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We Are Church Ireland supports a National Synodal Assembly for Ireland
Ursula Halligan & Colm Holmes • 2 June 2021
“Launch into the deep” Luke 5:4
We believe such an Assembly is long overdue and urgently required to discuss much needed reforms that will truly represent the beliefs and hopes of Catholic women and men.
We look forward to “walking together on the way” and “helping each other listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying”. We are happy to see the intention to include those on the peripheries and ecumenical observers.
We agree with Bishop Dermot Farrell who early in 2020 said: The Irish church “needs a bold creative response rather than a fleeing from the reality of the distressful present. Our Lord is the Lord of risk. Bold decisions must be taken today, even if it is painful to do so, and we risk making the wrong decision. Otherwise we die of irrelevancy.”
If the Assembly is to be truly ‘synodal’, it must include and represent all the people of God during every stage of the preparatory process and especially when deciding who will be present at the Assembly. Priority must be given to listening to the 78% of the population in the Republic and 41% in Northern Ireland, who identify as Catholic (4.6 million people).
The church in Ireland is in crisis. This has been amply demonstrated in recent referenda on moral issues; with the clerical abuse and cover-up scandals; in the dramatic decline in Mass attendance and of priestly vocations along with the many church teachings that have not been received by the People of God; including Humanae Vitae in 1968 (ban on artificial contraception), Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994 (the exclusion of women from ordained ministries) and the definition of LGBTQ+ people as “objectively disordered” and their love, as “intrinsically evil."
The Assembly should be organized outside the Canon Law definition of a “Synod” to allow the appointment to the Assembly of Members representing the 4.6 million Catholics on this island and to allow church teachings to be discussed and debated. We acknowledge that this Assembly cannot change church teachings on its own. But it is important to contribute to change and to let it be known why many church teachings have not been received by the people of God in Ireland. And the principle of subsidiarity requires many issues to be decided and implemented at local level.
Pope Francis has spoken of a new structure for our church – an “Inverted Pyramid” – with the People of God at the top and the Pope as servant of the church at the bottom. Wouldn’t it be inspirational and in accordance with Gospel values, if the Assembly was organized in this way? As a move in this direction we would hope to see attendance at the Assembly made up as follows:
· 40% Clergy, Women and Men Religious
· 60% Lay Women and Men
· Women to make up 50% of all Members
We propose that the Lay Women and Men be selected using a process similar to the Citizen’s Assembly to ensure that all those who identify as Catholic will be represented rather than hand-picked to accord with any particular agenda.
Recent experiences of Synods are mixed:
The best example was the Killala Assembly (2017-20) which voted 85% for married priests and 86% for a change in church teaching on homosexuality. Limerick Synod (2016) could only discuss the main topic (women in the church) after the official synod had closed at 12 noon!
And the current Liverpool Synod has prepared a list of “Matters outside the remit of the Synod”! The Assembly for Ireland must deal openly with all important issues.
The outcome we would like to see from this Assembly is a number of resolutions addressing some longstanding important issues. The German Synodal Path clearly identifies four main issues that urgently need to be addressed:
1. Power and Separation of Powers in the Church
2. Living Love in Sexuality and Partnership
3. Priestly Existence Today
4. Women in Ministries and Offices in the Church
These same 4 issues are also very relevant in Ireland today where the Catholic Church is in crisis. Our Church is indeed a field hospital as Pope Francis has said. But most of the injuries have been self-inflicted, like the clerical sex abuse cover up scandals, the sexism and homophobia.
We Are Church Ireland is ready to play its part in this Assembly provided all issues are on the table and the Members of the Assembly represent the women and men of Ireland.
There must be fruitful and genuine discernment open to the Holy Spirit present in all people, allowing them to speak freely without fear of censure. Many previous consultations have gathered dust on shelves; the value of this Assembly will be judged by what it actually achieves.
Ursula Halligan
Colm Holmes
Joint Coordinators
We Are Church Ireland
[This article was published in REALITY (June 2021)]
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We Are Church Ireland
C/O 49 Rockfield Avenue,
Perrystown,
Dublin 12.
D12H6F6
Ireland