Pope Francis watches a performance during a meeting with young people and Synod Fathers in Paul VI Hall on 6 October 2018.
(TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images)
Wherein Adam A.J. DeVille offers a modest proposal
It’s a good thing I’m already a Freudian, for perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned from him is that human beings are ambivalent creatures whose motives and feelings are usually mixed. This helps me understand both the recent papal decision about a universal synodal process, and my own reaction to it.
On the one hand I feel some sense of gratitude, perhaps even responsibility (Dr Freud here would ask: guilt?), for this announcement insofar as I have been arguing for the recovery of real synods across the life of the Catholic Church for a decade now. My 2011 book Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy, and even more so my 2019 book Everything Hidden Shall Be Revealed: Ridding the Church of Abuses of Sex and Power, both laid out in detail the many serious arguments for synodal governance at all levels of the Church. I have continued these arguments in articles for variousperiodicals.
On the other hand, I am aware—and have also argued critically in many places—that recent (from 1965) Roman ideas and practices of synodality are not, in fact, well thought out or well run, but often shambolic affairs that bear little resemblance to how synods have been understood and used historically in the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox world. There synods are generally much more tightly run affairs run without the media glare and focused on some concrete piece of business at hand that generally does not allow for the temptation (much indulged by recent Roman gatherings, alas) to turn synods into loquacious and mischievous salons.
But—saints be praised!—here rounding the corner now comes a means to both rein in my ambivalence and to put a serious bridle on what threatens to become a run-away horse in the Papal Preakness: let us gladly take up the papal, uh, “invitation,” and then let every synod in the world adamantly restrict itself to one topic only: sex abuse. Let us obey this papal directive by using the synod to investigate and root out abuse by means of mandatory accountability for bishops and clergy, and serious structural reforms to the Church.
To save time, effort, and expense—for as Christopher Altieri argued with keen perception, most dioceses around the world today are exhausting their energy and coffers just trying to recover from the severe penances of Coronatide—I will even offer here freely a template for their agenda, and draft resolutions they can consider passing.
INVITATION to the Diocesan Synod of 2022
In due obedience to the expressed will of the divinely appointed bishop of Rome, Francis, all living ordinaries, incardinated clergy, and parish delegates (men and women elected by their parish council on the ratio of one [1] delegate for every fifty [50] registered parishioners) resident in this diocese of N are solemnly summoned and duly commanded to appear in the cathedral church of_________ in our see city____________on the days of ____________________ and at the time of____________ and commanded there to remain for a synod to last not fewer than 3 and no more than 5 days whose sole topic of discussion and decision-making shall be the Sex Abuse Crisis in the Church and Related Corruption.
AGENDA for the Diocesan Synod of 2022:
Opening Liturgy in the cathedral church or some other duly appointed place. Registration opens and Confessions will be available 3 hours before liturgy and run as long as necessary. This liturgy and all sessions will be broadcast and recorded by appropriate means, and those not in attendance encouraged to gather in parish halls or other suitable places to watch and make their views known.
Session I: After the liturgy proceed immediately to the first session:
Introductions: of participants and procedures, including nominees for the commissions noted below.
Scrutineers will report on official registration counts. Unlawfully absent clerics will be immediately suspended from all clerical functions for the duration of the synod and their wages frozen.
Taking of the Oath: all synod members bind themselves to render due service and glory to God in their activities.
Session II: Election of the Commissions:
Investigative: A commission of 12 members, no more than 2 of whom can be in diaconal or priestly (but not episcopal) orders, shall be elected and immediately given full and unfettered access (passwords, keys, alarm codes, etc.) to all diocesan records, bank accounts, archives, “secret” archives, and other relevant files wheresoever they may be found, to begin their independent investigation into corruption. They shall have six months to compile a preliminary report which shall be presented to the next session of synod. They shall have discretion and funds made available to them to hire outside experts as necessary.
Disciplinary: A commission of 12 members, no more than 2 of whom can be clerical members, shall be elected by the synod and charged with proposing discipline for clergy and bishops found guilty of corruption up to and including a sentence of deposition from office and degradation from clerical orders. Such sentences may be appealed to Rome.
Electoral: A commission of 12 members, excluding the diocesan bishop but including the chancellor and up to two other diocesan legal officers or respected canon lawyers, is to be formed to propose bylaws and processes for restoring the very traditional and apostolic practice of synodal election of the next bishop.
Session III: Debate on the Resolution and Holding of Hearings for Episcopal Accountability:
Be it resolvedthat it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us that: every ordinary of the (Arch) Diocese of N still living, whether retired or in office, is summoned to testify openly before the whole synod, under oath, as to his efforts to root out corruption in the Church. Note: Upon passage of this resolution, the ordinaries are immediately sworn in and the hearing begins. Those who refuse this summons, and those who are found to have covered up corruption, will appear before the synod’s disciplinary commission for further action.
Session IV: Debate on Resolutions for Structural Reform:
Be it resolved that it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us: that this synod requires, with immediate effect, that every parish establish a permanent (“standing”) parish council, annually elected, composed of no fewer than 6 and no more than 12 members, 50% of whom must be women, to work with their duly appointed pastor and diocesan bishop in the governance of the parish. All major decisions, including the change of pastor, must be approved by parish council whose male and female co-chairs are required co-signers with the pastor on all financial disbursements.
Be it resolved that it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us: that this synod shall now and in perpetuity meet every six months for 3 to 5 days, and be it further resolved that this synod appoint a permanent (“standing”) synod to meet on a monthly (or more often as an emergency requires) basis between sessions of this full synod, and that such a standing synod shall be chaired by the diocesan bishop and include 4 clergy and 8 parish delegates enjoying all the powers this synod does between sessions.
Be it resolved: that this synod is now the sole lawful body in the Church for the election of the next and subsequent diocesan bishops at the time of the current ordinary’s falling asleep in the Lord. Be it further resolved that this synod shall conduct such an election in light of the recommendations proposed by the aforementioned Electoral Commission. All other attempts to impose a new bishop shall be ignored by this synod as ultra vires.
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