From “cooperation” to the “co-responsibility” of all the members of the People of God, including the lay faithful. This was one of the most prominent themes raised at the inaugural Synodal Assembly, which was held at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, attended by over a thousand delegates. Monsignor Erio Castellucci, vice-president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and president of the National Committee for the Synodal Way, comments on the highlights of the meeting in this interview with SIR.
Monsignor Castellucci, the first Synodal Assembly, the result of the Italian Church’s three-year Synodal journey, has just ended. Could you give us a preliminary assessment of the results?
In fact, it is a very positive assessment. The very fact that delegates from all of Italy’s 226 dioceses took part, and that there were 170 bishops out of a total of about 200, testifies to a concrete desire to contribute to a synodal Church in mission: indeed, mission is the one major theme.
Mission and proximity are the key words of the Synodal journey, in continuity with the Magisterium of Pope Francis and with the Universal Synod that has just ended. What were the contributions of the working groups that marked the three-day assembly?
I have just finished reading all the contributions, which were concise but clearly formulated. They can be summed up in a few important common points:
The Church in Italy is very much alive, despite a decline in the levels of support, noted by sociologists.
It is alive because it has its roots in the holiness of everyday life, which cannot be measured by the instruments of statistical data. It thrives above all in the seeds of goodness, in the acts of generosity, in the spiritual dimension that also opens up in so many non-practising or non-believing people.
The participants gave their full support to the vision of the Church proposed by Pope Francis, a Church that is not obsessed with “numbers”, with occupying a space, with consensus, but only with bearing witness to the beauty of the faith in Christ.
A humbler Church, smaller in numbers, but more determined, more eager to follow the style of Jesus.
The focus on the victims of abuse and on the poor were two of the highlights of the three-day meeting of diocesan delegations in St Paul’s Basilica. What was the impetus from the prayer vigil and the testimonies for pursuing these two areas of commitment?
The impetus was powerful partly because the reflections originated from the very survivors of abuse, the testimonies of those who experienced darkness in ecclesial environments and were abused by priests or lay members. The sheer scale of this evil, which will never be undone, is frightening, and yet the victims even manage to speak of forgiveness.
Abuse and contempt for the poor have reached the depths of human wickedness, which is the very opposite of evangelical love.
The Church has been aware of the gravity of this phenomenon for years, even within her own ranks, and is vigorously fighting this scourge which, by defiling the human body, kills the soul of the victims.
You spoke about the need for a “conversion” of ecclesial structures. How can our communities be helped to carry out pastoral ministry in a more “synodal” way – and thus in a spirit of co-responsibility – and how can the question of the role of women in the Church be taken forward?
A more synodal form of governance implies a greater involvement of lay men and women in the governance of the community. It is not enough to have a single form of collaboration, even if there is only one person who decides and the rest participate in the operational phase, by implementing the decisions taken by those in positions of responsibility.
What is needed is a paradigm of co-responsibility involving the laity (and religious) before the decision-making phase, i.e. the phase of “discernment”.
This phase should promote shared decision-making, rather than having one person in charge. In this context, the question of the management of ecclesial structures is a delicate one, which at present – also in its civil and penal consequences – rests solely with the minister (parish priest-bishop), who usually has neither the time nor the competence to manage them. In this case, because it involves the sharing of responsibilities, including those of a legal nature, co-responsibility is much more complicated than in the strictly pastoral field.
In his message to the participants, the Pope asked the Italian Church to “fulfil its commitment to the nation to the best of its ability.” In the Lineamenti, the Pope asks not to set culture against prophecy: how can we still speak of God to the men and women of today in a language that resonates with everyone, including those who are “distant”, and what steps should be taken in this direction, also with a view to the next Assembly in March?
The question of language is both vital and complex. It sometimes seems that the Church has lost sight of the miracle of speaking in tongues at Pentecost, when everyone could hear the Apostles speaking in their own language. I believe, however, that in addition to the need to communicate in a language that is closer to the people – even in the liturgy, which in some cases already allows for this – we should remember that language is not only spoken. Indeed,
most young people, for example, are not attracted by sermons, not even by beautiful ones, nor by catechesis, but by experiences that reflect the rays of the Gospel:
helping the poor, caring for the sick, sharing genuine moments of friendship, being listened to by respected adults… If the so-called “distant believers” still have a spark of interest in the Gospel, it is not because they have heard beautiful words, but because they have had beautiful experiences.
