Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś after the Synod: At the heart of synodality is the experience of faith

https://episkopat.pl/doc/220222.Kard-Rys-po-zakonczeniu-Synodu-W-sercu-synodalnosci-jest

“At the heart of synodality, as at the heart of the Church, is the experience of faith, that is, the encounter of Jesus Christ risen and living” – emphasized Cardinal Ryś, referring to the first chapter of the Synod's final document. He added that the entire document was marked by the experience of the retreat that took place before the beginning of the two Roman sessions. This year, the retreat was based on the Gospel texts that speak of encounters with the risen Christ. „Without this there is no Church, if we do not encounter Jesus Christ, the living Lord” – he said.

The Metropolitan of Lodz pointed out that in the first chapter of the final document it was emphasised that this encounter does not take place in an individualistic way, but in community. “And this is the idea that the Synod wants to suggest to us: in order to fully encounter Jesus Christ risen from the dead we need each other. And this encounter takes place in community” - Cardinal Ryś stressed.

The Hierarch pointed out that the beginning of this meeting is baptism, because it is baptism that introduces us to the Paschal events of Jesus Christ. “Baptism is the foundation of our life of faith” – he stated.

Cardinal Ryś also pointed out that synodality is not an end in itself, but is to serve the mission. “And mission is born of the encounter with the risen Lord. If this perspective is thrown out, then we are left with a synod about synodality as a dispute over authority, competence in the Church” – he admitted.

Prof. Aleksander Bańka, lay representative of Europe to the Synod, assessed that the Synod introduced a certain new quality into the very event of synodality, as it involved the laity and the whole Church in a process of discernment, listening and dialogue.

“I think what is going to happen next in the Church is going to be a continuation of this synodal experience that we had now in a nutshell” – he acknowledged and added that at the heart of the Synod is the question of how to discern paths for the Church. “The Pope is convinced that in order for this discernment to be complete, there is a need for the laity at different levels of involvement in the life of the Church to participate in such a process” – he pointed out. Prof. Bańka assessed that, to some extent, the whole people of God participated in this process. “The Synod strongly encourages that this experience be taken to different levels of the life of the Church, whether to the parish, to the diocese or at the continental level, so that what synodality is can have its natural consequences and grow naturally into the fabric of the Church” – he emphasized.

Bishop Jacek Grzybowski, Auxiliary Bishop of Warsaw-Praga, spoke about his impressions of the Synod. “The ecclesial experience that is the Synod, for me, is a beautiful image of the Church in its incredible greatness resulting from the fact that it embraces all peoples, languages, cultures and nations” – he admitted.

Bishop Grzybowski pointed out that more than four hundred people from every corner of the world could be found at the Synod in Rome. “They are all united by Christ, even if they are representatives of ecumenical Churches, which are Protestant Churches that express faith in Christ differently from Catholicism” – he emphasized. “The common language that united us was prayer, because every meeting of the Synod and our meetings began and ended with prayer. This is the language of community, of unity, even though we come from all over the world and represent the whole, diverse Church” – outlined Bishop Grzybowski.

“I also realised here that there is probably no other way in such a diverse Catholic world, which includes all peoples, languages, nations, than to work out the method that the Pope called the synodal method, which is the method of meeting, sharing, discernment, praying and acting together” – Bishop Grzybowski noted. “We need to share the experience” – he added.

Bishop Sławomir Oder, Bishop of Gliwice, acknowledged that the Synod was an extremely valuable experience. “It seems that this Synod has opened a new chapter and most probably the next editions of synods will already have a new character” – he assessed.

The Hierarch also addressed the concerns of some Church members that the Synod should not become a parliamentary experience. “The Synod is not a parliament. There is no such thing in the Church as making doctrinal, moral decisions by majority vote” – he said.

The Ordinary of Gliwice added that “the final document will be an excellent tool to analyse the synodal way of decision-making, discerning in the Holy Spirit the signs of the times, involving all those concerned in the synodal process”.

The idea is for “this giant, the people of God, to realise that they are called to subjectivity in the Church”. “We are to discover that we are at home. The Church is our home. We are its co-inhabitants and we all bear responsibility for it” – Bishop Oder pointed out.

Archbishop Józef Górzyński, Metropolitan of Warmia, acknowledged that the final document contains indications for concrete actions in Church communities. He pointed out that the document indicates specific directions for the involvement of lay people flowing from the sacrament of baptism. “The possibility of creating various ministries is left wide open here, including the ministry of the catechist, but also other ministries born from charisms, that is, from what the Holy Spirit generates in the Church” – he emphasized.

The Hierarch drew attention to the need to see what the Holy Spirit awakens in the Church, namely charisms, and to take up with courage what everyone discerns as their place in the Church. “We need the recognition of ministries, we need the recognition of charisms. The Church needs this, if we think about what all of us as baptised people can contribute, we receive concrete guidance” in the form of the final document – Archbishop Górzyński stressed.

Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference