Sr. Nathalie Becquart, along with Fr. Luis Martín de San Martín, was appointed as an undersecretary to the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops by Pope Francis on February 6, 2021, becoming the first woman to be appointed to the position in Church history. The Synod of Bishops, a permanent ecclesiastical institution created by Pope Paul VI in 1965 advises the Pope on various matters and aims to strengthen collegiality and communion among bishops. Sr. Nathalie’s role will center on taking part in the organization of the process, content, and logistics for the October 2022 synod at the Holy See: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.” She will be the first woman in its history to have voting privileges. After accepting the appointment, Sr. Nathalie moved to Rome to work with Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops Cardinal Mario Grech.
“I have learned a lot receiving this appointment,” said Sr. Becquart in a February interview with The Torch. “I never imagined I would be in Rome where I don’t have a Xaviere Sister community here, so it was a great surprise, but I also realize that the Holy Spirit guides us through newness but also through continuity.” She noted that “all my experience before, what I have learned could be helpful for my service. … The main thing is to be rooted in Christ and confident that the call from Pope Francis is a call from the Church and a call from God.”
Pope Francis has stressed the importance of synodality throughout his pontificate, saying on the 50th Anniversary of the Synod of Bishops in 2015: “We must continue along this path. The world in which we live, and which we are called to love and serve, even with its contradictions, demands that the Church strengthen cooperation in all areas of her mission. It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium.”
Sr. Nathalie was born in Fontainebleau, France in 1969 and graduated from HEC France’s school of management in 1992 located southwest of Paris, with a focus on entrepreneurship. After graduation, she engaged in one volunteer year in Beirut, Lebanon where she taught mathematics and French in Nazareth Catholic School. Then she came back to Paris and served as a consultant in marketing and in advertising firms representing NGOs and Christian organizations in France. In August of 1995, Sr. Nathalie would join the Xavieres Missionaries of Christ Jesus (XMCJ) and, after proceeding through the stages of Postulancy, Novitiate and Temporary vows from 1995 to 2005, Nathalie Becquart became Sr. Nathalie Becquart in September 2005 through her final or perpetual vows.
Sr. Nathalie would continue her ministries that centered on keynotes, conferences and spiritual direction with a particular focus on youth ministry, vocations and church and its mission in the years after her final vows, serving as Director of Campus Ministry in Créteil (University of East Paris) from 2002 to 2011, as World Youth Day diocesan coordinator from 2007 to 2008, and as president of the Ignatian Association’s “Life at Sea, entry into prayer” program from 2006 to 2010. The program engaged young people in spiritual retreats on sailboats bringing Sr. Nathalie back to the fond memories of her youth when she spent time sailing.
Sr. Nathalie later spent 10 years at the French Bishops’ Conference in different roles. From 2008 to 2012, she served as the Deputy Director of the National Service for the Evangelization of Youth and for Vocations and later as director of the same office from 2012 to 2018, both roles in which she gained experience working with and listening to the youth of the French Church. After spending about 20 years in youth Catholic engagement in these and other previous roles, Sr. Nathalie served in the preparation process for the 2018 Synod on Youth in Rome by serving as the general coordinator of the pre-synod from March 2018 and auditor at the Synod on Youth in October 2018, a role that involves attendance and participation but no voting rights. During this synod, however, the number of women who participated as experts and auditors had risen, fueling the possibility for women to start voting during synods, which Sr. Nathalie will be eligible for next year. She is happy with the progress that has been made with respect to including women in the Church’s decision-making process and hopes it continues.
“Now at the Roman Curia, you have around more than 20 percent of women. Maybe you have seen yesterday the Bishops of Germanyhave elected a woman as general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference and, in France, now you have many women in Bishops Councils, also as chancellors and heads of diocesan offices, so there is a trend,” Sr. Nathalie said. “So it’s a process and if I have been appointed it’s because the process is already there, there has been a change of mindset … It’s clear for Pope Francis, because three days ago for the first time he appointed a woman as general secretary of the Lateran University… . I think it will continue.”
After the 2018 synod, Sr. Nathalie was appointed as Consultor to the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops by Pope Francis in May 2019 ahead of the Synod on the Amazon and enrolled in a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) program at Institut Catholique de Paris/Centre Sèvres-Jesuits Faculties of Paris during the fall 2019 semester and Boston College at the School of Theology and Ministry (STM) starting in January 2020. She specializes in ecclesiology and is expected to graduate in May 2021 after she completes her thesis on synodality. Sr. Nathalie appreciates the support and camaraderie within the STM community, especially Sr. Barbara Quinn, whose Newton-based religious community hosted Sr. Nathalie and Theology Professor Rafael Luciani, who also served as her thesis advisor.
“I was focusing on ecclesiology and researching on synodality, so there were many readings and reflections on most American theology,” Sr. Nathalie said. “My advisor for my research was Rafael Luciani who is a professor and theologian from Venezuela, an expert of the Latin American Church and theology working currently on synodality and the reform of the Church, so for me I’ve learned a lot and continue to discover Latin American theology that has shaped Pope Francis and his view on synodality.”
Sr. Nathalie also is grateful for the moments she shared with the STM students, returning to a college campus after numerous years away.
“I was very happy to be at BC with young students, [though] sometimes I felt that I was a grandmother. … In my courses and seminars, I was mainly with young students at the STM or at theology conferences. I was also connected with them on their view of the Church, on society, also with questions about men and women and gender, so yes that was important and I can say I have received empowerment from professors, people I have met in the United States. You have this culture of empowerment, and also as a woman and as a religious, it has been a time of maturation for me.”
Sr. Nathalie did feel isolated once COVID-19 caused lockdowns and precautionary measures were implemented across the world as she was not able to come back regularly to her Xaviere Sister community in Toronto because of closed borders. She moved back to her community in Paris last December after the end of the fall semester.
“With the lockdowns… I had been rather lonely in study, reading, and writing,” Sr. Nathalie said. “It was rather austere, so I have also learned to be focused and have another relationship to time.”
Amidst many difficulties in the Church and the world, including COVID-19, Sr. Nathalie is still optimistic about the future, especially that of the youth of the Church.
“The key is to be anchored in the Gospel and to announce the joy of the Gospel as Pope Francis told us, and to be this merciful Church and be very close to people. During the preparation of the Synod on Youth, 35 auditors who were young people from different countries said, “We don’t want an institutional Church, we want a relational Church.” The only way to transmit the faith is through and by encounters. You can’t just teach the faith, and I see especially in the culture of today, and Pope Francis talks about this a lot today; we need to promote, implement and develop the culture of encounter and that’s the key for the Church.”
How, one might ask, is the Church to pursue an inclusive culture of outreach? “[In] all my experience with young people, you have to go out where they are and to meet them through their questions, preoccupations, hobbies, sports, music, their problems, main issues like unemployment accommodations and, if the Church is there, they are there and you work together and they can discover something … The mission of the Church is to serve the common good of society and work for fraternity.”
Max Montana is a senior studying philosophy and theology. When not writing for The Torch, he enjoys reading more about the Catholic faith and philosophy, serving the unborn and mothers in need, and hanging out with friends. Max is honored to hail from the state with many gators and the bishop of the moon: Florida.
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