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Archbishop John Wilson writes about the synodal mission of the People of God for the Pastoral Review

The Archbishop of Southwark, John Wilson, has written an article for the Pastoral Review on the synodal mission of the People of God.

The article is an edited version of a keynote lecture Archbishop John delivered in June 2024 at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, for the Hayes Towey Pastoral Review Memorial Lecture.

Archbishop John writes that, modelled on Christ, synodality requires expertise "in the art of encounter" - as described by Pope Francis.

The Archbishop is one of the representatives from England and Wales who is participating in the Synod on Synodality. Having attended the Synod last year in Rome, the Archbishop will once again be in Rome this October (2024).

Archbishop John said embedding 'synodality is a slow burn', adding that the People of God should give serious attention to the considerations posed by Pope Francis, which the Holy Father frames "evangelistically to bring the ‘consolation of the Gospel’ to the world, and ‘to bear witness to God’s infinite love’ in a better way to everyone".

Read the Archbishop's article in full below.

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Building Relationships of Communion –  the Synodal Mission of the People of God

Most Rev John Wilson, Archbishop of Southwark

When launching the synodal pathway, Pope Francis used St Mark’s account of the rich young man as a programmatic synodal parable of encounter, listening, and discernment.[1] The rich young man’s struggle hindered his wholehearted discipleship. Knowing this, the Lord fixed his gaze upon him and loved him.[2] Encountering, listening, and discerning. These interdependent dimensions of synodality hinge on a salvific truth: the Lord looking steadily at us and loving us, a truth we are called to imitate towards others.

Modelled on Christ, synodality requires expertise ‘in the art of encounter.’[3] This happens, says Pope Francis, ‘not so much by organising events or theorising about problems,’ but by ‘taking time to encounter the Lord and one another.’[4] As the Great Commandant’s double formula obliges love of God and neighbour, there is also a two-fold synodal directive. We pray, to discern ‘what the Spirit wants to say to the Church.’[5] Then we ‘look others in the eye,’ listening, building rapport, sensitive to their questions, letting ‘ourselves be enriched by the variety of charisms, vocations and ministries.’ [6] 

Christiform ‘looking steadily and loving’ is a synodal attitude the entire Church needs to practice more generously. I once visited a Catholic school in a poorer part of San Salvador. A 7-year-old girl’s first words to me were ‘you have beautiful eyes.’ Can we encounter others, not least those different to us, including the stranger, with disarming kindness, recognising their dignity?

Synodal discernment unfolds prayerfully ‘in dialogue with the word of God.’[7] This ‘living and active’ word ‘guides the Synod,’ ‘preventing it from becoming a Church convention, a study group or a political gathering, a parliament,’ making it instead ‘a grace-filled event, a process of healing guided by the Spirit.’[8] Recalling the nature, content, and transmission of divine revelation, Dei Verbum is an indispensable synodal companion.[9] For Fr Yves Congar OP, this ‘great text … provides theology with the means of becoming fully evangelical.’[10] The Council’s clarification about the revelation and communication of divine truths is foundational.

‘Jesus calls us,’ says Pope Francis ‘to empty ourselves, to free ourselves from all that is worldly, including our inward-looking and outworn pastoral models; and to ask ourselves what it is that God wants to say to us in this time.’[11] This is necessary for contemporary evangelisation, where a Christocentric dynamism charts the mission envisaged by the Second Vatican Council and ‘the Holy Spirit always surprises us,’ suggesting ‘fresh paths and new ways of speaking.’[12]

I had the privileged of participating in the Synod on Synodality. The Universal Church held a mirror to herself, considering her missionary purpose to reflect Christ’s light to the world. The encounter between clergy, laity, and consecrated people, made the Church feel smaller and relationships of communion more tangible. Following the landslides in Papua New Guinee, I contacted a lay delegate living there whom I met at the Synod. Our Archdiocese helped construct a formation centre in Ukraine through a bishop I met at the Synod. Two miniscule examples of synodality, of realising human and spiritual interconnectedness. From the tradition of Catholic social teaching, we are familiar with the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity. Synodality rightly underpins and stands alongside these.

