In the English-speaking groups, parish priests lamented shrinking church attendance and talked about how social media, catechism, initiatives that engage with people door to door and “the beauty and depth of the liturgy” have helped bring people to the pews and engage with parishes.
Quaedvlieg believes synodality will prove very useful in moments of crisis or challenges in the church. He experienced it himself during a period of church closures in his diocese, even though he said he didn’t know at the time that they were practicing synodality by opening up discussions with grieving or struggling parishioners.
“It took years to discover in the midst of our problems what needs to be our mission,” he said.
The priests also said some pastors “lack interest in embracing initiatives” tied to synodality, while other faithful are fearful “about groups trying to hijack the process to bring about their own agendas,” and stated that bishops also have a great responsibility in building a “truly effective synodal church.”
“For many people synodality is something new in the church and you have to open up yourself a little bit and you don’t know what solution it will bring,” Quaedvlieg said.
For Ressler, the pushback against synodality from some priests is driven mostly by fear or misinformation. Unity is at the heart of the synod, he said: “We can’t go forward if we are divided.” The biggest challenge will be getting the faithful engaged with the project of synodality despite their initial hesitancies.
“I feel this responsibility,” he said. “What a privilege it has been for me to be one of the few people to participate in this. And now, what is going to be demanded to me by God? I’m going to have stand before God someday and say: ‘Did I take this gift that I received and do my best to share it with the entire people?’”
This article originally appears here.
