WEDNESDAY OF THE SEVENTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

from an interview with Rafael Luciani, Boston College, who is one of the lay consultors for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the matter of synodality to be held in the Fall of 2023

For me, a new synodal structure has to have co-governance. If there is no co-governance, there is no understanding of the Church that involves all the baptized. And co-governance does not mean that one person makes the final decision and brings it to the table where others have to understand why I made a decision. It means that a discernment has to be done together, and decisions have to be made together, not explained from the top down. [Synodality] is a way of understanding relationships in the Church, communication dynamics, and participation in structures at all levels. The difficult thing is that it assumes that if structures are reconfigured, it’s necessary to change seminaries and parishes and models of church governance and functioning. Synodality is complex and comprehensive; it is not enough to modify a structure, or to put a lay person in a position where there was no lay person before. For me, it is a reconfiguration of the whole Church in its relationships, in its work dynamics, in its structures of participation, and that is why there is resistance.