Contributors

Professor Rafael Luciani discusses the fundamentals of synodality-inspired decision-making in the Church.

“One of the great sayings of the Risen Jesus was ‘Be not afraid’. And that probably
should be the motto of the Synod rather than Isaiah’s ‘Enlarge your tent’ as poetic as it is to western ears,” writes Garry O’Sullivan.

It makes sense for the Irish Synodal pathway to take careful cognisance of the fruits of the universal assembly, but not to allow this more global process to hinder the work that needs to be done here at home, writes Gerry O’Hanlon SJ.

Whistleblower Brian Devlin is hankering to hold the hierarchy to account.

Michael W Higgins, a biographer of Jean Vanier, investigates the legacy of a disgraced Catholic icon.

Since the assassination in July 2021 of President Jovenel Moise, criminal gangs have strengthened their hold on the Caribbean nation, killing 1400 and kidnapping for ransom 1000 people during 2022, writes Mary Durran.

Pondering what penance I might do for Lent, I stumbled on the Pope’s recent reflection on a synodal Lent: Listening to Christ often takes place in listening to our brothers and sisters in the Church.

It’s hard to get excited about exactly how the Church is run, but the way decisions are made, and crucially who makes them, is the place where change happens. This newsletter delves into The Synodal Times to discover how and why that change may come.

The big news in the world of the Synod this week has been the European continental synod assembly in Prague. Bishops and priests, laity, and protesters flocked to the Czech capital for what was formally billed as further discernment but felt to many like a turning point in the life of the European Church.

A persistent theme in synod reports across the world has been discomfort with the role and expectations placed on women in the Church. The February edition of The Synodal Times gives full voice to that long quiet sense of injustice.

In Brazil, women have long served as lectors and catechists in places like the Amazon region, where many are de facto religious leaders in remote communities that suffer from a severe shortage of priests, writes Lise Alves.

“The tragic irony of course is that Pope Francis’ favourite metaphor for the Church is that of a field-hospital. But for me the Church is the very place where the injury of rejection, the wounding of discrimination is taking place, and he is part of it,” writes Soline Humbert.