And at the national and local levels we have still not seen any renewal—or even beginning—of synodality’.15 He notes that ‘The Plenary Council that the Church 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. The Greek word hodόs means a way, road, path or journey. ‘Englishman’s Greek Concordance’, in Bible Hub Online Scripture Tools (2004), s.v. hodόs, http://biblehub.com/greek/3598.htm. Lonergan describes conversion as transformation: ‘By conversion is understood a transformation of the subject and his [sic] world. Normally it is a prolonged process though its explicit acknowledgment may be concentrated in a few momentous judgments and decisions. Still it is not just a development or even a series of developments. Rather it is a resultant change of course and direction. It is as if one’s eyes were opened and one’s former world faded and fell away. There merges something new that fructifies in inter-locking, cumulative sequences of developments on all levels and in all departments of human living’. Bernard Lonergan, Method in Theology (London: Darton Longman and Todd, 1972), 130. Such ‘objectification of conversion’ is the theological content of the fifth functional specialty, Foundations. The fundamental concept of the identity of the People of God as ‘priestly, prophetic and royal’ resonates throughout most Vatican II documents. Explicit instances of this theology of the laity in the documents in chronological order of promulgation are: Sacrosanctum Concilium #14; Lumen Gentium ##9–12, 20–1, 24–8, 31, 34–6, 62; Unitatis Redintegratio #4; Christus Dominus ##12–21; Apostolicam Actuositatem ##2–3, 10; Ad Gentes #15; Presbyterorum Ordinis ##1–6. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, see #1545. See also Paul Lakeland for a discussion on this theology of the laity: Paul Lakeland, ‘Maturity and the Lay Vocation: From Ecclesiology to Ecclesiality’, in Catholic Identity and the Laity, ed. Tim Muldoon (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009), 241–259, at 241; and Paul Lakeland, A Council that Will Never End: ‘Lumen Gentium’ and the Church Today (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2013), 78–80. Francis, ‘Address at the Ceremony Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Institution of the Synod of Bishops’, 17 October 2015, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/ speeches/2015/october/documents/papa-francesco_20151017_50-anniversario-sinodo.html. Massimo Faggioli, ‘The Uncertain Future of Synodality: Polarization and Ecclesial Paralysis’, La Croix International, 11 June 2018, https://international.la-croix.com/news/the-uncertainfuture-of-synodality. Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation 417 in Australia is planning for 2020 is a one of the notable exceptions’. I beg to differ, for the Church in the United States has in fact seen synodality in action, in a very real and purposeful way through the preparation, celebration, and implementation of three recent Diocesan Synods, as well as the Convocation of Catholic Leaders.16 I note also the preparation by the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires for a three-year synod from 2017 to 2019.17 All of these are practical expressions of ecclesial synodality, operative within the structures of Canon Law.18 These synods have proven the effectiveness of constitutive elements of a successful synodal process towards an undeniably transformative experience for their particular Churches. The synodal elements that are evident in each of the three examples include (but are not limited to): leadership, teamwork, hospitality and its consequence–diversity,19 collaboration, creativity, spirituality (concomitant with rich symbolism), and communications. The success of these Synods was possible because each was approached as a journey, usually planned to unfold over three years, and welcomed a great deal of creativity that arose. All Synods, whether they initially planned to or not, found repentance, deep listening, and active humility to be necessary at some point. To underscore the value of journeying, and to demonstrate to Prof. Faggioli that synodality is indeed present and capable of flourishing in the United States, I conclude this section with my favourite quote from these Synods, as an example of the power of transformation: In my travels around the diocese, meeting thousands of people … I have served the Lord alongside you. I have prayed for and with you. I can honestly say that I have fallen in love with you and this diocese.20 Transformation will be around the corner when synodality is exercised widely and authentically. The breakthrough experienced—in this case by the Church, the People of God—is an expansion into deeper self-appropriation of