GREAT EXPECTATIONS?

Date: 
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Quarter: 
Fall 2014

     In the next few days the long awaited Synod On The Family will begin in the Vatican.  It might not be a bad idea to pause for a moment to ask ourselves about our own expectations.  For some I expect there are no expectations at all other than “...more of the same.”  The Church has not been particularly helpful in the past in its reflections about marriage and family life.  One theologian, in an expression marked by frustration, said simply “...you people (celibate church leaders) should stay out of our bedrooms.”  One hope has been for the active participation by the laity, particularly the people who live the life of married couples and in most cases are the leaders in actual families.  Others hope for decisions that would be designed to make sense to the people about the value of marriage and family life.  I suspect that the majority of church membership has not spent many long hours involved in the study of Church Synods, how they work, their organization, their power and their membership.  

     One of the problems facing the Catholic Church organization is its universality.  We are everyone everywhere!   A world-wide organization has tremendous difficulty making decisions, giving advice and governing a very large community involving everything from managing prosperity to struggling to survive.  Whether we agree or not, like it or not, jurisdiction in the end is reserved to celibate men.  So at virtually every level we find signs both of satisfaction and dissidence.  What a monumental task marks this and every Synod.  Pope Francis has asked the whole Church to join him in prayer for the Synod.  Given the present guidelines for the organization of this particular Church Governance, the Holy Father has done about as much as he is able to give the Synod a chance to raise the right questions, invite the most helpful participants and provide for the basis for reform.

    In an unprecedented move Pope Francis asked for the maximum in gathering preliminary information by distributing a survey to the whole Church.  But that effort was flawed in that the instructions for distribution were left to local bishops.  Some made them very available, some available but not to everyone and, sadly, some ignored the effort for one reason or another.  Likewise, the reporting was textured.  In some cases the results were made public and in other cases there was little or no reporting at all.  We were fortunate in this Diocese (San José) to have some of the people involved in discussions about the survey.

     The work of the Synod will gather with the realities I described with the hope that some significant issues will be treated and formulated for the second session scheduled for next year.  Grand or great expectations will probably not be met on either side of the question.  I believe that the makeup of the Synod participants will preclude any sensational results.  But we are a community guided by the Spirit.  That means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  With this guidance we may discover again the compassion and understanding of Jesus.  He has invited us to follow Him and has promised further that he will be our guide in the search for truth.  This promise mandates that we continue to search for ways to spread the Good News and to do what is necessary to be recognized by the world by our love rather than by our fears.  To those of you who work daily to bring the joy of the Gospel in blessed relationships and families and by those of us blessed with the task of Christian leadership the promise of the guidance of the Spirit and the mandate to share all that such a gift brings, it is time to speak and act with nothing less than the power of Baptism.  That gift reminds us that there is always a tomorrow and suggests that Pope Francis and even the Synod can be the tools of greater happiness and common sense in the days to come.

Fr. Patrick LaBelle, O.P.

Promoter of Ongoing Formation

Western Dominican Province

4405 Redwood Road

Napa, CA.  94558

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