Pro's and Con's of the Synodal Process - Virginia Saldanha

1. The Synodal process has generated interest in the laity globally to come together to talk about structures in the Church. People have discovered that their aspirations resonate with the People of God worldwide.

2. IT and ZOOM have facilitated the conversations between the People of God.

3. The worldwide Corona lockdown also facilitated interest in people coming together virtually to have these conversations. They also discovered ways to pray and worship as a global

community of the People of God. People felt part of the global community of the People of God.

4. With Pope Francis calling for Bishops to Listen to every voice. People organized their own gatherings and listening sessions and gave their input into the Synod office. People began to put their voices out there, even though their bishops did not listen or include them. The Synod Office receiving inputs directly from people and organizations helped people to get their voices into the conversation. As a result the Document for the Continental Stage was a refreshingly hopeful document.

5. However, the continental stage has been disappointing because only the bishops are in charge and voices that they wanted left out were out. You cannot dismantle the Master’s house with the master’s tools!

6. In the whole process ultimately, it is the bishops who have all the power. At a gathering of about 350 women at a women’s day celebration last Sunday, I asked the women present, how many of them had heard about the Synodal process that was going on in the Church and only about 15 put up their hands. This speaks volumes of how the bishops have chosen to keep their people ignorant of this big event in the Church. So, we ask, have the bishops truly listened?

7. The continental stage has turned into a filtering out stage, where, only what the Bishops want will emerge.

8. The actual Synod which will have only one woman voting is sheer tokenism. Here more filtering out will take place. So, in the end it will end up being business as usual with just some cosmetic changes.

9. Most expect Pope Francis to use his sweeping powers as Pope to make sweeping changes. But being the man who practices what he preaches, he chooses to act synodaly. He wants to get all the bishops on board to make change. Sadly, the bishops have been nurtured in clericalism and they are not going to let it go. Their power is too intoxicating. They do not want change.

10. The only hope we have is to leave behind us the legacy of dialogue and solidarity among the People of God for the generations to come, to continue to speak prophetically. To make change from the bottom up. Pope Francis has described this as a Church of accidents, a field hospital. Maybe our future generations will be more successful in bringing about a Church we envision.

Virginia Saldanha is a Theologian living in Mumbai. She is involved with a number of Church Reform groups.