This is the theme of the residential meeting which took place in November 22 to 24 at the “Fraterna Domus” Spirituality House in Sacrofano (Rome), organised by the executive councils of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) and the Union of Superiors General (USG). The event, which saw the participation of over 250 Superiors General, evenly distributed between male and female religious leaders, marked the first joint meeting of the two unions.
It has been a response to the shared desire of the unions to continue walking together. The two unions, no strangers to joint initiatives, have intensified their collaboration since their online reflection on Pope Francis’s encyclical “Fratelli Tutti”. They also made a joint contribution to the first phase of the synodal process in 2022.
To better understand the aims, the outcomes and the meaning of such an important event which is a contribution of the two unions to the path of the Synod on Synodality, The Synodal Times turned to Sr. Mary T Barron, OLA, President of UISG.
What were the main outcomes? and next steps?
Both Unions – the USG (men) and UISG (women) have their own manner and frequency of meeting with membership which is very different because by nature the two Unions are very different in terms of number and location of membership. There is already good collaboration between the two Unions. At the level of the two Boards, there are meetings every six months.
There are also shared experiences and collaborations with joint commissions in different domains: JPIC, Care and Safeguarding to mention just some. Following the publication of the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, an online Assembly was organised which was well attended and well appreciated by membership. But this meeting in Sacrofano was the first in person gathering of such a large number of leaders of male and female Religious Congregations and Societies of Apostolic Life.
The focus of the meeting was in the first instance to share with the participants the experience of the recently completed first session of the Synod and to also help us begin to focus on the upcoming Jubilee 2025, hence the title: “Synodality: A Renewed Call to the Prophecy of Hope.”
As with the Synod, the fruitfulness of the process used during the meeting is of much greater importance than any outcomes in terms of concrete actions. We replicated the Synod methodology by using round tables, engaging in conversations in the Spirit and punctuating the sharing with many moments of pause to allow the words of others to sink in and to allow us to notice what was moving in us as we listened, coming to a sense of where the Spirit was guiding us as table groups.
This time there was an equal number of men and women participants at each table which was very refreshing. Of course our time was very limited but we sensed the call to return to our sources, to reclaim a more contemplative stance in all aspects of our lives. We realised that to be synodal and to be prophets of hope we simply need to live authentically the call to Religious Life which is meant to be radical and from the peripheries.
By so doing we are bearers of Christian Hope. We simply need to recalibrate, and go back to the Source.
Commenting on the sense of the meeting, you stated that it “can give new impetus to the synodal journey together, helping us to imagine new possibilities, calling us to live out our responsibilities, to continue the synodal path to deeper communion, to wider participation and to an ever more fruitful mission with all members of the Church.” Did it realise this desires of yours? How?
I am very excited by the possibilities offered by this first in presence meeting. It was a very profound time together of prayer and sharing. It allowed us to get to know each other better and the first step in any good collaborative initiatives has to be the development of relationships rooted in trust and in our common faith in Jesus Christ.
As we are called to continue the Synodal Journey with all the People of God, more opportunities will emerge for male and female religious life to contribute together along this journey.
What was the first reaction of the world of religious life to the call of the Pope to start and concentrate efforts on a Synod with a totally new format and with a different and large participation? And what does being involved in such a demanding and inspiring process mean for your world?
Being involved in the synodal process, which is both demanding and inspiring, is a great privilege for all in Religious Life and is an opportunity for profound renewal. Back in 2021 when the Synod on Synodality was announced with the various steps beginning at local level and culminating in the 2023 Synod Assembly, we Religious welcomed this call enthusiastically, recognising the potential the process offered for renewal.
We are deeply appreciative of the new format, and the wider participation. This enthusiasm and appreciation for the process has not waned, and in fact has deepened, as the journey evolved and the synodal path was extended to 2024, including two Synod Sessions in Rome. We are particularly appreciative that lay participants and female religious participants, for the first time, are recognised as full members, with voting rights.
This synodal journey is an area in which USG and UISG have worked closely: initially offering all membership the opportunity to reflect on the key synodal questions from the perspective of Religious Life. A summary document was offered to the Synod Secretariat which is the fruit of the reflections of global Religious Life and is an important document for us as we continue the journey and which we have struggled to put into practice.
