“Spirit Unbounded” organised “Synodal Assembly” to coincide with Synod on Synodality

“We want change”: The Roman “shadow synod” of the laity

ROM/BRISTOL – While the Synod on Synodality is gathering pace in the Vatican, a “shadow synod” was also meeting in Rome. The conference of reform-oriented lay people dealt with women’s ordination, queer believers and abuse. But are the voices of the church critics heard in the synod hall?Published  on 15.10.2023 at 11:45  – by Roland Müller

No direct broadcast from the synod assembly hall, a ban on interviews about the content of the discussions and the obligation to maintain secrecy – the organisers of the Synod on Synodality are careful to exercise restraint and the synod members are largely complying. Pope Francis even declared before the start of the Church Assembly that God does not like a lot of fuss and talk. Silence in the Church is the guarantee for fraternal communication and listening to the will of God. The programme of the “Synodal Assembly” of the lay organisation “Spirit Unbounded” is quite different. Anyone interested could take part in the ecumenical meeting, which was held simultaneously in Rome, Bristol and online until Saturday. And its organisers – unlike those responsible for the Synod on Synodality – do not want to be cut off from the press, but want media attention.

Quite deliberately, the week-long conference entitled “Human Rights in the Emerging Catholic Church” took place at the same time as the World Synod in the Vatican. “Spirit Unbounded” – an association of church reform groups from several countries founded in January, including “Wir sind Kirche” from Germany – wanted to draw attention to the disregard for human rights in the church. “We brought together more than 100 witnesses and victims of these violations from all over the world: from Uganda, the USA, Scotland or South Africa,” explains Brian Devlin from “Spirit Unbounded”. Devlin knows what he is talking about: he resigned from his office as a Catholic priest and brought allegations of abuse against the now deceased Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien to the public with the book “Cardinal Sin”.

German participants at the conference

At the conference in Rome, well-known personalities from Germany also spoke, such as the theologian Doris Reisinger, ZdK Vice-President Claudia Nothelle or Mara Klein, member of the Synodal Committee. “We wanted to give resonance to the voices of those who suffer from human rights violations that have distorted what the Church is supposed to be,” Devlin explains the purpose of the “Synodal Assembly”. A glance at the conference programme shows that this refers above all to the numerous cases of abuse by clergy, the exclusion of women from ordination and discrimination against queer people in the church.Bild: ©“Spirit Unbounded”/Susie Triffitt

The Vice-President of the ZdK, Claudia Nothelle, speaks at the “shadow synod” of reform-oriented laity in Rome on Friday.

Because the event partly took place in Rome at the same time as the synod on synodality, it was called an “alternative synod” or “shadow synod” in the media. In this way, the “Synodal Assembly” is in the tradition of the meetings of “Wir sind Kirche”, which the reform movement has held in Rome at the same time as the Synods of Bishops in the past decades in order to make its demands known to the Synod Fathers. Devlin does not want to judge whether the “shadow synod” of the laity of “Spirit Unbounded” can influence the participants of the currently meeting synod on synodality: “That is not in our hands.” However, it is likely that at least a handful of Synod members will support the concerns of the “Synodal Assembly”, as in the case of Rafael Luciani. The Venezuelan theologian is present as an expert in the synod hall in the Vatican and published a greeting in the run-up to the meeting of “Spirit Unbounded”, which can be read on the movement’s website.

“And having listened, they must act”.

But influencing the synodals is not the point, according to Devlin: “We want to raise our voices together as lay Catholics because we believe the hierarchy has led the Church into an existential crisis.” Catholics around the world should know that they are not alone in their frustration and suffering caused by bishops and cardinals. “We want change,” Devlin demands. For clericalism is killing the Church: “Bishops have poisoned the well from which Catholic faithful drink with pomp, arrogance and cover-ups of abuse.” The church activist considers the “Synodal Assembly” a great success because it has changed the dynamic in the church towards the laity, and the bishops are now under pressure to move. “If the Church authorities say that the Synod is an exercise in listening, then they need to listen to what is happening beyond the walls of the Vatican,” Devlin said. He is thinking especially of the abuse victims, women and queer believers represented at the Spirit Unbounded meeting. “And after listening, they must act,” he demands of the church superiors.

Devlin is not alone in these hopes around the Synod in Rome: in the first week of the Church Assembly, which has now reached its halfway point, women from the Women’s Ordination Conference and other associations demanded gender justice in the Catholic Church with a demonstration at the beginning of Rome’s Via della Conciliazione, facing St Peter’s Basilica. “Resistance to patriarchy is obedience to God” and other calls, such as for the ordination of women priests, could be read on the protesters’ signs.Bild: ©“Spirit Unbounded”/Susie Triffitt

Participants of the “Synodal Assembly” of the lay association “Spirit Unbounded” listen to a lecture in Rome on Friday.

Even before the start of the World Synod, the German professional association of pastoral ministers had invited to a first worldwide meeting of so-called “Professional Lay Ministers” in Rome. At the meeting, participants from twelve countries exchanged views on their profession as trained lay ministers, but also on the current state of the Church. In a letter to the more than 450 participants of the Synod, they called for a “Church of participation, co-responsibility, co-decision and mutual empowerment”. Other church groups are also trying to bring their concerns closer to the Synod participants. At the moment, for example, representatives of youth associations from German-speaking countries are in Rome preparing for informal meetings with some synod members.

What influence do reform forces have on the Synod?

Whether “Spirit Unbounded”, the “Women’s Ordination Conference” or other groups who want reforms in the Church have any real influence on the Synod remains questionable. It is true that during Pope Francis’ pontificate discussions on critical issues, such as the ordination of women, have become increasingly possible. And the head of the church himself repeatedly hints at enabling new ways in pastoral care with remarried divorcees or homosexuals. But comprehensive changes in church doctrine, which would entail, for example, opening the sacrament of Holy Orders to women, seem to be a long way off, even under Francis.

While reform-oriented movements have positioned themselves with “shadow synods” around the Vatican, it is noticeable that the preserving forces are keeping rather quiet. In the run-up to the Synod on Synodality, five cardinals made themselves heard with critical “dubia”. But the conservatives have not managed to organise a meeting of the size of the “Synodal Assembly”. Are they counting on the fact that the Synod will not bring about any changes in the Church anyway? After all, the ultra-conservative website “Life Site News” invited to a strategy conference in Rome at the end of October for a retrospective analysis of the Vatican Church Assembly. The speakers there include the controversial US Bishop Joseph Strickland, as well as the German Curia Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller – and thus even a Synod participant directly appointed by the Pope.

by Roland Müller