identity as the Body of Christ.21 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. Diocese of San Diego, CA, Synod website: https://www.sdcatholic.org/en-us/enus/diocese/synodonthefamily/proposals.aspx; Diocese of Gary, IN, Synod website: http://www.dcgary.org/; Archdiocese of Detroit, Synod website: http://www.aod.org/ our-archdiocese/archdiocesan-synods/synod-16/; Convocation of Catholic Leaders, USCCB website: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/get-involved/meetings-and-events/ convocation-2017/index.cfm. Synod of Buenos Aires website: http://sinodobuenosaires.com.ar/. See footnote 2 above for the canons in the Code of Canon Law that are relevant to Particular/Plenary Councils and Diocesan Synods. Hospitality is our openness to welcoming others to our horizon. To be outgoing is to be open to stepping outside our own zone of comfort. Synodal relationships involve both hospitality and being outgoing. Donald J. Hying, ‘Go, Therefore, and Make Disciples of All Nations’ (pastoral letter, Diocese of Gary, 25 February 2016), http://www.dcgary.org/pdf/NWIC2017Synod_English.pdf. That is, further entering into meaning and its functions, with Christian meaning residing in the person of Christ. Lonergan details the functions of meaning as fourfold: cognitive, constitutive, 418 The Australasian Catholic Record Committed to Transformation: Synodality Is Creative Building bridges.22 The metaphor of bridge-building represents Spirit-led creativity; it is a key element to the authentic development of a synodal Church, as well as to the healing and wholeness of the human person.23 Pope Francis claims that Christian witness, that is, the external communication of the internal reality, is ‘an appeal not to build walls but bridges’.24 Bridge-building prepares for transformation in the way that it promotes and fosters encounter, cooperation, dialogue, and the building of community, which, in the words of Bernard Lonergan, requires common experience, common understanding, common judgement, and common commitment.25 Committing to building bridges contrasts the ease and speed in which a wall can be thrown up against the time-consuming and labour-intensive construction of a bridge. A wall divides communities, while a bridge connects people, trade, skills, and ideas, and brings the powerful insight that the nature of unity is not conformity or uniformity, but abundant generosity in diversity. Creativity is a true hallmark of a synodal Church and is necessary for the successful preparation, celebration and implementation of the upcoming Australian Plenary Council. Plans for this Council must allow for the nurturing and flourishing of creativity in order to support formation for transformation. Creativity is possible in all aspects of ecclesial life. Pope Francis and his methods give insight to institutional and structural creativity. The planning of the many details of a Synod—logistics, finances, communications, etc.—can appear to be a very rigid process. In reality, it is a task oriented to ‘building a communion of love’,26 while the creative seeds that appear and bloom are signs of an authentic and fully engaged community. For example, the Diocese of Gary created a Novena to the Holy Spirit during the preparation phase, and assembled a cross made from tiles representing each parish during the opening Mass of their Synod. After the completion of the San Diego Synod, ten pilot parishes formed a Committee for Family Life and 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. effective, and communicative. Thus meaning functions in the life of a person not merely as cognitive (human experiencing, understanding, judging), but also through cultural and social institutions and community; human intending, planning and serving, as cumulative acts of meaning; and through communications that serve to share and enter more deeply into common meaning. Lonergan, Method in Theology, 76–81. Cf. EG, #67. Cf. EG, #67. Francis, ‘General Audience’, Paul VI Audience Hall, 8 February 2017, h t t p s : / / w 2 . v a t i c a n . v a / c o n t e n t / f r a n c e s c o / e n / a u d i e n c es / 2 0 1 7 / d o c u m e n t s / p a p a francesco_20170208_udienza-generale.html. Bernard Lonergan, ‘The Transition from a Classicist World-View to Historical-Mindedness’, in A Second Collection: Papers, vol. 13, ed. William F. Ryan and Bernard J. Tyrrell (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996), 1–10, at 4. John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte (Apostolic Letter, 6 January 2001), #42, https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/2001/documents/hf_jpii_apl_20010106_novo-millennio-ineunte.html. Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation 419 Spirituality, created more than 100 new parish leaders, and instigated popular events such as ‘Date Nights’.27 The Archdiocese of Detroit actively sought to attend to Pope Francis’ urge to all local Churches to be ‘bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities’.28 It was a formidable task: both the city of Detroit and the Archdiocese were experiencing financial crisis; the city went bankrupt and over one hundred schools closed or merged.29 Archbishop Allen Vigneron invited parishioners to join discussions through parish gatherings and praise and worship nights; tens of thousands were involved, which was well above the expected number. Synod propositions were then synthesised from 11,000 responses gathered in the spring during 240 parish meetings called ‘Parish Dialogue Gatherings’. The Post-Synodal Pastoral Letter of Archbishop Vigneron reveals a significant commitment to the synodal process for transformation change: The Synod’s foundational conviction is that the Church in the Archdiocese of Detroit is resolved to obey the Holy Spirit and be made by him a band of joyful missionary disciples (cf. EG #24). This means that the Archdiocese, following the call of Pope Francis, is resolved to undergo a ‘missionary conversion,’ a change in our culture, such that every person at every level of the Church, through personal encounter with Jesus Christ, embraces his or her identity as a son or daughter of God and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is formed and sent forth as a joyful missionary disciple.30 In an extraordinary and symbolic act of creativity the Archdiocese redesigned their coat of arms. Also arising from the synodal proceedings were bold initiatives of hospitality and reconciliation within parishes, and an invitation to families to be transformed in order to be agents of evangelisation. The Archdiocese continues today to build upon the foundations that were established by the Synod. They plan to use the synod document Unleash the Gospel as a ‘road map’ for the next ten to fifteen years, committing to clear action steps for families, parishes, and Archdiocesan Central Services, and establishing the New Evangelization Council as a permanent body to assist 27. Date nights are social events for couples, often providing a welcome link between parish and social life. 28. EG #33, in Allen H. Vigneron, Unleash the Gospel (Post-Synodal Pastoral Letter, Archdiocese of Detroit, 3 June 2017), http://www.unleashthegospel.org/unleash-the-gospel.html. 29. Ben Rooney, ‘Michigan Approves Plan to Close Half of Detroit Schools’, CNN Money, 22 February 2011, http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/22/news/economy/detroit_school_ restructuring/index.htm. 30. Vigneron, Unleash the Gospel, sec. 2, ‘Foundational Conviction’. 420 The Australasian Catholic Record Archbishop Vigneron in assessing the success of the Archdiocese towards continual progress and bridge-building. The US Diocesan Synods clearly demonstrate creative bridge-building as integral to synodal ecclesial development. Haughton cautions that transformation itself is not built up: ‘The outbreak of spiritual power occurs in the gaps, in the in-between states, in the wilderness’.31 This is a reminder that ecclesial bridge-building is not purely the work of human hands, but a preparation for personal and communal breakthroughs, the vertical uprooting of horizons, ‘new Pentecosts’32—this is the disconcerting and transforming work of the Holy Spirit. As the most substantial component of progress in Christian life, individual holiness must be cultivated, as making persons ‘more alive, more human’.33 For the local Church, the aim is to build and cherish ‘communities of common meaning’ (Lonergan). This continuing deepening and broadening of self-understanding and self-appropriation brings the universal Church to life as a ‘sacrament of unity’ (Lumen Gentium). Synodality must operate at all three levels in order to further progress in taking responsibility as the Body of Christ. Committed to Transformation: Synodality Is Responsibility Taking responsibility as the Body of Christ. Taking responsibility as the Body of Christ is what lies at the heart of the journey of a synodal Catholic Church. In essence it is a call for transformation of all members towards authenticity. Authenticity is demanding; it involves mature individual Christians who intentionally seek self-appropriation through a constant turning from unauthenticity, a process that requires a grasping of one’s own intentional consciousness through an awareness of self operating as subject, and of the internal and external acts that flow from this.34 Authentic living is a labour of being attentive, intelligent, reasonable, and responsible—the last of which Lonergan describes as follows: Being responsible includes basing one’s decisions and choices on an unbiased evaluation of short-term and long-term cost and benefits to oneself, to one’s group, to other groups.35 31. Haughton, Transformation of Man, 246. 