The Big Anticipated Catholic Synod Will Begin This Week
Several years ago I read an article in an academic journal about theology. It was about the origin of various threads of theology. The scholar author had a remarkable insight that is coming to the front of debates about religion today. He wrote that people in the pews have ideas about theology and ultimately they will push these ideas into any denomination. "Those of us with lots of credentials in theology should step aside and listen to what those in the pews have to say. We, too, need instruction."
A few years ago Pope Francis announced a huge "synod" would be held in Oct. 2023, right now. The synod was to be preceded by listening sessions in parishes around the world. Priests were to hold these listening sessions and records were to be kept as to what was expressed. All of these views were to be summarized by a board of clergy charged with preparing for and running the synod. I don't know how many such meetings were held, how many lay people spoke or what was learned. In recent days, clergy supporting Pope Francis and the synod project have been writing that the future of the faith is the responsibility of both the clergy and every baptized Catholic. This implies, of course, something different than the clergy running and deciding everything.
A similar thing is happening in what I would call the "Catholic-like" Protestant denomination, Lutheran Missouri Synod. I've watched countless videos where young preachers talk of the need for lay people to play a bigger role in the denomination. The preachers talk of how Jesus reached out to ordinary people to expand his following.
Both of these efforts to hand over more responsibility to church members are based in economics. As membership falls, revenue will fall. The cost of credentialed priests and preachers is too high for churches with less revenue. Volunteers who work without pay is the only way to "evangelize", meaning market the denomination and bring in enough new members to keep the enterprise going.
It's as if the Pope has looked at the financial records and realized the volunteers needed to keep the ship afloat will not be there if they are demonized by the very church that needs them. It needs gay people, women who have had abortions, couples who use birth control and divorced Catholics. In addition, it needs priests who are or want to be married. Condemn all of these and the church loses not only them but their friends and families too.
We will see the synod move the huge Catholic Church a few inches toward ending the list of the demonized. Demonization came from the clergy. Those in the pews will end it.
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