Synodality and its Ambiguous Path

During the month of October, the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops convened in Rome to discuss the latest developments of the Synodal Church. The fruit of their labor was the latest document to be published on “synodality”, a Synthesis Report on A Synodal Church In Mission.  The Synthesis Report (SR) is divided into three parts. The first part outlines the “face of the Synodal Church”, which presents the practice and understanding of synodality and its theological underpinnings. The second part is titled “All disciples, all missionaries”, and addresses all those who are involved in the mission of the Synodal Church and how they are to contribute to the mission. The third part, “Weaving bonds, building community”, discusses dialogue and exchange between the Roman Catholic Church, other churches, and world religions.

For those hoping the SR would provide greater clarity on important questions the Synodal Path has thus far raised, prepare to be disappointed. The SR only restates and reaffirms the need for the Catholic Church to continue working towards greater clarity on important Church matters, such as developments in the role of women in the Church (p.21), issues of sexuality (p. 30-31), and better understanding what it means to be a non-judgmental Church of inclusivity (p.31). The SR makes clear that the Synodal Church continues to grapple with maintaining balance between affirming traditional Roman Catholic doctrine and teachings, with the progressive nature of Vatican II and a Synodal Church that desires to be radically inclusive.

The SR observes, “Among the fears expressed is that the teaching of the Church will be changed, causing us to depart from the Apostolic faith of our forebears…It is clear that some people are afraid that they will be forced to change; others fear that nothing at all will change or that there will be too little courage to move at the pace of the living Tradition” (SR p. 5).

Many want the Synodal Church to be Roman (doctrinal clarity), and others desire it to be Catholic (ecumenical, inclusive, non-judgmental). The Synodal Path has highlighted the difficulty of striking this balance, and this latest attempt to wrestle with these contradictions has only demonstrated the Church’s inability to provide clarity and make progress towards defining “synodality” in any meaningful way.

From an Evangelical perspective, it remains clear that the theological foundation of the Synodal Church will not permit any real and meaningful reform in the Roman Catholic Church. The primary reason for this is the authority to which the Synodal Church submits while charting its path forward. While it affirms the importance of Scripture, the Bible is not the ultimate authority for the Synodal Church. The entire synodal journey, the SR states, is rooted in the Tradition of the Church (see p. 2). The Synodal Church claims both Scripture and living Tradition as sources of divine authority. It wants to claim obedience to God’s Word, while also moving at the pace of living Tradition.

The Evangelical Church must remember that only when the church submits to Scripture alone can there be hope for true reform. If, however, Tradition (revelation) is dynamic and the church moves at the pace at which it develops, God’s Word becomes subsidiary. This is why the Reformers insisted on the authority of Scripture alone for all doctrinal matters in the church. Furthermore, when the Synodal Church regularly invokes the guidance of the Holy Spirit in charting the Synodal path, this understanding of living Tradition must be kept in mind. The Holy Spirit is not bound to the authority of Scripture alone but is instead the main catalyst in driving and revealing the living Tradition of the Church. While the Evangelical recognizes that the Holy Spirit cannot act outside the parameters set by God’s Word and His Word alone, these same parameters do not exist in Roman Catholicism.

In line with post Vatican II Roman Catholicism, the SR has virtually nothing to say about sin (the word “sin” appears only once and is in reference to the sin of racism), which means the Synodal Church is not concerned with sin. This should sound theological alarms, especially when the Synodal Church claims that its path is in submission to the guidance and will of the Holy Spirit. The first thing the Holy Spirit does is bring conviction of sin. If sin is absent, one can be assured the Holy Spirit is not involved.

The Synodal Path now enters its last phase and will conclude in October 2024 with a final report. Two full years into the Synodal Path, however, and it is still unclear what the implications of synodality will be for the Roman Catholic Church and its faithful, as key questions remain unanswered. The SR, however, makes clear that “synodality represents the future of the Church” (p. 6). Synodality, it seems, is here to stay. The Evangelical church needs to be aware of what underpins the Synodal Church and must not be deceived by the reform it claims and evokes. As Evangelicals let us pray that like in the 16th century there will be true biblical reform through submission to Scripture alone, and that this time Rome will not counter this reform but by God’s grace be beneficiaries of it.