Terminology is important. This Synod was unlike previous Synods of Bishops. With 450 participants, over 350 were voting members, 120 of these chosen by Pope Francis. The majority were bishops, with just over a quarter lay and consecrated women and men. Perhaps a new name would better reflect the reality of this gathering, maybe ‘A Synodal Assembly of the People of God.’

Synodality pivots around three foundational themes requiring interpretation and application. Communion asks what it means to be bound together in relationship with Christ, and with each other, in faith and action. Participation asks what it means for all members of the Church, each according their particular vocation and gifts, to fulfil their roles, co-essentially and co-responsibly.[13] Mission asks what it means for the whole People of God to co-operate in announcing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Understanding the biblically rooted concept of the People of God is key to Lumen Gentium and synodality.[14] The People of God encompasses everyone baptised into Christ, within which the common priesthood of the baptised, and the ministerial priesthood of the ordained, differ ‘in essence and not only in degree.’[15] They are, however, intrinsically ‘interrelated,’ ‘each of them in its own special way … a participation in the one priesthood of Christ.’[16] The ministerial priesthood serves the common priesthood, directed to ‘unfolding … the baptismal grace of all Christians.’[17] Looking steadily and loving is inherent to priestly ministry, imitating the self-emptying servant-leadership exemplified by the Lord Jesus.

It is mistaken to equate the People of God with the laity, or to set the People of God against the ordained ministry as competing forces struggling for power. Vatican II affirms the distinct and mutually necessary roles of the laity and the ordained. They synergise an authentically mission-focused Church, comprised of co-cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.[18] Attitudinal transformation towards greater collaborative evangelisation secures everyone’s rightful place in the Church as a missionary witness to Christ.

Pope Francis shared his vision for the proclamation of the Gospel in Evangelii Gaudium.[19] The synodal mission of the People of God is characterised by the Pope’s familiar phrase ‘missionary disciples.’[20] He links this not only to responsibility for evangelisation, something shared by all the baptised, but also to the sensus fidei, the instinct of faith which enables divine truths to be grasped.[21] The Pope references Lumen Gentium’s teaching that the ‘discernment’ or appreciation ‘of matters of faith’ (the sensus fidei) ‘is aroused and sustained by the Spirt of Truth’ … ‘exercised under the guidance of the sacred teaching authority,’ the magisterium, through which the People of God ‘accepts’ ‘the faith once delivered to the saints.’[22] Understanding this ‘acceptance’ is pertinent to synodality. The sensus fidei concerns how the whole body of the faithful receives, not determines, revealed truths of faith.

For Vatican II, the ‘People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgement, and applies it more fully in daily life.’[23] The People of God manifests the sensus fidei by holding fast to the faith received, by probing what that faith means, and by applying it to life. In this, the ‘whole body of the faithful’ cannot err when it remains faithful to the truth received.[24]

Pope Francis illustrated this simply: ‘When you want to know ‘what’ Holy Mother Church believes, go to the Magisterium, because it is in charge of teaching it to you. But when you want to know ‘how’ the Church believes, go to the faithful people.’[25] The content of faith (fides quae), and the act of faith (fides qua), remain inseparable from participation in the body of Christ and the interior working of grace.

Synodal relationships of communion arise from Baptism, the primordial sacrament of salvation. Baptismal lex orandi (how we worship) sheds light on the lex credendi (what we believe) which, together, shed light on the lex vivendi (how we live). The liturgical post-baptismal prayers convey this three-part interaction between worship, belief, and life, underscoring the co-responsibility for mission entrusted to every disciple.

Setting this in context, we can describe the Christian life according to the indicative and imperative realities of faith. The indicative carries the sense of what is, and the imperative the sense of what should be. Pope Benedict XVI captures this stating ‘Love can be ‘commanded’ because it has first been given.’[26] In other words, those loved by Christ (indicative) must love in return (imperative).

The prayers summarise the synodal mission of God’s people.[27] The prayer for anointing with sacred chrism announces the baptismal salvific indicative, the eternal reality of our identity in Christ. Freed from sin, we share a new kind of life. Having died with Christ, we are risen with him. The consequent imperative means uniting ourselves with Christ’s people, in his body, remaining members of Christ the priest, prophet, and king. What happens through Christ is the primary proclamation, followed by how it is to be lived.

