Fr. James Martin Explains “What Happened at the Synod?”

Last Wednesday, Father James Martin, S.J. was hosted by the Boisi Center to give a talk about the Synod. Fr. James Martin, S.J. is a Jesuit priest, editor of America Magazine, and founder of Outreach, among other accolades. 

He started his talk by giving a brief background of what the Synod actually is. A ‘synod’ typically refers to an ecclesial gathering of clergy. These synods have existed, Fr. Martin noted, ever since the time of the Apostles; the clergy of the Catholic Church has always been meeting with each other, praying together, speaking, listening, and debating what the best path forward for the Church is. 

The most recent Synod dubbed the alliterative Synod on Synodality, garnered unique prominence in the media over the past few years. The Synod on Synodality has taken on this unique character because of Pope Francis’ decision to include non-clergy in the Synod’s proceedings. The goal of this radical inclusion of the laity was aimed at increasing lay participation in the Church, particularly with future synods. Thus the Synod on Synodality is a sort of test-run for how Pope Francis wishes future synods to occur. 

Because of the unprecedented nature of this change, there have been difficulties on the part of some of the prelature to adapt to the change. What makes this change especially distinct and novel is that the laymen and women of the synod, some as young as twenty-two, have full voting rights. The voice of a twenty-two-year-old college student is valued just as much as a prelate of the Church.

 Fr. Martin, who attended the Synod himself in the session concluding on the 29th of October 2023, noted that his experiencing this change firsthand has both been incredibly exciting as well as exhausting. The itinerary for most of his days consisted of hours of sitting at tables with people from all over the world. The structure of the Synod was aimed at promoting “Conversations in the Spirit,” every week started with Mass, prayer, and time for people to meet those sharing their table.

Then, it was time for each person to give a four-minute speech. Fr. Martin crucially noted that interruption was not allowed. This was followed by questions and conflicts between the different members of the Synod being expressed so that no ‘false consensus’ was implied between disagreeing parties. The purpose of this is for the participants of the synod to better understand each other so that the clergy can be more informed to make decisions on how to guide their parishes and dioceses.

Despite all of the deliberative structure of the Synod, Fr. Martin clarified that the Synod is “not a parliament; it is not about debating or convincing.” Rather, the purpose of the Synod is to allow open communication about issues that face the Church. While the choice to include the laity in the synod is a drastic change from what has traditionally been done in the past, Fr. Martin expresses faith that the Holy Spirit speaks through the laity as well, and all we have to do is listen.