“This is a very special time for the Church and, as you know, we are all together, everywhere in the world, living this Synod now,” Sr Nathalie Becquart XMCJ said as she commenced her Australian tour in Melbourne on Tuesday. Source: Catholic Outlook.
The Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops gave her perspective on synodality, its challenges, and the future of the global Church at a public forum hosted by Newman College in Parkville, in Melbourne’s inner north.
Sr Nathalie shared her reflections on the topic, “Walking together: What lies ahead on the journey to a synodal Church?”
She explained the Synod is “at the service of an ongoing call to deepen the reception of the Second Vatican Council”, that “we are called to live synodality today as a fruit of the Second Vatican Council, and to retrieve the style of the early Church.”
“It’s very clear that where we are going now with this Synod is to become at all levels, a synodal Church, and to live synodality as an integral ecclesiology,” she said. “It has to shape the life and mission of the Church, in all its dimensions. So, what lies ahead is that each of us must become a synod — we must become a synodal sister, a synodal teacher, a synodal priest, a synodal bishop.”
The biggest challenge to becoming a synodal Church, Sr Nathalie said, is the need to “learn by doing” synodality and being open to the process. “We can’t become a single, unified Church just by listening, having nice talks, or reading a book,” she said.
“It’s really about experiencing it. And it’s only when you reflect back, or you reread your experience of turning together that you can discern what will be the way ahead,” she said. “It’s an open, creative path that can be full of surprises and we have to be open to that.”
Sr Nathalie continued her speaking engagements in Adelaide yesterday and will conclude her visit to Australia with two events in the Diocese of Parramatta. Details: Catholic Outlook hub.
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Sr Nathalie Becquart XMCJ in Australia: we have to be open to the surprises of synodality (By Fiona Basile, Catholic Outlook)
