A Communion That Radiates
/B 1. A Communion that radiates
How can we be more fully a sign and instrument of union with God and of the unity of all humanity?
B 1.1 How does the service of charity and commitment to justice and care for our common home nourish communion in a synodal Church?
Question for discernment
Walking together means not leaving anyone behind and remaining alongside those who struggle the most. How are we building a synodal Church capable of promoting the belonging and participation of the least within the Church and in society?
Suggestions for prayer and preparatory reflection
-- Works of justice and mercy are a form of participation in Christ’s mission. Every Baptized person is therefore called to engage in this area. How can this awareness be awakened, cultivated and strengthened in Christian communities?
-- The inequalities that mark the contemporary world are also present in the Church, separating, for example, the Churches of rich and poor countries and the communities of the richest and poorest areas of the same country. How can we overcome these inequalities?
-- Along the synodal path, what efforts have been made to welcome the voice of the poorest and to integrate their contribution? What have we learned about how to support the belonging and participation of the most marginalised? [H]ow do we let their voices question our way of doing things when it is insufficiently inclusive of them?
-- How can welcoming migrants become an opportunity to walk with people from another culture, especially when we share the same faith? What provision is made for migrant communities in local pastoral care? How can links be created between the Churches in countries of departure and arrival?
-- Does the Christian community know how to accompany society as a whole in building the common good, or does it seek to defend only its own vested interests? Is the Christian community able to bear witness to the possibility of concord beyond political polarizations. Working for the common good requires forming alliances and coalitions. What criteria of discernment should we use? How does the community accompany its members who are engaged in politics?
-- What experience do we have of walking together with others beyond the Catholic Church in care for our common home?
--. Should the Church recognise a specific ministry of listening and accompaniment for those who take on this service?
B 1.2 How can a synodal Church make credible the promise that “love and truth will meet?”
Question for discernment
What steps can a synodal Church take to imitate ever more closely its Master and Lord, who walks with all in unconditional love and proclaims the fullness of the Gospel truth?
Suggestions for prayer and preparatory reflection
-- What is the attitude with which we approach the world? Do we know how to recognize what is good and, at the same time, commit ourselves to prophetically denounce all that violates the dignity of persons, human communities and creation?
-- How can we speak in a prophetic voice to expose what is evil without further fragmenting our communities? How can we become a Church that deals honestly with its conflicts and is not afraid to safeguard spaces for disagreement?
-- How can we restore proximity and caring relationships as the core of the Church’s mission, “walking with people instead of talking about them or solely at them”?
-- How can we walk together with young people? How can a “preferential option for young people” be at the centre of our pastoral strategies and synodal life?
-- How can we continue to take meaningful and concrete steps to offer justice to victims and survivors of sexual abuse and spiritual, economic, power and conscience abuse by persons who were carrying out a ministry or ecclesial responsibility?
-- How can we create spaces where those who feel hurt by the Church and unwelcomed by the community feel recognised, received, free to ask questions and not judged? In the light of
Amoris Laetitia, what concrete steps are needed to welcome those who feel excluded from the Church because of their status or sexuality (for example, remarried divorcees, people in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ+ people, etc.)?
-- How can we be more open and welcoming towards migrants and refugees, ethnic and cultural minorities, and indigenous communities who have long been part of the Church but are often on the margins? How can the Church better embrace their presence as a gift?
-- What physical and cultural barriers do we need to break down so that people with disabilities can feel that they are full members of the community?
-- How can we enhance the contribution of older people to the life of the Christian community and society?
B 1.3 How can a dynamic relationship of gift exchange between the Churches grow?
Question for discernment
How can each local Church, the subject of mission in its context, enhance, promote and integrate the exchange of gifts with the other local Churches within the horizon of the one Catholic Church? How can the local Churches be helped to promote the catholicity of the Church in a harmonious relationship between unity and diversity, preserving the specificity of each one?
Suggestions for prayer and preparatory reflection
-- How do we increase awareness that the Church, both one and catholic, is already, and has been from the beginning, the bearer of a rich and multiform diversity
-- By what gestures could all local Churches show hospitality towards each other to benefit from the mutual exchange of ecclesial gifts and manifest ecclesial communion in the areas of liturgy, spirituality, pastoral care and theological reflection?
--How could the Latin Church develop greater openness to the spiritual, theological, and liturgical traditions of the Eastern Catholic Churches? How can the Oriental Catholic Churches in diaspora preserve their identity and be recognized as more than just ethnic communities?
-- Some Churches live in very precarious situations. How can the other Churches take on their suffering and provide for their needs, putting into practice the teachings of the Apostle Paul who asked the communities in Greece to generously support the Church of Jerusalem:
-- How can we take into account and value the contributions and experiences of the local Churches in the teaching of the Magisterium and ecclesiastical norms at the universal level?
-- How can the Church’s global institutions, starting with those reporting to the Holy See and Roman Curia, foster the circulation of gifts between the Churches
B 1.4 How can a synodal Church fulfil its mission through a renewed ecumenical commitment?
Question for discernment
How can the experience and fruits of the ecumenical journey help to build a more synodal Catholic Church; how can synodality help the Catholic Church to better respond to Jesus’ prayer: “that they may all be one ... that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21)?
Suggestions for prayer and preparatory reflection
-- What can Catholics (re)learn from the synodal experience of other Christians and the ecumenical movement?
-- How can we promote the active participation of the whole People of God in the ecumenical movement --in particular, the important contribution of those in consecrated life, inter-Church couples and families, young people, ecclesial movements and ecumenical communities?
-- In which areas is a “healing of memory” necessary with other Churches and ecclesial Communities? How can we build a “new memory” togethe
-- How is the Bishop, as the “visible principle and foundation of unity,” called to promote ecumenism in a synodal manner in his local Church?
-- How can Pope Francis’ ecumenical motto “Walk together, work together, pray together” inspire a renewed commitment to Christian unity in a synodal manner?
B 1.5 How can we recognize and gather the richness of cultures and develop dialogue amongst religions in the light of the Gospel?
Question for discernment
How can we proclaim the Gospel effectively in different contexts and cultures, in order to foster the encounter with Christ for the men and women of our time? What bonds can we establish with the adherents of other religions to build a culture of encounter and dialogue.
Suggestions for prayer and preparatory reflection
-- What tools do local Churches use to read the cultures in which they are embedded? What opportunities can they create to re-read the teachings of the Church in the light of local cultures?
-- What spaces are available for minority and migrant cultures to find expression in the local Churches?
-- Various Dioceses, Episcopal Conferences, and Continental Assemblies have expressed the wish to be able to re-articulate community life and especially the liturgy in accordance with local cultures. What synodal dynamic can we put in place to meet this desire?
-- How can formation in cultural discernment be promoted? How do we foster, educate and give recognition to the charisms and vocations of “translators”, i.e. those who help build bridges between religions, cultures and people?
-- What gestures of reconciliation and peace with other religions do we feel called to make? How do the Churches deal constructively with prejudices, tensions and conflicts??
-- How can the Church engage Western culture and other cultures, including within the Church, in a manner that is frank, prophetic and constructive, and avoiding all forms of colonialism?
-- For some, secularized society is a threat to be opposed, for others a fact to be accepted, and for still others a source of inspiration and an opportunity. How can the Churches remain in dialogue with the world without becoming worldly?
-- How can we create opportunities for discernment within digital environments? What forms of collaboration and what structures do we need to create for the purposes of evangelization in an environment that lacks a territorial dimension?
