Is Synodality enough to stop the haemorrhaging from our parishes? 04
A series of newsletters on Synodality in the parish
This is the fourth and final of a series of four newsletters on synodality, as the Church lives through the Synod on Synodality this month in Rome. This series originally appeared as a single article on Church Life Journal. The first instalment can be read here, the second is here, and the third is here.
Key #3: The Power of the Holy Spirit
While I present the next key to parish renewal last, it is truly the first. I present it last as the culmination or as the summit because without the power of the Holy Spirit all our efforts in renewing our parishes are in vain. Pope Francis has long emphasized this point about the Synod too: listening to the Holy Spirit is the first call of synodality. He says:
It is not about garnering opinions, not a survey, but a matter of listening to the Holy Spirit, as we read in the book of Revelation: “Whoever has ears should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7). To have ears, to listen, is the first thing we need to do. To hear God’s voice, to sense his presence, to witness his passage and his breath of life (“Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Faithful of the Diocese of Rome”).
I want to say again that the Synod is not a parliament or an opinion poll; the Synod is an ecclesial event and its protagonist is the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit is not present, there will be no Synod . . . The Synod then offers us the opportunity to become a listening Church, to break out of our routine and pause from our pastoral concerns in order to stop and listen. To listen to the Spirit in adoration and prayer. Today how much we miss the prayer of adoration; so many people have lost not only the habit but also the very notion of what it means to worship God! (“Address of His Holiness Pope Francis for the Opening of the Synod”).
We need to interrogate ourselves: do we believe that the Holy Spirit is the “protagonist” or are these just words? When we say we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to renew our parishes, do we expect anything different to happen in our parishes when he comes? When we pray, “Come, Holy Spirit,” are we expectant for his consuming and transforming presence? Are we ready for the Holy Spirit to blow up our plans?! The then Cardinal Ratzinger commented that bishops and other Church leaders “must not turn their own pastoral plans into the criterion of what the Holy Spirit is allowed to do” (The Ecclesial Movements: A Theological Reflection on Their Place in the Church).
As the world becomes darker, as God disappears from the human horizon, and as humanity “loses its bearings with increasingly evident destructive effects,”1 the desperate need for new outpourings of the Holy Spirit becomes manifestly clear.
In defining synodality, I claimed that it should give tangible expression to the communion between God and humanity, concrete models of how we lead, live together in community, serve those in need, and evangelize. If synodality is for the sake of mission, God’s love urgently needs to be made tangible in the world too: it is not enough, when “so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ” (EG §49), that we proclaim the Gospel in powerless words alone. Rather, its proclamation must be accompanied by healings, signs and wonders that make God’s love experienced and felt.
Pope Francis’s conviction is that synodality is the model that best gives space for the Holy Spirit to act, so that we do not just talk about him, but truly experience him.
Practically Speaking
What might this look like practically?
1. Expect the Holy Spirit to Show Up in Power
A mantra for us at Divine Renovation is, “parishes change when people change.” We are not concerned with training parishes to implement effective leadership techniques. We believe God wants nothing less than for lives to change. Evangelization tools such as Alpha introduce the expectation that the Holy Spirit will change us right from the beginning, from the proclamation of the kerygma. At the Alpha weekend away, unchurched people have an opportunity to encounter Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. The ancient prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit” can bring about a powerful, personal Pentecost moment when
the Spirit of God [is] poured out in superabundance, like a cascade capable of purifying every heart, extinguishing the fire of evil and kindling the flame of divine love in the world (Pope Benedict XVI, Homily for the Solemnity Pentecost, 11 May 2008).
One university student at a parish in England who never previously came to church attended such a weekend and said,
A few hours later that evening, I felt this overwhelming need to just tell people about Jesus and express my love for Him.
The Holy Spirit will transform the culture of our parishes to one of expectation and faith, where people have their lives changed, if we let him.
2. Build a Culture of Adoration
Pope Francis is convicted that, “we miss the prayer of adoration; so many people have lost not only the habit but also the very notion of what it means to worship God!” As God becomes displaced from the human horizon, parishes need to be places where the supernatural is unashamedly central. The formalist approach of nominal “nods” to prayer (like beginning a meeting with “a quick Our Father”) is not enough to counteract the “tsunami of secularism.”2 Our meetings and pastoral planning processes need to be prayer-soaked. Some parish leadership teams that we coach take one out of every four meetings just for prayer, engaging in corporate intercession for the needs of the parish. Some will pray novenas before making important decisions. Some will fast and offer sacrifice for specific intentions. We encourage all parishes to have a dedicated intercessory prayer team. Eucharistic Adoration is transformative since, in adoring the Eucharist, “we enter into this movement of love from which flows forth all interior progress and all apostolic fruitfulness” (John Paul II, Speech of the Holy Father John Paul II in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmartre, 1 June 1980).
3. Rely on the Holy Spirit in Discernment
The synodal pathway is understandably marked by Ignatian approaches to discernment and listening to the Holy Spirit. Ignatian spirituality supplies some extremely helpful principles that, if adopted into parish culture, will greatly increase potentiality for the Holy Spirit to act. One such principle is that of “indifference” or “detachment”:
Thus as far as we are concerned, we should not want health more than illness, wealth more than poverty, fame more than disgrace, a long life more than a short one, and similarly for all the rest, but we should desire and choose only what helps us more towards the end for which we are created. (Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises §23)
Such a principle is invaluable for a pastor discerning vision or for a leadership team involved in decision-taking.
Yet, there are myriad spiritualities of discernment within the rich heritage of the Catholic Church, many of which might be adopted by parishes. Think of the uniquely Benedictine, Carmelite, Dominican (and other) spiritualities that give guiding principles for discerning how the Holy Spirit is acting. There are models of prophetic listening where a team or ministry may follow steps of discernment based on an understanding that God can speak directly into a situation through individuals, whose words are confirmed by others. What matters is that we build traditions and cultures of prayer, listening, and discernment that are more than perfunctory, box-ticking exercises.
Conclusion
In a time of immense darkness and confusion, the world needs the light of Christ to shine in the Church brighter than ever before. Millions are thirsty for the love at the heart of the Trinity, and the Church is God’s irrigation system to bring his love into the world. It is Pope Francis’s conviction that synodality is the concrete way of being the Church that will best demonstrate and offer the communion at the heart of God to broken humanity so desperately seeking it.
In the earliest days of the Church, it was the way the early Christians lived their lives that made Christianity spread contagiously. They “devoted themselves to . . . the communal life . . . All who believed and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need” (Acts 2:42, 44–45). Once again, we need parishes to display the love of God in a way that is infectiously attractive:
Not only with words, but by a presence that can weave greater bonds of friendship . . . A Church that does not stand aloof from life, but immerses herself in today’s problems and needs, bandaging wounds and healing broken hearts with the balm of God. Let us not forget God’s style, which must help us: closeness, compassion and tender love (“Address of His Holiness Pope Francis for the Opening of the Synod”).
Models for parish renewal demonstrate concrete, synodal approaches to evangelization and leadership, but strategies for these alone are not enough. Ultimately, this is a “spiritual path”: only when we empty ourselves and become dependent upon the Holy Spirit to change us will our parishes become sanctuaries “where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey” (EG §28).
Many of the insights in this series of four newsletters originated in a Divine Renovation webinar in which I hosted a conversation between Fr. James Mallon (Founder of Divine Renovation) and Sr. Nathalie Becquart (Under-secretary to the Synod of Bishops), which can be viewed here.
Cardinal Wuerl, press conference at the Holy See Press Office, Oct 8, 2012.