Analysis Choice at synod: confront or avoid
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome
A synod of bishops, as its presently constituted, is
something like open mike night at the local comedy club. You dont know
whether the shows going to be any good until the lights come on.
Every synod, a month-long gathering of some 300 bishops and a
handful of invited delegates from around the world to advise the pope, has a
topic. It is sufficiently broad, however, that almost any subject can arise,
and so the drama lies in watching who says what -- who uses the platform to
address controversies, float innovative ideas, or dream great dreams, and who
curries curial favor by staying on safe ground.
Likely topics at this falls gathering, scheduled to run
Sept. 30 to Oct. 27 and devoted to the theme of the bishops role, are
especially hard to predict.
If it goes according to Vatican plan, it will be largely a tame
discussion about the bishop in his own diocese.
On the other hand, the raw materials in the synods
instrumentum laboris, or working document, could lead to several
noteworthy debates if speakers rise to the occasion.
Among key issues:
Centralization of power: Paragraph 70 of the instrumentum
expresses a wish that relations between the successor of Peter and the
diocesan bishops, through the various departments of the Holy See and
pontifical nuncios and representatives in various countries, always display
mutual collaboration and fraternal esteem, in respect for eachs
competence.
Some bishops, frustrated with what they see as an imbalance of
power between the Roman curia and the local churches, may argue that this wish
is honored more in the breach than the observance. Recent controversies over
the way the Vatican has intervened in local church affairs -- controversies
over punishing theologians, renovating cathedrals and translating liturgical
texts -- suggest that fraternal esteem and mutual
collaboration may not always be the best way to characterize interactions
between bishops and Rome.
Appointing new bishops: One of the hallmarks of the John Paul II
papacy has been the appointment of strong conservatives to key bishops
posts, in at least a few cases against the wishes of the local church. This has
revived an old debate about the best way to determine who is to be named a
bishop. Church history offers several models, ranging from quasi-democratic
election to appointment by secular governments.
In the instrumentum laboris the issue is phrased in terms
of whose advice counts. Paragraph 77 says that some bishops, in responding to
an earlier draft of the document, urged discussion of the subject of
consultation as an assistance in choosing the most suitable candidate for the
proposed episcopal mission.
Spiritual movements: While some bishops embrace the so-called
new ecclesial movements, such as the Legionaries of Christ, the
Neocatechumenate, and Focolare, others worry about their potential to be
elitist and divisive. Paragraph 99 of the instrumentum laboris candidly
acknowledges that while many movements are truly constructive,
others risk undermining the communion of the entire particular
church.
A more oblique reference is made to similar concerns about the
conservative Catholic group Opus Dei, which has a special ecclesiastical
category of personal prelature. This canonical provision means that
priests and lay members, for whatever concerns Opus Dei, fall under the
jurisdiction of the prelate who heads Opus Dei and not the local diocesan
bishop.
Paragraph 74 says that some bishops request clarification in
situations where bishops have overlapping jurisdiction, offering examples
of Eastern churches, a military diocese, and a personal prelature -- the only
possible referent of the last category being Opus Dei.
Laity: In recent years John Paul II has labored to reinforce a
clear distinction between laity and ordained clergy, worrying that the border
had been fuzzed by egalitarian enthusiasms following the Second Vatican Council
(1962-65). Yet Paragraph 94 of the instrumentum laboris demands respect
for the mission of the laity, both inside and outside the church.
Bishops and priests must have major trust in the
laity, the document says, who oftentimes do not feel appreciated as
mature Christians and want to feel more like participants in church life and in
diocesan projects, especially in evangelization.
Without such a laity, the document admits, there
is the danger that the evangelizing mission of the church will end in certain
areas, especially where there is a severe lack of priests.
Academic Freedom: Above all in the United States, the kind of
oversight bishops should exercise at Catholic universities has been a subject
of great controversy in recent years. Paragraph 103 frames the terms of debate
without attempting a resolution.
It calls on bishops to defend the Word of God from
everything which might compromise its purity and integrity, but also asks
them to respect the just freedom to further investigate the faith.
Some speakers at the synod may wish to reflect on how that balance is to be
struck.
Careerism: Eyebrows were raised in spring 1999 when three veteran
curial cardinals, Bernardin Gantin, Joseph Ratzinger and Jorge Medina
Estévez, publicly lamented careerism in the bishops ranks. Despite
their situation as bishops who left local dioceses to work in Rome, all three
called for a return to the ancient discipline of the church, which considered a
bishop married to his diocese. Under that discipline, a bishop was
almost never transferred, since it would be tantamount to divorce.
The instrumentum laboris acknowledged that some bishops
support a policy of staying put, so as to avoid, as much as possible, such
problems as a passing outlook toward their dioceses, the interruption of
programs and pastoral initiatives and a desire to change or transfer to
particular churches which might be more prestigious or might have fewer
problems.
Beyond these six points of controversy, the instrumentum
laboris contains at least two surprises for people who follow church
affairs closely.
One has already been pointed out by former San Francisco
Archbishop John Quinn, who noted in a July 30-Aug. 6 article in America that
Paragraph 76 permits retired bishops to be elected to the Synod of Bishops.
Quinn, known for moderate-to-liberal views on many issues, is well positioned
to spot the irony, since his election to the 1997 Synod for America was
annulled by the Vatican precisely on the grounds that he is retired.
The other surprise comes in Paragraph 122, which urges bishops to
use diocesan synods, a meeting of clergy and laity to advise the bishop, as
the choice expression of the organic community of the particular
church. Yet when Bishop M.P.M. Muskens of Hollands Breda diocese,
also known as a progressive, recently announced plans to hold a diocesan synod
in 2003, the Vatican told him not to -- reputedly because it feared the advice
he might get from Hollands notoriously rambunctious Catholics
(NCR, Feb. 9).
Naturally enough, observers express different hopes for the synod
depending upon their assessment of the churchs situation.
Alberto Melloni, a lay Italian historian who prepared the
biographical materials for Pope John XXIIIs beatification, hopes the
synod will address the over-centralization he believes has occurred under John
Paul II.
This pontificate demonstrates that to base everything on the
charisma of the boss doesnt always pay, and it wont pay
forever, Melloni told NCR. There is a need for the bishops
to succeed in expressing themselves, not in order to democratize the church,
but to save its catholicity.
Yet Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver says debates over church
politics would obstruct what he hopes will be the synods focus on
evangelization.
So many of the disagreements in the church amount to not
much more than distractions and evasions from the task of bringing the church
to the world and the world to Jesus Christ, he told NCR. We
live most fruitfully as bishops when we live in the circumstances where God
places us, as missionaries.
While the official title of the synod is The Bishop: Servant
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World, most leadership
positions will be occupied by cardinals. Cardinal Edward Egan of New York will
hold the powerful post of relator, responsible for guiding and synthesizing the
discussion. The three co-presidents, who will chair the daily sessions, will be
Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re of Italy, Bernard Agré of the Ivory
Coast, and Ivan Dias of India. All four men were made cardinals in John
Pauls most recent consistory, Feb. 22.
Cardinals William Keeler of Baltimore and Francis George of
Chicago and Bishops Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston and Wilton Gregory of
Belleville, Ill., were elected by the U.S. bishops conference to
participate.
Among 32 bishops the pope has thus far named to attend were four
more Americans: Archbishop Justin F. Rigali of St. Louis; Cardinal Edmund C.
Szoka, the former Detroit archbishop who now serves as governor of Vatican
City; Ukrainian Archbishop Stefan Soroka of Philadelphia; and Auxiliary Bishop
Robert P. Maginnis of Philadelphia.
The session on bishops will be the 20th meeting of the Synod of
Bishops since the institution was created after the Second Vatican Council. It
follows sessions on laity in 1987, priests in 1990 and religious life in
1994.
John L. Allen Jr. is NCRs Rome correspondent. His
e-mail address is jallen@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, September 7,
2001
|