Living in Communion: Listening to the Lord and listening to one another

You learn a lot when you listen to somebody. For two years the Synod of Synodality has prompted us to listen to one another more intently. As I prepare for my time in Rome and the Synod of Bishops, I want to leave you with a few thoughts on the synod as a whole. 

Synodality is first and foremost a way for the local Church to stop, to pray, and to listen to each other. We have been having synods on the international level in Rome since the Second Vatican Council. But what the Holy Father is asking for is that this synod be more integrated. That before we get to Rome, there be more of a consultation from the people of God around the world. People need to be respected when they are listened to, and then we can work together. I think that is one of the great hopes the Holy Father has for the synod. It was a massive undertaking – to get the voice, to at least capture something of the voice, of the people of God in the life of the Church. 

The experience of the synod here in the Rio Grande Valley was an enriching encounter. The parish coordinators who organized small groups of listening sessions, which included time for prayer and reflection and time for some proposed questions, did an excellent job. The listening sessions included the basic questions “What are your hopes?” and “What are your preoccupations in the life of the Church?” 

The key was to get people together in a prayerful way without interrupting each other and to just hear each other. It was a time to hear what was on the people’s minds. It takes discipline not to interrupt. It also takes an effort to listen and not talk past each other, and then to think about what you have heard. 

I was encouraged by the fact that we had a wide variety of participation. We learned that if you invite people to come and share what they love about the Church and what they worry about the Church, they share some beautiful and important things. We had a number of people say, “Nobody ever asked me. I was always afraid to talk about it – what my faith was like and what the Church means to me.” 

It was an edifying experience. People found it very moving. We heard a lot of things that were remarkably consistent across the diocese. There is a great love for the community and an appreciation for that sense of community that the Church offers. But there is also worry – preoccupation about how we are going to keep from losing our young people, who often find it difficult to relate to how the Church locally operates and how they fit in. Another important issue raised is the need for more formation in the liturgy and in the mission, to help us give witness to our faith. 

The body of the Church is meant to walk in communion for the sake of the mission. I think certain seeds have been planted, and the Synod on Synodality when we meet in Rome is going to be largely about how this style of living the life of the Church that is more open to hearing and speaking and praying can help us overcome polarization, and some of the roadblocks that we keep bumping our heads against. 

The question remains of how the Church can walk together by listening and speaking to each other and praying together for the sake of the mission. The mission is to give witness to Christ. The mission is evangelization. The mission is also being a voice in the world that speaks for the forgotten, the poor, the marginalized; that lifts up and raises the voice when they are in danger of being trampled. 

When I ask myself what in our own diocese stands out as important to bring to the greater synod’s attention, I think there is a sensitivity here that is a gift in this diocese of consciously not wanting to forget the poor. This sense of service, this sense of outreach, and also this sense of missionary zeal. Another thing I think we can help raise up from our diocese, but also in the United States, is that we do have an experience of a diversity of cultures working together. 

This is one of the challenges of walking together, of maintaining the unity of the Church. We are one faith, in the Catholic faith, but there are many beautiful expressions of it, in different cultures, in different languages, in different music, in different ways the liturgy is celebrated. It is the same liturgy, the liturgy of the Church, but there is an expression, also a uniqueness. 

This issue of the unity of the Church and the particular diversity of the members of the Church and communities of the Church around the world is really at the heart of the synodal discernment – how do you keep that balance that respects the individual or the particular expression of Catholicity in the local communities, but make sure that we are always maintaining our Catholic communion, which is the faith of the Church that has been handed on to us? As apostles, it is our responsibility to safeguard the faith of the Church, and it is the particular responsibility of the vicar of Christ, the successor of Peter in Rome, to maintain the integrity of the faith.

The global walking together is the challenge into the future. I think that is one of the reasons the Holy Father has invited the participation of a number of lay people or non-bishops. It is a synod of bishops in Rome, but there will be a number of non-bishops there because the mind of the Church is that the bishops need to think together with their people about how best to face the challenges. One of the things that came up in all the listening sessions in all the continents is that we all face new challenges. The world is a different place than it was even 10 years ago, in terms of the kinds of issues our people are facing – persecutions in one part of the Church, tremendous growth in other parts, and some parts of the Church where participation is less and less. How do we face these challenges locally, but also globally, and renew our missionary zeal?

What is going to happen in Rome?
If you want a good image of what is going to happen in Rome, the pope over the month is going to sit and listen to what people from around the world who love the Church are thinking and hoping for, and he is going to try to discern where the voice of Jesus is in that, which is what we can do in our own home and in our parishes.

The hope is that we deepen and integrate a common sense of bearing each other’s burdens for the mission of the Church. The mission is clearly given to us by Jesus, but we must live it in our time, and we have to be creative, and our people have a lot to tell us.

The bishops have a responsibility to hear it and to hear from that wisdom, and also to hear from people with divergent points of view and hopefully come to some sense as to how we can walk together. It’s not always going to be easy.

We don’t have to wait to see what happens this October or next October in 2024. We do not have to wait until we feel absolutely prepared. The mission is thrust upon us at baptism, and we have to give a witness. The Lord gives us gifts by which we can be a faithful witness to Christ in the world. You can act now. You need to open the space for the encounter with Christ in the other. That’s what the local experience was and should continue to be.