The Sins of the Synod, by Jayd Henricks

By Jayd Henricks, Catholic World Report, September 26, 2024  

Jayd Henricks is the former executive director of government relations for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He has a STL in systematic theology from the Dominican House of Studies.

A recent document from the Vatican outlines a penitential celebration that will be part of the opening of the latest stage in the now exhausting exercise of the Synod on Synodality.

A friend recently sent me a document from the Vatican that at first I thought was a parody of the Synod on Synodality. It was too silly to be serious, so I thought. By now, however, I should know better. It was not a parody. The letterhead from the General Secretary of the Synod and the Diocese of Rome is official, and the document is hosted on a Vatican URL.

The document outlines a penitential celebration that will be part of the opening of the latest stage in the now exhausting exercise of the Synod on Synodality. The celebration, presided over by Pope Francis, “is intended to direct the work of the Synod towards the beginning of a new way of being Church.” A goal of the celebration is that there might be the experience of “feeling pain and even shame” for our sins and perhaps the sins of others. It closes with the admonition that “the request for forgiveness is the first step of a faith-filled and missionary credibility that must be re-established.” (One wonders when the missionary credibility was lost.) ….

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