"Listening transforms the heart of those who live it, above all when they take on an inner attitude of harmony and docility to the Spirit of Christ."
"Listening transforms the heart of those who live it, above all when they take on an inner attitude of harmony and docility to the Spirit of Christ."The XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops or the Synod on the Youth—because of its emphasis on the role of the youth in the Church—was held from Oct. 3-28 in Rome. The Synod was attended by 249 bishops who came from different parts of the world. Last Oct. 27, the Synod, by a vote of two-thirds of those present, approved its 60- page Final Document. As I have done when the Synod on the family was convened, I will be writing a series of columns on this Final Document, starting with this introductory article.
A synod is a gathering of Bishops to discuss important matters concerning the Church. It is an advisory body to the Holy Father. In Roman Catholic usage, a synod is an authoritative meeting of bishops for the purpose of administration, areas of teaching or governance. It tackles concrete issues that challenges the Church in a particular point in time. There have been synods in the past but in recent times we have the X “The Bishop: Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World” (1998); XI “The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church 2005; XII “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church” 2008;XIII “New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith” 2012; Extraordinary General “The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization” 2014 and the recently concluded XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
The Final Synod Document tackles a host of issues including treatment of women in society and in the church, the church’s attitude toward LGBT members, clerical sex abuse, warfare, poverty, migration, human trafficking and corruption. The Final Document focuses on improving the Church’s relations with the youth, welcoming their contributions to the church and helping them in their process of growing in faith and in deciding the state of life that would best correspond to what God wants from them. It gives stress on the need to listen to young people, including women, sharing responsibility in the church’s mission to spread the Gospel. It recognizes the need to promote equality of women in society and in the church.
“Listening is an encounter in freedom, which requires humility, patience, willingness to understand and a commitment to working out responses in a new way,” the document says. “Listening transforms the heart of those who live it, above all when they take on an inner attitude of harmony and docility to the Spirit of Christ.”
“An area of particular importance in this regard is the presence of women in church bodies at all levels, including in leadership roles, and the participation of women in church decision-making processes while respecting the role of the ordained ministry,” it adds. “This is a duty of justice.”
The inspiration for the Final Document for the Synod on the Youth is the episode of the disciples of Emmaus, recounted by the evangelist Luke. It is complementary to the Instrumentum laboris of the Synod, and consists of a three-part subdivision. On this the Holy Father writes: Just as our Lord Jesus Christ walked alongside the disciples of Emmaus, the Church is also urged to accompany all young people, without exception, towards the joy of love.
Part one of the Final Document subtitled “He Walked with them” mentions concrete aspects of young people’s lives, giving stress on the importance of schools and parishes. It recognizes the need for the laity to be trained in order to accompany young people as partners of priests and bishops who are already overburdened with work. It notes the irreplaceable role of Catholic educational institutions. The challenge the Synod Document addresses is the need to rethink the role of the parish in terms of its vocational mission because it is often ineffective and not very dynamic, above all in the realm of catechesis. The Document also mentions the reality of young people regarding migration, abuse, the “throwaway culture.” On clerical abuse, the Synod Document calls for a “firm commitment for the adoption of rigorous preventive measures that will keep such abuse from being repeated, beginning with the selection and formation of those to whom leadership and educational roles are entrusted.” The world of art, music and sports is also discussed in terms of using them as “pastoral resources.”
In Part Two, subtitled “Their eyes were opened,” there is a call on the young people, one of the “theological places” in which the Lord makes himself present. Thanking them, the Document says, the Church can renew herself, shaking off its “heaviness and slowness.” The Mission is a “sure compass” for youth since it is the gift of self that brings an authentic and lasting happiness.
Finally in Part Three, “They left without delay,” the Synod Fathers present Mary Magdalene as the icon of the young church. She was the first witness to the Resurrection. All young people, including those with different visions of life, are in God’s heart. The Synod Fathers invite the Conferences of Bishops’ around the world to continue the process of discernment with the aim of developing specific pastoral solutions. The definition of “synodality” provided is a style for mission that encourages us to move from “I” to “we” and to consider the multiplicity of faces, sensitivities, origins and cultures. One request repeatedly made in the hall was that of establishing a “directory of youth ministry in a vocational key” on the national level, that can help diocesan and parish leaders qualify their training and action “with” and “for” young people, helping to overcome a certain fragmentation of the pastoral care of the Church.
Families and Christian communities are reminded on the importance of accompanying young people to discover the gift of their sexuality. The Synod Document recognizes the Church’s difficulty in transmitting “the beauty of the Christian vision of sexuality” in the current cultural context. It is urgent, the document says, to seek “more appropriate ways which are translated concretely into the development of renewed formative paths.”
By way of conclusion, the different topics discussed in the Synod Document are entwined into a single vocational thrust, that is, the call to holiness. “Vocational differences are gathered in the unique and universal call to holiness.” Through the holiness of so many young people willing to renounce life in the midst of persecution in order to remain faithful to the Gospel, the Church can renew its spiritual ardor and its apostolic vigor.
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