More than sixty years after the Second Vatican Council we are still trying to get to grips with the purpose of Pastoral Councils. The 1983 Code of Canon Law placed much emphasis on these pastoral structures as a way of enabling continual communal discernment about how the Spirit is leading. Yet for many the experience of being in these gatherings seems to be more about reading reports than consulting the faithful on pastoral matters that concern them.
Returning from the October experience of gathering in Rome for the first phase of the Synod, many have related how surprised they were by simple things like the arrangement of the room, sitting at round tables together, taking time to listen to each person’s voice and then considering steps that might be taken.
To many, all of this looked like a novelty. My burning question then is why is this such a novelty sixty years after the Council? And is it time to renew our pastoral council structures so that they look more synodal? What would a synodal approach to pastoral council look like?
The first and most essential element is that it would be more prayerful and discerning, and this is precisely the dynamic that was witnessed on the Synod floor in October.
In action
Here we saw the Conversation in the Spirit in action, where lay and ordained gathered together as brothers and sisters in Christ to listen together to the Spirit. There was an emphasis first on silence and prayer together, leading to sharing and making space for others, and then moving on to building consensus together. In this listening together to understand where the Spirit is leading, there was a letting go of preconceived agendas so as to be open to God’s leading.
This is fundamental to pastoral discernment and needs to be an essential element in the working practice of all pastoral councils. Discerning together is not an easy task. It is sometimes easier to run pastoral councils as if they are committees, where there is an agenda to get through and decisions are made for others. This way of working is so easy to slip into.
We can see too that some in the Church are uncomfortable with the idea of discernment and view it as something woolly, vague and spiritual. However, when discernment is done well, it leads to new pastoral action and priorities for mission. It also leads to ownership of decisions by a larger group of people.
Often in a pastoral council discernment is required about what is good, better and best. This cannot be done in an isolated room separate from the People of God and this means that pastoral councils need to listen outward to the voices of the Diocesan community, or Deanery community or Parish community. As we can see some Dioceses are working hard at listening processes for precisely this reason, in order to capture how the Spirit is leading.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit us, I was engaged with two different parish pastoral councils in enabling them to organise a Parish Assembly. The preparatory steps towards these gatherings were important as there was little or no experience of having done this before.
The eventual outcome of these assemblies were very fruitful and positive, but initially there was a fear that ‘the people’ would just want to complain. Over the months of preparation, the parish pastoral councils learned about the value of small group sharing, prayerfully gathering and listening to understand.
In each of these parish assemblies, parishioners were encouraged to share their hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, as well as name some steps that might be taken to develop parish life.
Convergence
What emerged was a lot of convergence on the big and small issues, which then helped both pastoral councils to make decisions about actions. These issues became the focus of further pastoral council gatherings, brought new life and energy to them and ultimately enabled the parish to see that their voice was shaping the way ahead.
Ideally every pastoral council would be making an Annual Parish Assembly part and parcel of their ministry, so that decisions are always made in a discerning way. This illustrates that, if we seriously want to honour and develop a synodal way of doing things, then we will have to gather more often to prayerfully consider together the way ahead.
What was being modelled in the Rome October gathering is that this takes time, patience and genuine trust in the Holy Spirit, but is the necessary way forward for clarifying pastoral priorities.
Some people were disappointed that there were not many practical outcomes from the October Rome gathering, but what was happening on the floor of the hall was that participants were learning a new way of making and taking decisions. However, we do not need to wait until next October in our dioceses, deaneries and parishes for some outcomes!
What we can do is renew our existing council structures so that they are truly synodal in the way they work. Informed by the Decree of Bishops paragraph 27, Canon 511 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law refers to diocesan pastoral councils: In each diocese, to the extent that pastoral circumstances recommend it, a pastoral council is to be established whose responsibility it is to investigate under the authority of the bishop all those things which pertain to pastoral works, to ponder them and to propose practical conclusions about them”.
This indicates that the role of a diocesan council is to help the bishop to discern. Pondering does not mean just thinking about but connects with what Mary did: she pondered things in her heart, she prayerfully considered, and so in other words she discerned. Without this kind of prayerful discernment with others the bishop is disabled rather than enabled.
This dynamic of prayerfully considering or discerning should also be the hallmark of deanery councils, the council of priests and parish councils. What this suggests to me is that if we really want to get going with becoming a synodal Church then we must renew and refresh all of our council structures so that they are forums where discernment can take place that leads to fruitful pastoral action.
Then we will be ready for our Irish National Synod. What are we waiting for?
Patricia Carroll is Director for Mission and Ministry in the Archdiocese of Dublin.
