Synodality and the presence of the laity 'patrimony' of the Eastern Churches
The regional phase of the synod on synodality was held in Lebanon from 13 to 18 February. A sort of "spiritual retreat" on the model of Saint Ignatius that dissipated "divisions and tensions" between groups. Identifying the 'priorities' to be dealt with by the Synod of Bishops in Rome. In a final 10-point document the summary of the work.
Beirut (AsiaNews) - "From the beginning of the preparations for the Synod, we feel lost, perhaps because we are moving in unusual terrirtory [...]. This theme requires time, courage, repentance, openness to the Holy Spirit, and thus to one another, a listening to what lies behind the words," reflected Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church Anba Ibrahim Isaac.
He was speaking in his homily at Mass during the Middle Eastern Synodal gathering from 13 to 18 February at the Bethania Conference Centre (Mount Lebanon) on the theme "Synodality of the Church: communion, participation and mission". The meeting took place near the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, the assembly was attended by religious and lay representatives of the six Eastern Patriarchal Churches sui iuris (Maronite, Melkite, Syriac, Armenian, Chaldean and Coptic), as well as the Latin Church.
The work of this session proved to be a tonic for the participants. 'We went in fatigued,' explains Souraya Bechaalani, former president of the Middle East Council of Churches, 'and we came out comforted, consoled. Bechaalani shows satisfaction with the presence of 40 women out of 110 participants (and 120 registered) among religious and lay people. "Ghassan and Joya, two young representatives of the Anta Akhi association, which deals with people with special needs," he adds, "asked us not to make a report based on complaints, but to launch an invitation to hope".
This approach is confirmed by Fr Dany Younès, Jesuit provincial of the Middle East (Mo), a member of the event's steering committee. "Many said they had experienced this time," he confides, "as a kind of spiritual retreat, placed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and they promised themselves that they would take it up again in other situations. We entered a little divided, with tensions between some groups, but these reservations have dissipated in the course of the exchanges and with the confrontations between groups". "Certainly, we have no illusions," he added. "We have a long and arduous process ahead of us, but the fundamental experience we have had is that we have challenges ahead of us, not between us."
For Fr. Khalil Alwan, moderator of the synod, the credit for the success of the continental phase is partly due to the method used for the conversation and spiritual discussion within the 11 groups into which the participants were divided. A method familiar to the faithful, who engaged in spiritual exercises according to the model indicated by St Ignatius of Loyola, Fr. Younès points out. A kind of "mutual listening without judgement" and "a bold, undefended speaking out, in which personal vulnerability is manifested but at the same time respected".
'We did not try to solve the problems of the Middle East,' reassures Souraya Bechaalani. The objective, he continues, was to 'identify the priorities that the Synod of Bishops will deal with in Rome. We thought about how the Church can be synodal, how the whole People of God will commit to walking together to evangelise the world'.
In the 10 points that form the summary of the final report on the session, in the first we find that "synodality is at the heart of the heritage of our Eastern Churches. That the presence of lay people and young people in church structures is encouraged, as is the presence of women in decision-making. Mention is made of the aspiration of young people for a renewal of the liturgy and church structures, as well as for specialised pastoral care in family, women's and youth matters. At the same time, the importance of an effective presence in the media and social networks is mentioned. Finally, new structures to ensure synodality within the Church are mentioned.
These points of the chapter will then be developed in a document of about thirty pages, which will then be sent to Rome and will serve, together with the reports from the other continents, as raw material for the development of the "instrumentum laboris". This document will eventually be used in the future sessions of the Synod of Bishops that focus on synodality and will be held in Rome in two stages, in October 2023 and 2024.
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