Closing of the 'Shadow Synod': “Shut us up!”
The meeting bears the significant title of “Human rights in an emerging Catholic Church”, convened by the international organization Spirit Unbounded (“Spirit without borders”), with the support of more than forty Church organizations
One of the participants was a prominent person: Raúl Vera , bishop emeritus of Saltillo (Mexico), collaborator of Samuel Ruiz in Chiapas and one of the critical episcopal voices in the Latin American Church
“The fundamental challenges of society today are the humanization of human rights and the Christianization of the Church,” said Chittister.
Mary McAleese: "The Church is not credible because it is not transparent"; in this way, it is not consistent with the message of its Master.
The “ Lay-led Synodal Assembly” or “Shadow Synod” has concluded its meeting at dusk on October 14 with these words from Joan Chittester and Mary McAleese with which I title my post, two of the most valuable women in the Church, although it was not wanted to include them in the Vatican Synod, or Synod of Synodality, described as an open and participatory path for the entire Church, in the spirit of Francis.
The first is a well-known Benedictine nun, former university professor and renowned international lecturer, one of the most prominent North American Catholic theologians, with more than fifty published books, some of them bestsellers published in several languages. The second is a Catholic laywoman, with a doctorate from the Gregorian University, former professor and former chancellor of Trinity College Dublin, and former president of Ireland. Both lucid, critical and free women in the Church.
Although my previous article has provoked very critical and even insulting comments from the usual intolerant ultras - some of those insults have had to be eliminated by the moderator of these blogs -, although I also received words of gratitude through other means, I continue to speak of this superb meeting in Rome - whose program I have already spoken about in a previous post -. The meeting bears the significant title of “Human rights in an emerging Catholic Church” , convened by the international organization Spirit Unbounded (“Spirit without borders”), with the support of more than forty Church organizations known especially beyond our borders (WOW , WOC, ARCWP, CfCh, Donne per la Chiesa... ) and some Spanish ones like Redes Cristianas. This name has come in handy for this alternative Synod, in which we have heard words said with peace, but with energy, with freedom interior and exterior.
It's a shame that everything took place in English, with the difficulty it poses for Spanish-speaking people who do not know that language and without being able to have simultaneous interpretation, due to the precariousness of the media; I hope it will be taken into account on another occasion, because it may have been one of the reasons why only two Spaniards participated (my wife Christina, an interpreter who has been a great help, and I) and some Hispanic Americans. One of them is a prominent person: Raúl Vera , bishop emeritus of Saltillo (Mexico), collaborator of Samuel Ruiz in Chiapas and one of the critical episcopal voices in the Latin American Church, with whom I had the opportunity of a conversation that will appear here in a few days.
Although most of the talks and debates were online since last Sunday the 8th (with participation by prominent theologians such as Leonardo Boff and Diarmuid O'Murchu and others), on the 13th-14th there was the face-to-face meeting simultaneously in Rome and Bristol , as well with some notable people.
There were interesting conferences by specialists on women in the Italian Church (Dora. Paola Lazzarini ), in the German Church (Dora. Claudia Nothelle ) and in the Zimbabwe Church ( Martha Musonza ); others on the female disciples of Jesus with two English specialists from the universities of Edinburgh (Dora. Helen Bond ) and King's College London (Dora. Joan Taylor ), on sexual scandals in the Church (Dor. Luca Badini ), and conferences such as “Who and what we miss in the Synod and why” ( Jamie Manson ) or “We have already won”, by Dora. German Martha Heizer , co-founder of We Are Church, which was sanctioned years ago in the Church: “We do not need,” she said, “for the Church to teach us how couples should love each other.”
Bridget Mary Meehan , American and Irish bishop and theologian with numerous publications, spoke hopefully of her Association of Women Priests in the Catholic Church (ARCWP), which already has an important group not only of priests but also of bishops.
The two most important conferences were given by the two women I mentioned at the beginning. Joan Chittester spoke about “Living the discipleship of equals” . She began by saying with humor that she did not want to come to Rome, because she was afraid that what happened to Jesus of Nazareth would happen to her, that she did not want to go to Jerusalem either, because she was afraid that what happened to her would happen to her... But she did. In fact, she got into serious trouble with the hierarchy more than twenty years ago for participating in the first major meeting of the WOW (Worldwide Network for the Ordination of Women).
“The fundamental question is what do Church communities really need?” he said at the beginning. And the answer was resounding: “The Church has to change, change, change!” He told a well-known anecdote about a girl whose mother took her to church one day, and when she saw that there were only men leading the celebration, she asked why it was like that; and her mother responded: “It's just that in the Church those who lead are only men.” And the girl answered: “Then what are we doing here?”
“The fundamental challenges of society today are the humanization of human rights and the Christianization of the Church,” said Chittister . "Because," he continued later, "the Church is seriously failing with all the people with whom it should not do so: children, women, minorities, the marginalized and the poorest... Those most hurt by society." She is demanding true equality between women and men in the Church, with access to ordained ministries.
The Christian commitment - he repeated - is to live as disciples of Jesus and be consistent with it; that is, “living the way he lived: free and committed to the most marginalized.” The Church today has to find the path of true discipleship: for herself, for women and for everyone, being “consistent with baptism . ”
For her part, Mary McAleese titled her long and lively talk, very critical of the current Church hierarchy , “The discipleship of equals is denied . ” She began with a resounding phrase: “All inequalities scandalize Christ,” and this especially affects the largest religious institution in the world, with a seat at the UN: the Catholic Church. This must change above all in being faithful to the equality that the discipleship of Jesus Christ entails. And also in other aspects. “The Church is not credible because it is not transparent”; In this way, it is not consistent with the message of the Master of it.
However, this discipleship of equals does not even appear in the Instrumentum laboris of the Vatican Synod. Even praising Francis' courage in defending the poorest and creation, McAleese was critical of him because that is not the case in the Church and he does little to change the face of this patriarchal and sexist Church. She went so far as to say: “Despite his fresh spirit and his innovative statements, Francis's theology ends up being sexist, unjust and violating human rights in the Church, by denying the real equality of women in it.”
Both women had the final debate with questions from people who were participating in Rome and Bristol . They gave us phrases like:
“At the Synod they ended up talking about what should be talked about in it, instead of talking about what they already received from the communities,” although there were brave words like those of the German delegation (McAleese). “The authentic discipleship of Jesus is not submissive obedience, it is being critical like him of all the injustices and patriarchal inequalities… This is what the Apostles did, they imprisoned them and they announced the message again”; “We are like an army of soldiers who carry an atomic bomb, but do not pay attention to them”; “Explain to the people why you have come here and what we have talked about, that will change things in the Church”; “What we do here is very different from what they are doing in the Vatican Synod”; “A synodal Church is a Church that really listens and that does not remain silent, silencing questions” (Chittister). McAleese added harsh words about the lack of this communication that kills the Church: “What is out there is the empire of fear.”
To the question of a journalist The Synodal Times , a newspaper created for the occasion, about whether “Pope Francis is “taking away with one hand what he gives with the other,” the former president answers: “ The Pope is only willing to change what that can change, which is little; It seems that he is more concerned about being loved, that's why he says what people want to hear " ; “The Pope is about to swim and put away his clothes (or “give one of lime and another of sand”, a traditional translation of the expression used by “flip flop pope”)… Nobody knows what he really thinks… Although in this way he has created a space so that the Spirit may express itself.” Chittister finished with the hopeful words of the old Bob Dylan song: “Times are changing… And they will change more if we think and decide for ourselves… Don't be silent!”
