Why I Have Mixed Feelings About the Synod’s “Letter to the People of God”

Bondings 2.0 writers Robert Shine and Francis DeBernardo are in Rome for the month of October covering the first global assembly of the Synod on Synodality, particularly LGBTQ-related developments. For the blog’s full coverage of this multi-year synodal journey, click here.

REPORTING FROM ROME—The Synod’s General Assembly released the first of two anticipated documents yesterday. The text signals that calls for an inclusive church have been heard, though offers few concrete proposals.

The document, entitled “Letter of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to the People of God,” is a novel communiqué for Synod assemblies, which usually only release a report. (A synthesis report for this assembly is due to be approved this Saturday.) The letter arose because assembly participants wanted to share their experiences of the monthlong gathering with the wider church.

The three-page letter relates their experiences in largely general terms, focused on what the Synod assembly was like, rather than the issues discussed or any proposals that were made. The letter describes the assembly as a “beautiful and enriching experience,” a “blessed time in profound communion with all of you,” and an “unprecedented experience.” The participants explain:

“Together, in the complementarity of our vocations, our charisms and our ministries, we have listened intensely to the Word of God and the experience of others. Using the conversation in the Spirit method, we have humbly shared the wealth and poverty of our communities from every continent, seeking to discern what the Holy Spirit wants to say to the Church today. . .

“At the invitation of the Holy Father, we made significant room for silence to foster mutual listening and a desire for communion in the Spirit among us.”

In reading the letter, I had three reactions about how it relates—and what it could portend—for LGBTQ+ issues in this synodal process that continues through the end of October 2024.

First, the ‘Letter to the People of God’ is unequivocal about the close link between synodality and inclusivity. Citing Pope Francis’ initial exhortation, this journeying together was and must continue to be “open to all the People of God, no one being excluded.” The letter continues:

“To progress in its discernment, the Church absolutely needs to listen to everyone, starting with the poorest. . .It means listening to those who have been denied the right to speak in society or who feel excluded, even by the Church; listening to people who are victims of racism in all its forms – in particular in some regions to indigenous peoples whose cultures have been scorned. Above all, the Church of our time has the duty to listen, in a spirit of conversion, to those who have been victims of abuse committed by members of the ecclesial body, and to commit herself concretely and structurally to ensuring that this does not happen again.”

However, despite inclusion for LGBTQ+ people being a persistent, emphasized theme in the two years of pre-assembly consultations, LGBTQ+ people are not among the long list of marginalized groups mentioned in the letter:

“[Progressing in discernment] means listening to those who have been denied the right to speak in society or who feel excluded, even by the Church; listening to people who are victims of racism in all its forms – in particular in some regions to indigenous peoples whose cultures have been scorned. Above all, the Church of our time has the duty to listen, in a spirit of conversion, to those who have been victims of abuse committed by members of the ecclesial body, and to commit herself concretely and structurally to ensuring that this does not happen again.

“The Church also needs to listen to the laity, women and men, all called to holiness by virtue of their baptismal vocation: to the testimony of catechists, who in many situations are the first proclaimers of the Gospel; to the simplicity and vivacity of children, the enthusiasm of youth, to their questions, and their pleas; to the dreams, the wisdom and the memory of elderly people. The Church needs to listen to families, to their educational concerns, to the Christian witness they offer in today’s world. She needs to welcome the voice of those who want to be involved in lay ministries and to participate in discernment and decision-making structures.”

One of the letter’s ten paragraphs was devoted to the need to listen to more ordained men, specifically priests, despite clergy being about 80% of this present assembly.

This seems an odd recommendation since the Pope Francis has continually railed against clericalism throughout his pontificate.  In fact, in the last set of remarks he made to the assembly, he gave a scathing critique of destructive clerical behavior which ended by saying it caused “pain and scandal” to see the sartorial habits of new clerics:

“. . . [I]t is enough to go to ecclesiastical tailor shops in Rome to see the scandal of young priests trying on cassocks and hats or albs and robes with lace.”

He continued:

“Clericalism is a whip, it is a scourge, it is a form of worldliness that dirtyes and damages the face of the wife of the Lord; enslaves God’s faithful holy people.

And the people of God, the holy faithful people of God, press forward with patience and humility enduring contempt, mistreatment, and marginalization on the part of institutionalized clericalism. And how how much we speak in a normalizing way of the princes of the Church, or of episcopal promotions likecareer promotions! The horrors of theworld, the worldliness that mistreats the faithful holy people of God.

Second, the theme of listening is strong in the document. At the press briefings all month, participants chosen to speak were effusive in their praise of listening—to the point of frustration on journalists’ part because the participants would not share what was actually being said. Still, having more church leaders actually listen to and engage with LGBTQ+ people and allies would be good progress.

Third, this letter exhibited a quality that has bothered me throughout this month: Is this Synod assembly becoming too self-referential, something which Pope Francis warns the church against doing?  Clearly, participating in the assembly has moved participants, some in deep ways. The letter to Catholics worldwide acknowledges that the participants “were supported by your prayers, bearing with you your expectations, your questions, as well as your fear.”

Yet, this General Assembly is not a retreat or formation class for participants, even if spiritually and educationally beneficial for them. Millions of Catholics participated in the local, diocesan, national, and continental stages of the Synod since October 2021. We offered our hopes and joys, griefs and anxieties, laments and desires—including recommending radical shifts in how the Catholic Church addresses gender and sexuality. The assembly is meant to discern what is offered and then respond to the people of God, not just allow the assembly participants to experience synodality.

I am grateful that the Synod participants desired to tell the wider church about what they experienced. I appreciate the recognition that a synodal church must be an inclusive church, a listening church, a just church. And I am convinced the Synod assembly was a genuinely sacred moment.

At some point, though, we are called to move beyond discerning a synodal church into becoming a synodal church. A new mode of being—synodality—is great. Yet, without concrete reforms so fervently desired by the people of God, the Synod risks becoming a futile exercise where 450 people had a great retreat, while a billion-plus other Catholics experience disappointment and even greater exclusion.

For now, I am fine with having mixed feelings. I will wait for the Synthesis Report to see whether this letter is a dead end or the start of real, positive developments LGBTQ+ people and allies.