oktober 2024

Som tidligere år dekker tidsskriftet First Things(som jeg har lest fast i over 32 år) årets bispesynode på sin særegne måte:

Letters from the Synod began in 2015 at the request of Cardinal George Pell, then the Prefect of the Holy See’s Secretariat for the Economy. During Synod-2014, called by Pope Francis to discuss issues of marriage and the family, Cardinal Pell had been dissatisfied with what he regarded as the spin, bordering on propaganda, coming out of the Holy See Press Office, and thought that alternatives ought to be available during Synod-2015, to aid the Synod fathers in their deliberations and to inform the Anglosphere of what was going on in Rome.

Letters from the Synod-2015 was then followed by Letters from the Synod-2018, Letters from the Vatican during the February 2019 global summit on the sexual abuse crisis, Letters from the Synod-2019, and Letters from the Synod-2023. As in its five previous iterations, Letters from the Synod-2024 will offer reflections on the issues raised (and the procedures enforced) in the Paul VI Audience Hall, following the theological maxim, “In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas” (Unity in essentials, freedom in disputed matters, charity in all things). Of course, the question of what, precisely, are the essentials of Catholic faith has been disputed in every Synod since 2014, and fraternal charity can, in those controversies, require fraternal correction.

Welcome back, then, to our veteran readers, and a hearty welcome to those of you engaging Letters from the Synod for the first time. Xavier Rynne II

Så langt i år har det blitt skrevet fem slike brev:

1/10 – BREV 1
3/10 – BREV 2
5/10 – BREV 3
8/10 – BREV 4
10/10 – BREV 5

I brev #3 kunne vi lese:

The Synod’s October 2 afternoon working session was devoted to a lengthy series of reports from the various extra-synodal “study groups,” created by Pope Francis to ponder numerous “hot-button issues” as these are defined by the media and much of the Catholic blogosphere. The tedium felt by many that afternoon was broken by a report from the study group that explored the question of whether women might be ordained to the diaconate; the report was delivered by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. To what was undoubtedly the shock of some (given the messenger) and the consternation of others (given the message), Cardinal Fernández got straight to the point: 

«We would like to share from the outset that, based on the analysis conducted so far—which also takes into account the work done by the two commissions established by Pope Francis on the female diaconate—the dicastery judges that there is still no room for a positive decision by the magisterium regarding the access of women to the diaconate, understood as a degree of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.»

Og i brev #4 leser vi om de mange jesuittene som deltar i synoden og om metoden som brukes i arbeidet:

… Jesuits are massively “over-represented” here. Does it really matter? Well, it’s likely to have at least two effects.

First, the methodology of the Synod—which relies heavily on the 1970s Canadian Jesuit approach known as “conversations in the Spirit”—will be very familiar to some Jesuits and their allies, but alien to many of those at the Synod. As even its admirers acknowledge, it’s a methodology that contributes to good relationships amongst those involved but not to theological precision. Many Synod members would have preferred a different methodology, and requests that this be the case were plentiful after Synod-2023, not least among members of the Synod General Council. Those requests were denied. …