Church outside the comfort zone: The era of synodality has begun

Last weekend has the potential to go down in church history: With the conclusion of the second session of the Synod on Synodality, the worldwide synodal process launched by Pope Francis in 2021 has also come to an end. According to Francis, this marks the beginning of a new era in the Church: the age of synodality. "Let us therefore confidently continue our journey together," said the head of the Church at the closing service in St Peter's Basilica on Sunday. "Let us take off the cloak of despondency, let us entrust our blindness to the Lord, let us rise up and carry the joy of the Gospel through the streets of the world." Francis thus made it clear once again that for him, synodality is not an end in itself, but must serve the mission of the Church. In other words, an actualisation of the internal conditions of the Church in order to proclaim the Good News to the outside world. After all, only those who have clearly organised their own concerns can bundle their strengths in order to have an impact on the world and be taken seriously there.

For the Church, the implementation of synodality means above all a modernisation in two areas, as the Synod elaborated in its final document: the greater participation of the entire people of God in the decisions of the Church and a fundamental decentralisation. This is the reaction to clericalist structures and a centralist basic structure as it currently exists in the Church. Both have outlived their usefulness and are to be consigned to the past by papal decree. With his call for comprehensive synodality, Francis has, as it were, posed the "constitutional question" for the Church, said theological synod advisor Thomas Söding in an interview with katholisch.de. The Synod on Synodality marks a before and after because it has put the desire for these far-reaching changes for the Church on the table once and for all. There is no turning back from synodality. Even if the legal obligation for the bishops to involve the faithful in decisions is still not particularly great, the moral obligation is all the greater.

How this will be organised in concrete terms, however, remains unclear. Following the training camp for the synodal process, the Pope has not yet given his church any clear rules for the adventure of a church characterised by synodality that will now follow. There is merely a "roadmap", a vague guide for the coming years of synodal experimentation, as Bishop Georg Bätzing, Chairman of the Bishops' Conference, put it after the end of the synod. "The task now is to fill the roadmap with life." And this will be precisely the difficulty for the synodal future of the Church. Not that the synod did not provide enough ideas on where things could go: more responsibility for women in the church, accountability for bishops or the establishment of new types of church assemblies. But what does it all mean? Francis probably deliberately left it open when he adopted the final document immediately after its approval by the Synod on Synodality.

The clarity with which Rome spoke before Francis and which Catholics had been accustomed to for centuries is missing. As a result, interpretations of synodality are possible in many directions: On the one hand, the representatives of the synodal way in Germany feel strengthened by the Synod on Synodality. On the other hand, Stefan Oster, the head pastor of Passau, emphasised that bishops and priests retain decision-making power in the church. Critical voices have also been raised, calling for the return of a "conductor" for the Church's orchestra. What a synodal church means in concrete terms and how it differs in Europe, Asia or Africa - these and many other questions will have to be answered in the coming years. The local churches can no longer avoid this task now that the synodal process has reached a turning point.

Ultimately, this also means that the church will become uncomfortable - and this applies to all church political and theological camps and tendencies. Conservative Catholics can no longer hide behind the Magisterium and demand that everything must remain as it was. And the forces of reform have been strengthened by the synod, but probably not in the way they would have liked. It is not for nothing that Francis did not issue any clear resolutions in a post-synodal letter and is holding back on the subject of the ordination of women. Anyone who is disappointed after the synod because, for example, the diaconate of women will not (yet) be introduced, could also be accused of being naïve. After all, the desire for tangible and far-reaching reforms, such as the authorisation of female deacons, is very strong in some local churches and is decades old. However, at world church level, there is hardly any indication that these reforms will be implemented in the near future.

The unambiguous shape of the Catholic Church has been lost - and that is a good thing. The faithful, priests and bishops now have to fundamentally analyse themselves and the Church. In doing so, they are called upon to seek a new form of church that can bear witness to faith in Christ in the present. Certain red lines are clear: The Catholic Church remains a church in which the Pope and bishops have authority to lead. But what this means in concrete terms may well evolve over the course of history. This can be seen, for example, in the concept of monarchy: today, kings are generally no longer absolute rulers, but heads of state bound by laws in parliamentary democracies.

In order to find a form of church that is appropriate for the present day, lay people and clergy must step out of their comfort zone: In the sense of catholicity understood as a great expanse, the church will look different in different contexts or in different countries. It is obvious that this will lead to tensions. To prevent the church from breaking down as a result, the synod used the method of spiritual conversation to practise listening to one's counterpart, enduring differences and seeking consensus. This type of understanding is also recommended in the final document. Whether this will work as well outside the laboratory conditions of the Synod on Synodality remains questionable. Each local church now has it in its own hands to shape the era of synodality.