Vincent Kundukulam
Late Arch Bishop of Thrissur Mar Joseph Kundukulam used to tell the following proverb of our forefathers in his particular style of speaking with the Thrissur slang: “you can draw a picture only if you have a wall”. I think, this is really true with all its implications as regards the forthcoming synod in view of which diverse types of preparations are on at various realms of Church. Everything depends on the fact that the organizers and the participants of the synod are sincerely moulded in the spirit of synodality for a fruitful outcome. Unless and until they practice in their own life the dynamism of synodal living, which is very different from the secular and democratic systems, the whole venture will turn out to be a political or academic business.
As rightly said by Annemarie C. Mayer, synodal assemblies are not parliamentary assemblies. The vision and praxis of the synods in Church are very different from the secular world. The principles of subsidiarity and the decentralized government, the two prominent constituents of the ecclesial synods, are based on the mystery of incarnation. What impels Church to listen and learn from the ordinary faithful and the world is the indwelling of Spirit in every human being. The participants without being led by these mysterious aspects there won’t happen any change in the society. The last chapter of the International Theological Commission(ITC) document says: the synodal participants have to get converted into the communion spirituality of synodality – practice of listening, dialogue, discernment, undertaking ecumenical journey and building ethos of fraternity, solidarity and inclusion (no: 103).
Synodal participants have to renew their attitudes for a better collaboration between clerics and laymen. Neither the clergymen must be ‘laicised’ nor the laymen be ‘clericalized’. The number 105 of ITC warns the synodal members to avoid the following dangers: concentration of responsibility in the ministry of pastors, insufficient appreciation of the consecrated life and charismatic gifts and negligence in making use of the qualified resources of lay people including that of women folk. In the following numbers the document invites the synodal members to undergo a paschal transition from the self-centred ‘I’ to an ecclesial ‘We’ where every ‘I’ shall live clothed in Christ and journey with his or her brothers and sisters as responsible and active agents of the mission of the people of God (ITC 107). Without accepting personal frailties, without practising the virtue of forgiveness and without moving towards others, the synodal members cannot engage effectively in the synodal process.
Another virtue to be acquired by the synodal members is that of dialogue. Attitude of debate is unbecoming for synodal living. The interventions must not be aimed at winning over the other or countering the other; rather they must be guided by the desire to grasp what is suggested by the Holy Spirit through others for the good of the community. R. Lennan has prettily put it by saying: ‘A Church defined by dialogue would be one that depends on the Spirit-formed wisdom of every member’. Each member must be trained to relativise one’s own way of understanding the world and acquire the capacity to view things through the eyes of others. It needs humility: an attitude of seeing others as more important than ourselves and considering the common good more significant than our own interests (ITC 111-112).
kundu1962@gmail.com
