When the time comes to call forth a parish pastoral council……
17 December, 2024
When the time comes to call forth a parish pastoral council……
…….Be guided by the principles of synodality
This is the first part of a three part article. The rest of the article will appear in the next two editions of this newsletter. A link to the full article will be found at the end of this part.
Introduction
In this article, Fr. Don White, parish priest, Bundaberg reflects on the recent renewal of the parish stewardship (pastoral council) which was guided by the principles of synodality articulated in the document of the recent Synod on Synodality, and which a discernment process using a gifts or skills matrix so often seen in the formation of boards and councils. The process, which is spiritual at its heart has led to a successful renewal of the stewardship council in Bundaberg, with a group of nine members now appointed for the next three years to be of service to the parish community. Fr. Don begins the article looking at the synodal foundations of the process that was used.
Context of the work of pastoral councils
In parish life we know the importance of the work of a well organised pastoral council. Recommended by the Second Vatican Council, for decades now, they have been a vital part of the post-conciliar movement towards shared responsibility for the mission of the Church. Very simply, pastoral councils support our people to grow in holiness, i.e. their closeness to God and their part in the mission of Christ in everyday life. Sometimes the work of pastoral council can be frustrating when we don’t see immediate results. Or perhaps discussions about certain parish matters seem to have no horizon of conclusion. But regardless of the problems, the presence and work of pastoral council in a parish can be energizing for the Church’s apostolic work, and a local expression of the universal concept of synodality that Pope Francis has renewed in the recently concluded Synod on Synodality.
In these articles, we will explore how a pastoral council is a sign of our synodality and consider a process that can be used for, when the time comes, to call forth, or renew, membership of a pastoral council.
Synodality – universal and local
Let’s start at the universal level. Pope Francis’ three-year consultation on the future of the Catholic Church, known as the Synod on Synodality, concluded on October 26, 2024. Usually, a Synod of the Church is followed sometime later by an Apostolic Exhortation given by the Pope that outlines the outcomes of the Synod and its pastoral implications for the Church. However, for this synod, Pope Francis has decided not to write a follow up exhortation but rather release a document that includes the final list of recommendations that the Pope and the synod participants have agreed on. He said this document already contains “highly concrete indications” to guide the church’s mission. Pope Francis hopes that the document is a “gift to the people of God” proposing ways for all baptized Christians to be involved in charting a path forward for the life of the Church. He says, “In simple and concise terms, synodality is a path of spiritual renewal and structural reform that enables the Church to be more participatory and missionary, so that it can walk with every man and woman, radiating the light of Christ.”
And so, the 2021-2024 Synod was not about the doctrines of the Church, like so many other past synods have been. Rather, it was about how we all participate in the life of the Church, including how important decisions are made; that they are made in a spirit of synodal conversation which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, gathers all the guidance and wisdom necessary for those decisions.
While this Synod was groundbreaking in the way it included bishops, priests, and members of the lay faithful, the actual notion of synodality was not new. Synodality has always been at the heart of the Church’s life. From the moment described in the New Testament, when the apostle James convened the Council of Jerusalem around the year 48, synodality in the Christian faith emerged. At that first council or synod, the assembled church had to work through the issue of adherence to Jewish law by gentile converts to Christianity who had never been part of the Jewish faith. Key leaders and many others assembled and gave their response. James, just like Pope Francis today, proposed an outcome to which there was widespread agreement, and it was made known to the whole church. Since then councils have been called at various times in the church’s history to deal with a range of matters, all in a spirit of synodality.
Bringing the idea of synodality closer to home, those of us who have been part of our diocesan story over the years can recall how councils have been part of our parish and diocesan life for decades. They have met faithfully and regularly in that same spirit of synodality to discern key matters that are important for the life of our local church. These councils find their origin in both the documents of the Second Vatican Council (itself a Synod) and in canon law which emphasis the important work of service of these councils in the guiding the local church, especially in its mission to call people to holiness and to help them to grow in their Christian vocation in the midst of society. Our communities of faith over decades have been blessed with the work of these councils, and they can be seen to be part of the wider synodal conversation that we see in the church, and quite visibly in the most recently concluded Synod in Rome.
To be continued…but for those keen to read now…
