DISQUISITIONS ...being thoughts on Synod 2015 from various observers
What Might Be Said at the Synod – I
As has been noted previously in this space, there are “issues beneath the issues” at Synod 2015. Many of those underlying issues touch on central themes of Christian faith: sin and grace; creation and redemption; the nature of divine Revelation and its role in the ongoing life of the Church; the relationship between objective moral norms (or their very existence) and the exercise of conscience; the unique character of the Church and the way authority is (and is not) exercised within the Church. It seems to many that these deeper issues should be surfaced during the Synod, so that it becomes ever more clear that, in confronting evangelically the contemporary crisis of marriage and the family, the Church is not called to tinkering, but to deeper conversion, more radical reflection,and more effective mission. So: If you were a Synod Father or an expert invited to the Synod, what would you say in the Synod Aula on these and related “deeper issues”? Letters from the Synod posed that question to several sharp Catholic minds; the “model Synod interventions” that will appear in this space for the next several days are the responses we got. If you’re struck by their brevity, remember that interventions (otherwise known as “speeches”) in the formal meetings of the Synod are supposed to last no longer than a few minutes. How serious theological and pastoral reflection in a world already distorted by sound-bites can possibly take place through slightly lengthier sound-bites – many of them no longer than your typical daily Mass homily – is a good question. But into that we need not go right now. XR2
