CV News Feed // In his opening address to synod delegates on Monday, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich warned that tensions will likely rise during week two of the Synod on Synodality.
Cardinal Hollerich, the general rapporteur of the Synod on Synodality, reviewed the previous week’s discussions and talked about what the participants could expect the second week. He warned this week’s topics could lead to tensions.
“We are not afraid of tensions,” Hollercich said. “Tensions are part of the process, as long as we consider ourselves to be sisters and brothers together.”
This week, the participants will be discussing the B1 module of the Instrumentum Laboris, the working document for the Synod on Synodality. During each of the four weeks, synod participants will cover a different section of the document.
The B1 module concerns “communion, participation, and mission.” Participants will discuss the first question: How can we be more fully a sign and instrument of union with God and of the unity of all humanity?
Part of this will include a discussion concerning issues such as how the Church can be more ecumenical, how the Church approaches the phrase “where love and truth meet,” and how to recognize the diversity and richness of various cultures.
Hollerich noted that he believes participants are ready to partake in difficult conversations because they have built bonds and better understand how to discern with the Spirit.
Last week, we gained experience in using the methodology of Conversation in the Spirit and can thus feel more at ease in a way of walking together that we will continue to practice. Above all, we have begun to weave relationships and build bonds. We have begun to move from the ‘I’ to the ‘we’.
A major concern that delegates will seek to address this week is how the church can be open to all people. Module B of Instrumentum Laboris asks, “In the name of the Gospel, which bonds need to be strengthened in order to overcome trenches and fences, and which shelters and protections need to be built, and to protect whom? Which divisions are unproductive? When does graduality make the path to complete communion possible?”
Hollerich reminded participants that Pope Francis has continuously reiterated the need to welcome all people in recent months.
“All are invited to be part of the church. At World Youth Day in Lisbon, Pope Francis reiterated the word “todos (‘all’).” And in his homily at the opening mass of our assembly, “tutti… tutti”,’ said Hollerich. “In deep communion with His Father through the Holy Spirit, Jesus extended this communion to all the sinners.”
Hollerich advised participants to step away from theological and sociological debates and begin discussions with concrete, personal examples to help understand the issue.
“We need to think; we need to reflect, but our reflection should not take the form of a theological or sociological treatise,” said Hollerich. “We need to start from concrete experiences, our own personal ones, and above all, the collective experience of the people of God that have spoken through the listening phase.”