The prayer for clothing with a white garment affirms our new creation, clothed with Christ who establishes our Christian grandeur. From this salvific reality the imperative flows: supported by family and friends, bring this Christian dignity to fulfilment in heaven.

With the lighting of the candle, the indicative baptismal truth is declared: Christ has enlightened you. The necessary imperative emphasises discipleship as walking in this light, keeping this faith alive, and remaining devoted until our journey is complete.

These baptismal indicative realities and imperative responsibilities apply to every disciple, nurtured through faith in co-operation with grace. Their fulfilment requires a particular discernment regarding each person’s contribution to the synodal mission of God’s people as a whole.

The sacramental origin of synodal mission has a spiritual counterpart. The Synod began with three days of retreat. Prayer saturated the endeavour as we repeated the ancient prayer, Adsumus, Sancte Spiritus, petitioning ‘We stand before You, Holy Spirit … Teach us the way we must go.’ All the synodal reflections in our Archdiocese begin with Lectio Divina, immersed in God’s word. We used the synodal methodology of ‘conversations in the Spirit’ with our diocesan trustees, and hope to use it with our Council of Priests. Focusing on the Lord Jesus, looking steadily at him and loving him, contemplating his word and adoring his Eucharistic presence, sustain our journeying together. Looking to, and listening to, Christ anchors our qualitative listening to each other, a real listening, not simply to reply, or correct, or dismiss, but deep, resonant listening to hear and discern well.

Opening the Synod, Pope Francis returned to the Lord’s loving and compassionate gaze.[28] ‘Here,’ he said ‘we do not need a purely natural vision, made up of human strategies, political calculations or ideological battles. … We are not here to carry out a parliamentary meeting or a plan of reformation. ... The Holy Spirit is the protagonist. … [We are here] to walk together with the gaze of Jesus, who blesses the Father and welcomes those who are weary and oppressed.  So let us start from the gaze of Jesus, which is a blessing and welcoming gaze.’[29] Our synodal itinerary needs a supernatural outlook.

The challenge of maintaining the faith, while reaching out with welcome and mercy, is not lost on the Pope. We are to be a Church with a ‘glad heart,’ which ‘contemplates God’s action and discerns the present.’[30] ‘Amid the sometimes agitated waves of our time,’ we are not to ‘lose heart’ or ‘seek ideological loopholes.’ Nor can we ‘barricade’ ourselves ‘behind preconceived notions,’ ‘give in to convenient solutions,’ or allow ‘the world [to] dictate’ the Church’s agenda. [31] Quoting Pope St John XXIII at the opening of Vatican II, the Church can never depart from the ‘sacred patrimony of truth received from the Father,’ but must look to new ‘avenues’ to pursue an evangelising Catholic apostolate.[32]

Embedding synodality is a slow burn. It will take time. As the People of God called to participate in building relationships of communion in the service of mission, the considerations posed by Pope Francis demand serious attention. He frames these evangelistically to bring the ‘consolation of the Gospel’ to the world, and ‘to bear witness to God’s infinite love’ in a better way to everyone. [33] Taking our lead from the Holy Father, we can ask:[34]

1. How can we be free from disappointment and bitterness? How do we keep praising, with our hearts founded on the primacy of the Father, remaining serene even in the storm?
2. How can we face challenges and problems without a divisive and contentious spirit? How can we look to God, with awe and humility, blessing and adoring him as our only Lord?
3. How can we remember that we belong to God and exist only to bring him to the world?
4. How can we communicate what God has spoken and shown to us as salvation? How do we convince people of the Gospel’s truth?
5. How can we refocus our gaze on God as a Church that looks mercifully at humanity?