32. Archbishop Vigneron declares that ‘the new evangelization cannot be accomplished without a new Pentecost’. Vigneron, Unleash the Gospel, Guidepost 1: The New Pentecost; cf. introduction. 33. Francis, Gaudate et Exsultate (Apostolic Exhortation on the Call to Holiness in Today’s World, 19 March 2018), ##32–4, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/ documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html# MORE_ALIVE,_MORE_HUMAN. 34. Unauthenticity is the refusal of insights, the neglect of intelligence, and the distortion of reasonableness and responsibility. Authenticity is therefore a constant ‘withdrawal from unauthenticity’. Lonergan, Method in Theology, 252. 35. Ibid., 53. Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation 421 In other words, responsibility involves commitment to the recognition and removal of bias within one’s self, groups, and society, and to pursuing the good for all, that is, the common good. Synodality is a commitment to the transformation of individuals towards responsibility. Authenticity is a process that transforms a person as one more fully appropriates oneself, and constantly expands one’s horizon of interest, sometimes dramatically, through encounter and dialogue with others. I suggest that this process is an essential part of the response needed to the call from Francis Sullivan, who spoke in Ballarat before the Royal Commission public hearings commenced:36 What is loud and clear from the pages of the report and what victims for decades have been pleading for, is that the Church takes responsibility. That means takes action.37 Responsible action brings about progress in human development. In his article ‘Healing and Creating in History’, Lonergan describes how human development in history is brought about dynamically in two ways: the upwards movement of creative processes, and the downwards movement of healing love.38 Neither movement can be forced nor followed like a recipe. Each involves healthy collaboration between people who are seeking the human good, as well as mature and constructive relationships that provide the possibility that collaboration can be fruitful. When the two streams of human development come together it is in a way that is transformative to the situations in which people live and the values which they hold.39 This vision is creative and healing only to the extent that the people involved have open minds and open hearts; their cooperation constitutes a healthy community: ‘Wherever there are Christians’, says Pope Francis, ‘everyone should find an oasis of mercy’.40 Synodality is a commitment to the transformation of communities towards responsibility. This has been illustrated by the three Diocesan Synods in the 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au. Francis Sullivan, ‘Taking Responsibility’ (speech, St Patrick’s Hall, Ballarat, 20 November 2013), http://www.tjhcouncil.org.au/media/42582/131120-Speech-FINALBallarat-SpeechTaking-Responsibility-Francis-Sullivan.pdf. Bernard Lonergan, ‘Healing and Creating in History’, in A Third Collection: Papers by Bernard Lonergan, ed. Frederick E. Crowe (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1985), 101–9, at 106. Brendan Lovett’s book describes ‘nine irreducible levels of value’ in the structure of the human good. Ascending, they are: physical, chemical, botanical, zoological, vital, social (political, economic, technological), cultural (infrastructural, superstructural), personal, and religious. Lovett states that genuine movement between levels occurs only through personal relations. Brendan Lovett, On Earth as in Heaven: Corresponding to God in Philippine Context (Quezon City: Claretian, 1988), 20. Francis, Misericordiae Vultus (Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, 20 April 2015), #12, https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papafrancesco_bolla_20150411_misericordiae-vultus.html. 422 The Australasian Catholic Record United States, all of which came out of an acute historical and situational awareness of the need for transformation. In his Pre-Synodal Pastoral Letter, Bishop Hying stated: This future will ask much of us … We will need to collaborate and work together in new ways, come to a much deeper level of co-responsibility for the life of the whole diocese, surrender any parochialism, competition or isolation that keeps us divided, break out of the torpor that often says, ‘We’ve always done it this way,’ shatter the complacency … If we do not