Cardinal McElroy: No more synods without voting laity

After the first part of the Synod on Synodality, US Cardinal Robert McElroy is in favour of always nominating lay people with voting rights at future synods. "I don't think there should ever be another Synod of Bishops that doesn't have non-bishops as voting members and lay people as voting members," the Bishop of San Diego said in an interview with "America Magazine" published on Tuesday. He said the theological and canonical foundations for the institution of the Synod of Bishops must be further developed and the relationship between the primacy of the Pope, the collegiality of the bishops and the synodality of the people of God must be worked out, "because we cannot go back". McElroy was among those attending the synod on synodality, which ended for the time being last Sunday, and which for the first time included lay Catholics, including 54 women, as voters.

McElroy spoke of the Synod on Synodality as a "wonderful, rich experience": "I really felt God was present in it." The participation of lay people in particular was crucial to making the discussions so productive, he said. At the second part of the Synod on Synodality next year, the issues set out in the final document would have to be taken forward.

Fundamental debate on the diaconate

The Cardinal particularly emphasised the debates on the diaconate of women at the Synod on Synodality. During the deliberations, he said, a fundamental discussion had developed on the permanent diaconate; this had also raised the question of whether it was a good idea to combine it with ordination. "So there was a lot of discussion about whether the permanent diaconate should be reconceptualised [...] and in that context perhaps decoupled from ordination, so that the admission of women to the diaconate would be much more possible in such a context," McElroy said. In general, the cardinal said, the "historical nature" of the diaconate should be focused on, making it not primarily a liturgical ministry, "but a ministry to the poor and marginalised, which it is in many places but not in others".

In the final document, the Synod voted, among other things, for a fundamental change in canon law to enable new forms of decision-making in the church, which has hitherto been organised hierarchically from the top down. On the question of women's access to ecclesiastical ordination offices, the Synod records differing opinions that did not result in a consensus. The second part of the Synod on Synodality will take place in October 2024. (mal)