From these contextualising questions, other supplementary questions arise: [35]

1. How can we become more ‘united and fraternal,’ as a Church ‘that listens and dialogues’?
2. How can we bless and encourage, ’helping those who seek the Lord, lovingly stirring up the indifferent, and opening pathways ‘to draw people into the beauty of faith’?
3. How can we have God at our centre, being neither ‘divided internally’ nor ‘harsh externally’?
4. How can we take risks in following Jesus’?
5. How can we ‘grow in unity and friendship with the Lord in order to look at today’s challenges with his gaze’?
6. How can the Church make herself ‘a conversation’?
7. How can the Church offer ‘a gentle yoke,’ not imposing burdens, but repeating to everyone: Come, you who are weary and oppressed, lost, far away, and without hope; the Church is here for you’?
8. In the face of difficulties, how can ‘the blessing and welcoming gaze of Jesus’ prevent the Church ‘falling into some dangerous temptations:’ being a rigid Church – a customs post – armed against the world and looking backward, a ‘lukewarm Church, which surrenders to the fashions of the world, or a tired Church turned in on itself’?

The Holy Father’s questions nourish our continuing discernment about how relationships of communion can best express our synodal mission.

The October 2023 Synod opened on the Feast of St Francis of Assisi who was told by Christ ‘Go and repair my Church.’[36] This is a synodal anthem. ‘Our Mother the Church is always in need of purification, of being ‘repaired,’ … returning to the source that is Jesus and putting ourselves back on the paths of the Spirit to reach everyone with his Gospel.’[37] In this, Pope Francis invites us to employ the tools of St Francis: ‘humility, unity, prayer and charity.’[38]

Our Archdiocese has something called Some Definite Service, an approach to parish growth in evangelisation, catechesis, and formation. Moira, a parish lead, shared this reflection:

‘The Synod on Synodality is more clearly about the Church journeying together in mission. Some Definite Service, as it has developed, seems to me to be a response to this call for mission, the call to holiness. The Some Definite Service structure encourages participation and communion, offering parishes resources and support in order to develop mission among the People of God; encouraging evangelisation activity in parishes with a long tradition of being ‘done to’ rather than doing; building confidence in sharing the faith. Listening, silence, sharing and prayer underpin the zoom meetings I have attended so far, mirroring the ‘conversation in the Spirit,’ the ‘dynamic of discernment’ of the Synod. It is a different way of meeting, leaving room for listening to the Holy Spirit, through a more flexible and living structure, involving laity and clergy, to fit a synodal Church in mission.’ 

Closing part one of the Synod Pope Francis said this: ‘There is no love of God without care and concern for our neighbour. … We may have plenty of good ideas on how to reform the Church but let us remember: to adore God and to love our brothers and sisters with his love, that is the great and perennial reform.’[39] Prayerfully, we await part two.

This is an edited version of the Hayes Towey Pastoral Review Memorial Lecture delivered at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, 11 June 2024.

[1] Pope Francis, Address for the Opening of the Synodal Path, 10 October 2021. See St Mark 10:17 ff.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Heb 4:12; Opening of the Synodal Path.

[9] Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation – Dei Verbum, 18 November 1965. See 9-10.

[10] Yves Congar OP, My Journal of the Council, English Translation Editor Denis Minns OP, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2012, 845.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Cf. 1 Cor 12:12-27.

[14] Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church – Lumen Gentium, 21 November 1964. See especially chapters 2 and 4 in relation to the People of God.

[15] LG 9 & 10.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1547.

[18] See the Jubilee Prayer, which reads ‘May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.’

[19] Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel, 24 November 2013, 1.

[20] EG 119-121.

[21] EG 119.

[22] LG 12; See also CCC 93.

[23] Ibid.

[24] LG 12. See also CCC 92.

[25] This intervention by Pope Francis can be found at www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-10/pope-i-like-to-think-of-the-church-as-god-s-faithful-people.html

[26] Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est – On Christian Love, 25 December 2005, 14.

[27] See the prayers from the Rite of Baptism and Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

[28] Pope Francis, Homily at Holy Mass with the New Cardinals and the College of Cardinals
Opening of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, 4 October 2023.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Ibid.

[32] Ibid. Quoting Pope St John XXIII.

[33] Ibid.

[34] All of these are taken from, or based upon, the text of Pope Francis’ Homily, 4 October 2023

[35] Ibid.

[36] Homily, 4 October 2023.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Ibid.

[39] Pope Francis, Homily for Close of the Synod, 29 October 2023.