embrace such a vision, our local Church will simply continue a slow and steady slide towards a painful diminishment of the faith in our people.41 This statement has links with the words of Francis Sullivan. Both demand taking responsibility by recognising what is wrong in the current situation, actively breaking out of the problem, and doing it together as a community. Both indicate that taking any other path, or to remain standing still, will bring not progress but decline. Lonergan describes how common meaning is constitutive of community; individuals enter further into meaning together and form themselves in unity through their control of meaning.42 Responsible communities build upon their common experience, common understanding, common judgement, and common commitment. For the contemporary Body of Christ such a building up can and has been supported by institutional forms of Synod; these are implemented and given transforming power through the paradigm of synodality, and its foundational elements of journeying, creativity, and responsibility. Finally, synodality is a commitment to the transformation of the universal Church—all persons and every structure, institution, and relationship ad intra and ad extra—towards responsibility. Ecclesiology’s constant search to more deeply know Christian identity as Church is intertwined with the search for Christian mission. Being more authentically the Body of Christ—through selfappropriating corporal identity—can be achieved through the responsibility taken in and through all relationships with each other, the communion of saints, with Creator and with creation. Pope Francis’ description of the Church as a ‘family of families’43 and the earth as our ‘common home’44 gives a perspective of life as dynamic communion, which brings to light a new awareness of individual and corporate responsibility: 41. Hying, ‘Go, Therefore, and Make Disciples’. 42. Lonergan, ‘Transition from a Classicist World-View’. 43. Amoris Laetitia, ##87, 202. 44. Amoris Laetitia, #277; Laudato Si’ (Encyclical Letter on Care for Our Common Home; Strathfield, NSW: St Pauls, 2015). Synodality: A Process Committed to Transformation 423 Disregard for the duty to cultivate and maintain a proper relationship with my neighbour, for whose care and custody I am responsible, ruins my relationship with my own self, with others, with God and with the earth. When all these relationships are neglected, when justice no longer dwells in the land, the Bible tells us that life itself is endangered.45 The Church is a communion of persons in the Body of Christ seeking to authentically live in communion more deeply with creation and our Creator: within the paradigm of synodality the Church is on a journey, not as a solitary pilgrim but walking with others in many spheres of communion. Taking responsibility is a fundamental process within this paradigm. The US Synods demonstrate how humility, listening, repentance and healing are at the heart of being responsible. The Australian Church has an opportunity to commit to being responsible through the process of a Plenary Council, and to contribute to the building of a synodal Church through, and for, our people and their communities. Conclusion With this article I have attempted to demonstrate how synodality is a paradigm for the contemporary Catholic Church as it seeks deeper selfappropriation as the Body of Christ. Synodality offers three foundational elements that, when embraced, both demand and enable a commitment to transformation: committing to journeying opens oneself to the transformation brought about from walking, talking and listening together. Committing to creativity enables the patient progress of bridge-building, but also the ‘outbreak of spiritual power in the gaps’, which is full of challenge and discomfort. Committing to responsibility is a commitment to oneself and to all communities in which one belongs. It is a constant process of recognising and removing bias, expanding one’s horizon, seeking the common good: it is through knowing and being oneself more fully, as a person and as Church, that one is prepared to enter into Christ’s redeeming work for the world. A synodal Church commits to choosing the long, hard path of journeying, creativity and responsibility. The method is authentic living,46 the guide is the Holy Spirit, and the goal is transformation for the Church into Christ, and for the world—all of which are pertinent to the context of the Australian Catholic Church as it moves through the listening stage of the Plenary Council, looks forward to the celebration and implementation of the Council, and yearns for a transformed future. 45. 46. Laudato Si’, #70. Transcendental Method is described by Lonergan in Method in Theology.