Within Religious Life we also sense this call to renewal and to a recalibration of returning to the essence of our being. It is true that for many in Religious Life, processes for listening, dialogue, seeking the common wisdom of the group under the guidance of the Spirit of God, are not new but rather are constitutive of how we live out our communal consecrated life.
Notwithstanding this reality, the shared reflections of USG and UISG pointed to five calls for Religious Life: to be rooted in the Spirit recognising that Synodality requires conversion and becomes our path to formation and spirituality; a call for a new type of mutual relations which invites Institutes to make a clear call for dialogue between cultures and generations within their membership and beyond; openness to collaboration with other Institutes and with all the faithful so our witness is stronger and mission is more fruitful; formation for synodality which calls for wisdom, openness, exercise and apprenticeship; and leadership and governance calling us to take the necessary time and processes to invite fuller participation of all membership.
Religious Life is challenged by the Synodal process, to live fully into the radical prophetic witness that is its call and its place in the Church and Society. As the USG-UISG contribution to the Synod highlighted, Synodality challenges ministries that are not located in areas of need but in comfort zones.
The cry of people who are poor and vulnerable on all continents must be heard. We in Religious life have to have an honest self-reflection of how synodal our own processes actually are, of how prophetic our witness is in today’s world and continue the synodal processes to help us recalibrate under the guidance of the Spirit.
Do you think this time is a time of real changing in the Catholic Church, an epochal change similar to that triggered by the Second Vatican Council? And if so in what ways?
Having participated in the synodal process since the opening in October 2021 and having just completed the first session of the Synod in October 2023, I have the sense that we are in an era of epochal change. I have been following many people’s contributions and follow-up after the Synod 2023 and there is a common thread in many: we cannot go back to how we were.
I sense we are in a moment where we have pressed pause: pausing our learned habits of how we are Church, pausing to truly listen and be moved by what we have heard from our brothers and sisters from all around the world, pausing to take the time to pray together and try to detect what the Spirit is saying to us as a Church, pausing to review how we have been doing with implementing the vision of Church from Vatican II.
The image that comes to mind is of Elijah in the book of Kings, waiting for God to pass. And God is not in the powerful wind or in the raging fire. God is in the gentle breeze and Elijah immediately knows it is God and covers his face. As we take the time to truly listen to each other, to pray with what we have heard, and to respond from a deep inner conviction that is of the Spirit, we will live into an epochal change in our Church which will bring us back to the essence of the early Church we find in the Acts of the Apostles, a Church rooted in service for mission.
What can the reality of religious life off er and take from the process of the Synod on Synodality?
Religious Life has a very wide-reaching and committed membership in all the local Churches across the world. With our experience of communal process of discernment, we do have a certain wisdom to offer on the journey. With our presence in the peripheries we can also be attentive to ensuring that ‘people in poverty are truly protagonists of the Church’s Synodal Journey’ as the synthesis document states.
The synod on Synodality offers Religious Life the opportunity to evaluate the Synodality of our own processes, inviting us to an honest assessment of how participative, how spirit-guided our processes actually are. It invites us to look at our life and see if all we are and do is rooted in service for mission. We are invited to see if our ministries are in the peripheries in areas of need or if we have become somewhat comfortable in comfort zones.
The calls emerging from the synod process for accountability is also a call to Religious Life for greater accountability.
Finally, another novelty of the synod was the large and extensive call for representatives of the so-called global south to take part in the assemblies, what do you think?
Our Church has been a Western Church for centuries and we are in a time of change where the youth and vibrancy in the Church is located very much in the Global South. It was extremely important to have many voices from all parts of the universal Church represented at Synod 2023. Each culture has different expressions of being Church and the cultural experiences of decision making and taking are also extremely informative and interesting for us as we grow into our essence as a synodal missionary Church.
I am from an international Congregation founded for Evangelisation in Africa. Forty years ago when our Constitutions guiding the Congregation were being updated for that time, there was a phrase included that when choosing delegates for General Chapter, care must be taken to ensure African Sisters are well represented.
This came from the wisdom and realisation that we had to intentionally create the space for participation because with our blindness and unintentional prejudices, these things do not happen automatically. I think the same is true in the synodal journey: we have to intentionally create the spaces for participation and I think we must continue to do better in fostering more just representation of the universal Church in synodal gatherings.
