From common discernment to consensus building

“It is necessary to keep in mind that “walking together” can be understood according to two different perspectives, strongly interconnected. The first looks at the internal life of the particular Churches, at the relationships between the subjects that constitute them (in the first place, the relationship between the faithful and their pastors, also through the participatory bodies provided for by canonical discipline, including the diocesan synod) and the communities in which they are articulated (in particular parishes). It also considers the relations of the bishops among themselves and with the Bishop of Rome, also through the intermediate bodies of synodality” (Preparatory Document for the Synod on Synod on Synodality 28). “The second perspective considers how the People of God walks together with the entire human family. The focus will thus be on the state of relations, dialogue and possible common initiatives with believers of other religions, with people far from the faith, as well as with specific social environments and groups, with their institutions (the world of politics, culture, economy, finance, labor, trade unions and business associations, non-governmental and civil society organizations, popular movements, minorities of various kinds, the poor and excluded, etc.).” (Synod Preparatory Document on Synodality 29).

The document on Synodality in the life and mission of the Church published by the International Theological Commission explains how walking together – or synodality – refers to a “constitutive dimension of the whole Church”, because it is about “the specific way of living and working/operating (modus vivendi et operandi)”. It is a reality that touches the living and working of the whole Church, which implies reviewing “relationships and mentalities” (being) and “communicative dynamics and structures” (operating) at the same time. All this leads us to recognize that we are faced with the proposal to build a new way of proceeding, a new institutional model in the Church, which will imply the revision of our lifestyles, the practices of discernment in common, and the ways in which we elaborate and make decisions at all levels and structures of government.

In order to contribute to this new way of being and proceeding in the Church, we offer – in this first week – a series of conferences and testimonies that help us to value the theology and practice of synodality, such as common discernment, listening, conflict and divergence management, and consensus building. Thus, in this first week we take up the Synod’s sentiment on synodality when, in its Preparatory Document, it states that, “In this context, synodality represents the principal path for the Church, called to renew herself under the action of the Spirit and thanks to listening to the Word. The ability to envision a diverse future for the Church and for her institutions in keeping with the mission received depends in large part on the decision to begin to put into practice processes of listening, dialogue and communal discernment, in which each and every one can participate and contribute. At the same time, the choice to walk together is a prophetic sign for a human family that needs a shared project capable of achieving the good of all. A Church capable of communion and fraternity, of participation and subsidiarity, in fidelity to what she proclaims, will be able to place herself at the side of the poor and the least and lend them her own voice. In order to walk together, it is necessary that we allow ourselves to be educated by the Spirit in a truly synodal mentality, entering with audacity and freedom of heart into a process of conversion without which the “perennial reform, of which the Church herself, as a human and earthly institution, is always in need” (UR, n. 6; cf. EG, n. 26), will not be possible” (Synod on Synodality, Preparatory Document 9).

Furthermore, in referring to the processes of change, the Document tells us that “if it is not incarnated in structures and processes, the style of synodality easily falls from the level of intentions and desires to that of rhetoric, while processes and events, if they are not animated by an adequate style, become an empty formality” (Preparatory Document 27). (Preparatory Document 27). Thus posed the question, we have before us an epochal task, that of discerning a new institutional model for the Church of the third millennium, but with the novelty of building it together, with the participation and contribution of all under the dynamics of “walking together” – lay men and women, men and women religious, pastors, the Bishop of Rome. With this in mind, we offer this first week of the course on common discernment and consensus building in the Church.