Synod on Synodality

In NCR interviews after the announcement that Pope Francis will expand participation in the upcoming synod to include laypersons as voting members, theologians and reform groups praised the move as a substantial change.

The Mercedarian sister is the only woman and only nonordained member of the seven-person commission tasked with organizing the upcoming synod meetings in Rome. But despite being in the minority, she is unintimidated.

In a Fordham lecture, Xavière Sr. Nathalie Becquart spoke of the importance of women and young people in the church. And yes, she will be voting in the Synod of Bishops on synodality later this year and in 2024.

In their submission to the synod as part of the Irish national synthesis of the synodal process published Aug. 16, women religious in Ireland lamented their invisibility and highlighted their sense of marginalization.

Horizons - While the oneness we Catholics proclaim may be a hard-forged unity, the national synthesis offers hope that even if it is not a full reality, unity is desired by people on all sides of the ecclesial aisle.

Can you build a house with 1,000 rupees at a time? Last Christmas we mobilized people to join together and begin construction of a house for a daily laborer. Many people contributed; by May, the house was a reality.

Sacred Heart Sr. Maria Cimperman is a true believer in the Synod of Bishops on synodality: "The whole synodal process is really communal discernment. How do we walk with each other and hear each other?"

"Synodality is rooted in the tradition of the church. Francis is rescuing this value of our own tradition," Rafael Luciani told a webinar hosted by the Center for the Study of Consecrated Life.

Dominican Sr. Maureen Sullivan will speak on the synodal church in a FutureChurch series, while the International Union of Superiors General is gathering sister testimonies and focusing its 2022 plenary on the synod.

With the listening stage of the synod on synodality underway, the two-hour conversation on Dec. 16 aimed to amplify the voices of Catholic women from across the globe, with panelists from Africa, Australia and Europe.

As the first phase of the newly revamped synod process begins, Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the Vatican's office of the Synod of Bishops, delivered a talk in which she described the pope's vision of a more relational church. "The focus is no longer first on the primacy at the top of the pyramidal view," she said.

When asked if women other than Sr. Nathalie Becquart, an undersecretary in the Vatican's synod office, would be able to cast a ballot at the final meeting in October 2023, Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech refused to say.

Sr. Nathalie Becquart, a member of the Xavière Sisters in France, talks about preparing for the October 2022 Synod of Bishops, which will have the theme: "For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission."