New Synod Document Seeks Church that "Embraces All," Including LGBTQ+ People

Yesterday, the Vatican released its working document for the first global assembly of the Synod on Synodality. The document includes two mentions of LGBTQ+ people, set within a larger text that is replete with themes of inclusion, welcome, diversity, and listening.

The document, known as the Instrumentum Laboris (IL), will guide conversations in October, 2023, when bishops, who will for the first time be joined by lay people, women religious, and priests, gather in Rome for a month. The IL is divided into three main parts: first, a broad reflection on synodality; second, a section on the priorities of this synodal process, namely communion, participation, and mission; third, a series of worksheets to facilitate Synod members’ work. The contents of the IL are drawn from the findings of the previous local and continental phases in late 2021 and 2022.

Specific references to LGBTQ+ people come in the third part, the worksheets, which pose focused questions for reflection. Under the organizing question, “How can a synodal Church make credible the promise that ‘love and truth will meet’ (Ps 85:11)?”, the document asks:

“The desire to offer genuine welcome is a sentiment expressed by synod participants across diverse contexts:

“a) the final documents of the Continental Assemblies often mention those who do not feel accepted in the Church, such as the divorced and remarried, people in polygamous marriages, or LGBTQ+ Catholics”

Later, under the organizing question, “What steps can a synodal Church take to imitate ever more closely its Master and Lord, who walks with all in unconditional love and proclaims the fullness of the Gospel truth?”, the document proposes:

“6) How can we create spaces where those who feel hurt by the Church and unwelcomed by the community feel recognised, received, free to ask questions and not judged? In the light of the Post- Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, what concrete steps are needed to welcome those who feel excluded from the Church because of their status or sexuality (for example, remarried divorcees, people in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ+ people, etc.)?”

The IL speaks in generalities, in contrast to previous documents in the synodal process, with references to specific communities or topics appearing mostly in the worksheets section. That LGBTQ+ issues were mentioned by name at all, never mind twice, is significant, and a testament to just how prominently these issues featured in local, diocesan, national, and continental reports.

The document, however, is notable for its refrains about inclusion being a necessity for the church, with a call to pay particular attention to people who are marginalized and excluded. It states clearly: “a synodal Church is open, welcoming and embraces all” (n. 26). Below are but a few examples of this theme:

“54. All points of view have something to contribute to this discernment, starting with that of the poor and excluded: walking together with them does not only mean responding to and taking on their needs and sufferings, but also respecting their protagonism and learning from them.

“B1.1.a In a synodal Church, the poor, in the primary sense of those living in conditions of material poverty and social exclusion, occupy a central place. They are recipients of care, but above all, they are bearers of Good News that the whole community needs to hear. The Church has something to learn and receive from them (cf. Lk 6:20, EG 198). A synodal Church recognises and values their central role.

“B1.1.e ‘Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor’ (EG 187). This implies a willingness to take a stand alongside the most marginalised in public debate, lending a voice to their cause and denouncing situations of injustice and discrimination whilst seeking to avoid complicity with those responsible for injustice.”

These themes of inclusion, welcome, listening, diversity, and justice are made concrete in questions the IL poses about topics like the role of women in the church, the levels at which church decision-making occurs and who is to be involved, how to proceed creatively when there are tensions, and being honest about “problems, resistances, difficulties and tensions. . .for which the life of the Church today lacks a place of acceptance and discernment.” Notably, IL also acknowledges that some of these difficulties and wounds are caused by the church, and create “a stumbling block for the Church’s witness to God’s love and the truth of the Gospel.”

The IL is clear about its scope: it provides questions, not answers, functioning only as a guide for “walking together” further. Indeed, the document explains that the primary aim of the October assembly “will be to outline paths of in-depth study to be carried out in a synodal style, indicating the relevant actors to be involved and ways to ensure a fruitful process in service to the discernment to be completed in the second session in October 2024.” It acknowledges there are limitations in this process, too. With so many issues raised in the global consultation, “many of which could be the subject of an entire Synod,” the need to synodally reflect on specific areas will proceed past 2024.

At its core, however, the Instrumentum Laboris returns again and again to the fruitfulness so far and need to continue dialogue and encounter. It notes that “the great surprise was the experience of being listened to by the community, in some cases for the first time, thus receiving a recognition of their unique human worth that testifies to the Father’s love for each of his sons and daughters” (n. 22). Indeed, in paragraph 40, is one of the document’s most poignant lines:

“Whenever we encounter another person in love, we learn something new about God.”

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, commented in a statement (full text available here), in part:

“It is nothing short of an amazing and true blessing that LGBTQ+ people were mentioned twice in the Vatican’s working document for the assembly of the Synod in October, which was released today. . .

“For LGBTQ+ Catholics, who for decades have called on the church’s leaders to have a conversation, this synodal process has signaled the beginning of such a process. Today’s document emphasizes that the excluded ‘are bearers of Good News that the whole community needs to hear’ and that ‘whenever we encounter another person in love, we learn something new about God.’ LGBTQ+ people are indeed bearers of Good News inviting the church to learn more about God.

“The synod will certainly not resolve all the issues that LGBTQ+ Catholics have raised, but this document indicates they are taken seriously by church leaders. The document’s promise for respecting diversity, encounter, and dialogue ensures that LGBTQ+ Catholics will continue to be included in the synodal journey, with their concerns being taken seriously by church leaders. All of this paves the way for ongoing conversations in the future.”

For Bondings 2.0’s full coverage of the Synod on Synodality as it has progressed since beginning in 2021, click here.

You can find all of New Ways Ministry’s Synod resources, including recordings of the address by Sr. Nathalie Becquart, the undersecretary of the Vatican’s synod office, to LGBTQ+ Catholics and allies by clicking here. Other webinars on synod topics can also be found through the previous link.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, June 21, 2023

Related Articles

National Catholic Reporter, “Synod document sets stage for wide-ranging debate on women, Catholic ministries and structures”

The Tablet, “Synod document sets the stage for ground-breaking summit”

Vatican News, “‘Instrumentum laboris’ calls for welcoming Church that embraces diversity“