Consulting the Faithful

Learning the purpose of the Synod on Synodality

12/13/2022

MT 21:28-32 Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They answered, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.”

This past Sunday I read Bishop Taylor’s letter on the Synod on Synodality. I think that subject of a synod is serious enough to warrant another sermon. For those of you who keep up with Catholic news (Church watchers), you know how this synod has stirred up quite a bit of controversy in some parts of the world. Bishops writing to other bishops and telling them to stand down. Some of you may have been surprised or even shocked when I shared the 11 areas of concern raised during the diocesan phase of this synod. Put simply, some Catholics feel this synod is pushing the Church in the wrong direction, even flirting with heresy.

There may be some legitimacy for those concerns, but I believe those concerns miss the larger purpose and the good the synodal process can accomplish. I tried to describe the synodal process as listening and learning between church leaders (like bishops, priests, and deacons) and the laity, and compared it to the familial relationship between parents and children. How so?

Well, while it is true that most of the time parents lead, guide, and teach their children, at some critical moments children also lead, guide, and teach their parents. All wise parents know they owe a debt of gratitude for many lessons they have learned from their children. That listening and learning between parents and children is the heart of the synodal process, and its greatest contribution to the life of the Church.

I said all that last Sunday. In this second sermon on the synod, I want to share the groundbreaking insights of a recently canonized saint, John Henry Newman, and his work called “On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine.” Newman was a convert to Catholicism in England in the mid-1800’s. One thing that convinced Newman of the truth of the Catholic faith was the study of Church history. In other words, if you seriously and soberly study the history of Christianity, you must conclude that the Catholic Church is the one true Church that Jesus Christ established. And our Lord founded that Church on St. Peter, the rock.

But a careful study of Church history also teaches another valuable lesson, namely, the crucial importance and involvement of the laity (everyone who is not ordained clergy) in the life and mission of the Church. At one point Bishop Ullathorne paid Newman a visit to question him about his views and asked haughtily, “And who are the laity?” And Newman humbly answered, “Well, the Church would look foolish without them.” Newman’s comment wasn’t just a sharp come-back; it was also a sharp insight that really bishops, priests, and deacons exist not for ourselves, but to serve lay persons. In the same way, good parents know their real purpose in life is to raise up holy children. That is, without children, parents would look foolish.

In his small book Newman cites two clear instances where the lay people helped the Church to maintain the true faith, while even bishops fell into confusion, doubt, and heresy. The first, and most stunning case was the Arian heresy of the fourth century. Arianism denied that Jesus was fully God, even though they believed he was fully human. That’s probably hard for us to imagine.

Newman wrote this very pregnant sentence: “The body of the faithful is one of the witnesses to the fact of the tradition of revealed doctrine, and because their consensus through Christendom is the voice of the Infallible Church.” In other words, that voice and that consensus of the faithful speaking for the Holy Spirit is what the Synod on Synodality hopes to achieve.

As I said, the first instance of which the voice of the faithful was highlighted was during the Arian heresy. Newman explained: This period in the fourth century is “the age of doctors, illustrated, as it was, by the saints Athanasius, Hilary…Augustine,…nevertheless, in that very day the divine tradition committed to the infallible Church was proclaimed and maintained far more by the faithful than by the Episcopate.”

By the way “episcopate” means the body of bishops, while the word “presbyterate” refers to the body of priests. Newman continues: “In that time of immense confusion the divine dogma of Our Lord’s divinity was proclaimed, enforced, maintained, and (humanly speaking) preserved, far more by the Ecclesia docta (laity) than by the Ecclesia docens (bishops).” That is the laity got it right while the bishops got it wrong.

The second instance of consulting the faithful was the declaration of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, or in Italian “Pio Nono” which was a fitting name because he often said, “No” to a lot of things. But one thing Pio Nono said “yes” to was checking with the laity before declaring and defining that Mary was immaculately conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne.

In other words, the Holy Father was saying in so many words, “Hey guys, I think I’m right about the Immaculate Conception of Mary. But just to double-check myself, and to be sure, what do you guys thing about it?” And he conducted a world-wide consultation of the faithful. And the voice of the consensus of the faithful rose up in a chorus of approval and praise. After having consulted the faithful, the pope knew he was on the right track. He had heard the voice of the Holy Spirit in the voices of the people.

This, then, is the purpose of the Synod on Synodality, listening and learning from one another. In other words, trying to train our ears to hear how the Holy Spirit speaks through the clergy (to be sure), but also speaks at important times through the laity. When St. John Henry Newman was asked, “What is the laity?” he answered, “The Church would look foolish without them.” In addition, the Church might also err in matters of faith without them.

Praised be Jesus Christ!