Proposals from the Synod on Synodality can be judged by whether they call men and women to holiness, as the church does more work “to ensure a genuinely Catholic understanding of synodality, inclusion and discernment,” the Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney wrote in a pastoral letter published on 20th November, “Walking Together in Communion, Participation and Mission.”
“One useful criterion for judging every Synod proposal is: Is it likely, by God’s grace, to generate more … holy men and women, such as our Church and world so sorely need?” he wrote. Archbishop Fisher, a member of the Ordinary Council of the Synod Secretariat, joined delegates in Rome during the month of October for the first assembly.
It included lay voting delegates in addition to bishops for the first time. “The Synod demonstrated that we can listen to the experiences of others with genuine Christian charity and without compromising truth, accompanying those struggling to accept the Church’s teaching or live it.” Likewise, while Christ calls all to an “ever-more inclusive community of faith,” he also calls us to an “ever-deeper conversion.”
Discerning the will of the Holy Spirit requires “a Christological ear,” the archbishop wrote, because “the Holy Spirit only ever says things consistent with what Christ has said in the apostolic tradition.”
Picture: Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney arrives for the assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)