The<em> Catholic Herald Institute</em> hosted its inaugural symposium “The Synod: The Room Where it Happened and What Happens Next?” in New York’s Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in Greenwich Village on 18 March.
The conversation, the first in the Institute’s "Conversations in the Spirit" series, was moderated by Michael La Civita, director of communications for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) and Lieutenant of the Eastern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Speakers included Argentine journalist Inès San Martin, Fr Ricardo da Silva SJ, and the Institute’s chair Amanda Bowman.
San Martin, as part of the communications team assembled by the Synod’s organisers, was “in the room where it happened” and gave a fascinating overview of the Synod’s dynamic, which included for the first time not only non-bishops, but lay people. What’s more, leadership roles were frequently assigned to women to report on its deliberations.
Jesuit Father da Silva, an assistant editor at <em>America</em> magazine and coproducer of its "Inside the Vatican" podcast, was part of the <em>America</em> media team in Rome covering the Synod. Thus, the audience were given “up close and personal” insights not only to the deliberations, but into the interactions of the participants. This included a seldom reported but very present concern of the bishops about their role leading a Church living through what Pope Francis has characterised “as a change of epoch”.
From the outset, it emerged that the Synod was conducted in a spirit of prayerfulness and collegiality and in a spirit of listening and embracing different points of view. “The word ‘synod’ means walking together,” the Jesuit stressed, noting that this is “Pope Francis’s vision for the future Church”.
Amanda Bowman, who took on the role of the "Catholic in the pew”, said that it was unfortunate that in most US parishes there had been absolutely no discussion about the Synod and its impact on the lives of the average church-going Catholic.
She speculated this was because there had been no parish priests participating and wondered whether its ultimate success would be limited because of the absence of the Church’s “boots on the ground”.
The audience asked penetrating questions, especially about what comes next. What is definite is that the Synod resumes in October. What comes afterwards is a matter of speculation.
<strong><strong>This article originally appeared in the April 2024 issue of the <em>Catholic Herald</em>. To subscribe to our award-winning, thought-provoking magazine and have independent and high-calibre counter-cultural Catholic journalism delivered to your door anywhere in the world click</strong> <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/easter-24/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">here</mark></a>.</strong>
