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Root & Branch: THE BRISTOL TEXT
Colm Holmes • 12 September 2021
The Bristol Text is offered as a contribution to the Bishops’ Synodal Process and to Catholics around the world as part of our common preparation for Rome in 2023. It is also intended to give confidence to individual Catholics, to form our own thinking, learning, decision-making, conscience and practice.
Redefining and reclaiming Liturgical Ministry
1. Every baptised person is clothed in Christ
Galatians 3:27
‘There is, therefore, in Christ and in the Church no inequality on the basis of race or nationality, social condition or sex, because ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ (Lumen Gentium 32, Vatican II).
‘Whoever wants to be first must be the last of all.’ (Mark 9:35)
2. The Church is the community of God
‘For when two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.’ (Matthew 18:20) It is not an individual, but the community of saints, living and dead, who celebrate the act of thanksgiving to God, which is the Eucharist.
Words and symbols belong to the broader ritual experiences of the people, not to the rubrics of a few.
3. The Holy Spirit’s call to ministry may be heard by all people
All the baptised are eligible to answer God’s call to every ministry. That call is discerned within and by community of God.
Current research makes it clear that in the earliest Christian gatherings, women and men, single and married, led communities in worship, exercising their baptismal calling.
Embracing Diversity
1. Hierarchy distorts the beauty of diversity
Affirming diversity is imperative for attesting the dignity and sanctity of every form of life, valuing the uniqueness and contribution of each person.
This calls for a radical re-imagination of the way of being Church, as it has become predominantly a hierarchical institution structured on an all-male leadership.
2. Engage with the complexity of sex/gender
Church teaching on sex/gender is confused and contradictory. There is, in effect, no public policy.
Male-female binaries are institutionalised through the historical understandings of ‘family life’ and ‘natural law.’ Transgender individuals challenge sex/gender binary norms, but scientifically we know that sex/gender is complex and that we also establish our identities through the stories we tell.
The Church needs a pastoral response to diverse family forms. It needs to think more deeply about its gender ideology.
3. Redefining ‘we’
For many Catholics evangelization implies being truth tellers in one sphere and liars in another, making available an ‘objective’ Gospel that does not touch who we are. Our bodies and our spirits long for truthfulness, and come alive when we allow them to bear witness to it.
That means the construction of the new Catholic ‘we’ depends on all of us learning to preach the Gospel in the first person, singular and plural. We learn to see ourselves in our differently-aged, differently-abled, differently-gendered, differently-bodied, differently-sexually-oriented, differently-coloured, differently-tongued neighbour. Our similarity, not our difference is what counts.
4. Accountability and apology
Accountability means taking responsibility for the ways in which our beliefs, theology and practices have contributed to the dehumanization and persecution of many people who are seen as ‘other’.
‘What have you done? Listen. Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground’ [Genesis 4:10]. The words spoken to Cain after killing his brother Abel point to the critical need for accountability, restitution and transformation as we seek to restore the dignity and rights of all persons as equal.
Then the harm done can be acknowledged in ways that include the participation of those harmed, creating affirming, equality-expressing theologies where no one is excluded and all are equal.
Moral Theology
1. Historical consciousness
The Gospel speaks of a seed which, once sown, grows by itself. ‘The Church has to accept this unruly freedom of the word.’ (Evangelii Gaudium 22). Appeals to unchanging laws and unchallengeable authorities stifle this creative freedom.
This calls for faith that continually evolves to meet the challenges of different contexts and cultures.
2. Continuous formation in dialogue
We propose that, rather than asserting authoritative moral rules to be obeyed, church teaching should be concerned with ways of thinking, helping us to see our lives as a process of continuous Christian formation along the path ‘of wisdom, self-fulfilment and enrichment’ (Evangelii Gaudium 168).
This moral vision is therefore not defined by lists of sins to avoid but by the endeavour to live as faithful disciples in a complex world, witnessing to God’s love for all creation. The Good News is ‘marked by joy, encouragement, liveliness … readiness for dialogue, patience, warmth and welcome which is non-judgmental.’ (Evangelii Gaudium 165)
3. A holistic vision
We call for a holistic vision of the good life that is not dominated by issues of sexuality, but seeks the flourishing and dignity of the entire person.
This means rejecting all forms of exploitation, abuse and violence, and encouraging each individual to discover their personal vocation to holiness. It is our living response to the prophetic vocation to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. (Micah 6:8)
Church Authority
1. Equality and justice for all
Jesus preached the Good News of the historical advent of the Kingdom of God, which brings justice and peace to all human beings, and liberation to the oppressed.
For the Catholic Church to cooperate with God’s Kingdom, it needs to model its organizational structure, and its Canon Law, on those principles of equality and justice for all.
2. Agreed by all
‘What touches all must be discussed and approved by all.’
By virtue of their common baptism, all adult Catholics have the fundamental right to participate and vote in all decisions on matters of doctrine, value, action, and any other issue concerning the common good of their community.
At every level, representative democratic councils should serve as the principal decision-making bodies, with the inalienable right to determine what falls within their competence. Discernment belongs to all. It cannot be confined to the few.
3. Elected by all
‘The one who is to preside over all should be elected by all.’ Legitimate authorities in the church must be based on the consent of the people. The church community has the right to evaluate, approve, and commission all those putting themselves forward for a ministry.
Every adult Catholic has the right to vote for, and to be eligible as, a candidate for any church ministry. All Catholics also have the right to have their leaders render an account to them.
THE BRISTOL TEXT was presented at the Root & Branch Lay-led Synod 5 – 12 September 2021
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We Are Church Ireland
C/O 49 Rockfield Avenue,
Perrystown,
Dublin 12.
D12H6F6
Ireland