A faint light on the other side of the river

We’re in the final days of the month-long Synod Assembly in Rome. Casey and I are heading back home, having seen off Lisa, Maureen, and Anna a few days ago – buoyed by your prayers, by the graces, and by a sense of the Spirit guiding the journey, even as we sometimes have experienced turbulent waters.

Women’s participation in our Catholic Church, including as ordained deacons, has remained a pressing concern for many synod members. It’s been a worthy struggle for the People of God to be heard and to be taken seriously within our Church structures.

Mid-way through October, a Synod member and lay leader in the Amazon Church, Mauricio López, offered this song in Spanish for weary souls – Al otro lado del rio. I keep returning to the melody and the lyrics as I’ve sought to stay connected to the God who calls forth our dreams, our patience, our hope, and urges us to keep rowing, rowing, rowing towards the faint light on the other side of the river.

I stick my oar in the water
I carry your oar in mine
I think I’ve seen a light
On the other side of the river…
Most of all I believe
All is not lost

I would ask all our readers to continue to be in prayer for the Synod Assembly. The work of gathering from across the globe and seeking to build meaningful consensus is no simple task – advancing structural reform of our Church so that it can foster greater participation, strengthen communion, and be unleashed for mission. Synod members need our continual prayer for their collective labor on behalf of the People of God, with the hope that the Spirit would be the protagonist guiding them towards a new shore.

Synodality has been further revealed as a spiritual practice that begins in our hearts. Synodality is that humble, creative path that takes us on a journey out of our self-centeredness and invites us to place our trust in God who is revealed through the other and through the fragility of our planet which cries out for our loving care. There have been numerous graces along the way:

• We have been kindling relationships of reciprocity with lay women and men, deacons, priests, bishops, theologians, women religious, and synod facilitators. We’ve been listening to synod members who are connected to the faith communities they represent and to their hopes that a Church centered on Jesus’ mission can respond to lived realities in need of pastoral care.
• We’ve witnessed the emerging protagonism of synod members who have insisted on following the synodal path such that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has agreed to meet with them this week, the commission on women and the diaconate has been revived and it will welcome testimonies from around the world.
• Structures, however fragile, are starting to be built in which we can row together in a synodal way during the synod’s implementation phase. The Catholic Education Network to Encounter Rome and Synodality (CENTERS) represents 15 U.S. universities and theologates who are exploring how students can learn listening methodologies like conversations in the spirit. Last week 150 college students traveled to Rome with their professors and campus ministers for a week of experiential learning. This included a dialogue with synod leaders – watch the video here.
• The Latin American Observatory on Synodality (Amerindia) hosted a month-long meeting “tent” (La Tienda de la Sinodalidad) in which synod members and theologians were invited to offer presentations on the laity, women and the diaconate, migration, creating synodal structures, and more. Open to the public and recorded in Spanish here, La Tienda has served as a space for encounter, reflection and dialogue as well as opportunities to build synodal bridges across our continents.
• Pax Christi International launched a new Rome-based office of the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence to link the work of synodality with global efforts to form and train people of faith to be effective mediators of nonviolent strategies that can interrupt cycles of violence. Throughout October, the institute hosted seminars on the power of active nonviolence and the role of the Catholic Church in nurturing a global nonviolent shift. Watch here.

Today and always, we place our trust in the revelation of the overflow of God’s love for God’s people. We await with eagerness the synthesis report of the Synod Assembly with its recommendations for Pope Francis. We pray for our Holy Father who will be tasked with receiving the recommendations and discerning his own response. We pray that the work of the 10 Study Groups continue along a synodal path of encounter, listening, and discernment. We look forward to emerging opportunities to partner within ecclesial structures as we embark on the next implementation phase of synod for how we are to walk together as the People of God in the third millennium. We welcome the re-opening of the second commission on women deacons and take heart in its turn toward a more synodal methodology.

And as we continue to journey more closely with our sisters and brothers in the Amazon region of Latin America (CEAMA) and the Catholic climate movement, we invite each of you to join us for a webinar on Thursday, November 19. Listen to voices from the Amazon as we seek to defend the rainforest, empower indigenous peoples and women, and take action. Learn more here.