The “Synodality” Masquerade

[IanM]

George Weigel makes some interesting points re the idea of “Synodality” in First THings magazine (and blasts the orchestration used to create the “unity” found within of the Amazon Synod.)

The “Synodality” Masquerade | George Weigel

Over the 50-plus years of its existence, no one has figured out how to make the Synod of Bishops really work.

www.firstthings.com

 

[poche]

All you have to do is look at what is happening in the Eastern Orthodox Church and watch their new schism and you can see the end result of synodality.

 

[Isaac14]

All you have to do is look at what is happening in the Eastern Orthodox Church and watch their new schism and you can see the end result of synodality.

To be fair, it’s lack of synodality that’s causing the problem. Synodality presumes bishops sit down and talk through issues; this isn’t happening between Russian & Constantinople.

 

[Genesis315]

Yeah, synods and councils are not the problem themselves. The Catholic Church has a long and active tradition of them. If anything, they have dropped off since Vatican II, being replaced with standing bishops’ conferences with ambiguous authority and the advisory (rather than deliberative as the Vatican II decree Christus Dominus actually said, interestingly) periodic synods headed by the Pope. In fact, one could argue that such a tradition has been even more lively and robust than the separated EOs, since we’ve actually had ecumenical councils, while they can’t seem to get a pan-EO synod off the ground.

That being said, recently it seems like “synodality” is not being used in the traditional way, but rather is promoted as a means to promote novelty–neglecting the importance of diachronic unity (ie unity throughout time).

The point of synods should be to strengthen discipline and the unity of faith, not water them down.

 

[JSRG]

All you have to do is look at what is happening in the Eastern Orthodox Church and watch their new schism and you can see the end result of synodality.

How is that the end result of synodality, exactly?