As the synodal journeys—universal and local—have been undertaken, it is often noted that ‘synodality’ is Vatican II in practice. As Massimo Faggioli puts it, our operating system is the Church’s self-understanding that emerged from the Council’s dialogues and documents. More than sixty years on, pastoral practice and theological reflection continue to inspire and deepen this understanding.
Hungarian theologian Beáta Tóth has explored how Vatican II sought to integrate the still-static imagery of the Mystical Body with its theology of the Church as the pilgrim People of God. She shows how Pope Francis has expanded the concept of ‘journey’ far beyond its treatment in Vatican II. For him, journeying is not simply moving through the world toward a glorious afterlife, but a joyful experience in which believers share the Good News with one another, with all people, and with creation. Because Jesus has gone ahead and his Spirit is with us, we can experience fullness of life here and now. As pilgrim-companions, we discover the deep connection between the living Word of God, our sensus fidei (sense of the faith), and the Spirit’s guidance.
The ongoing self-reflection of religious and missionaries mirrors this development. After Vatican II, specially convened General Chapters prompted fundamental questions about their way of life in a renewed Church. The Council’s emphasis on the universal call to holiness and the priesthood of all the baptised dismantled beliefs in a ‘higher calling’ to vowed life. Practically, they questioned whether the structures of Religious Life—especially authority and obedience—might obscure the Vatican II vision of Congregations, Societies, and Church. What alternative approach could welcome the gifts of all members, drawing on each person’s unique sense of the divine? How could these perspectives serve God’s mission faithfully to tradition yet relevantly today? The answer is what we now call the synodal way.
This is no easy task. In 1989, Jesuit John English and his team led a ten-day workshop on communal discernment. Teams arrived with a real agenda item for decision through discernment. Seven of the ten days were devoted to a ‘conversion’ process—learning to hear the Spirit in the voices of both the context and the conversation. The Final Document of the Synodal Assembly 2024 echoes this same call to conversion.
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AMRI leaders and members participate in the synod on synodality
AMRI represents and supports leaders of 145 Catholic religious institutes, societies of apostolic life, and missionary organisations. Its diverse membership ranges from small communities to global missionary congregations, from enclosed contemplatives to active lay missionaries.
Inspired by the Good News of Jesus, AMRI’s vision is to foster the creative living of religious and missionary life in a synodal Church. In response to the first phase of the universal synod, every effort was made to gather views from leaders and members. Submissions came from the general membership, women religious, and the lay mission committee—honest, comprehensive accounts expressing both the vision of an open, inclusive Church and the reality of inequality and exclusion.
Members later welcomed the Letter to the People of God and the Synthesis Report from the Synodal Assembly’s First Session (October 2023). They engaged with reports and reflections from advisors, participants, and journalists present at the Assembly. The call to continue participating in the synodal process was clear, with encouragement to join conversations, training, and events at local, diocesan and national levels.
On May 1 2024, 100 members of Religious Congregations, Missionary Societies, and the Lay Mission Committee gathered in Dublin for ‘Becoming a Synodal Church’. Guided by Chapter 10 of the Synthesis Report, three main themes shaped discussion:
- From internal experience, what has been learned about conditions that facilitate synodal life?
- In light of ecological crises and emerging sciences, what is God calling the Church to be in the world at this time?
- How do diverse charisms hear “the voice from the edge” (those excluded, neglected) calling on a Church which desires to be synodal?
The methodology matched the purpose: designated ‘conversation starters’, theological pointers from a consultant, and round-table discussions. The day’s insights formed AMRI’s submission to the synod’s second consultative phase. A standout example came from a sister recalling her congregation’s move from “parliamentary democracy” to what we now call the synodal way. After truth-telling and patient listening, she said, “we knew what we had to do.” This is a point beyond winners and losers, and beyond orders from on high! Unlike democratic procedures, synodal processes bring ownership and shared commitment. Participants were encouraged when Gerry O’Hanlon SJ linked this ownership to the sensus fidei fidelium, the sense of the faith given to the faithful. In synodal theology, there is an axiom: a topic is not closed while there is not yet peace.
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AMRI and the Irish Synodal Pathway
From February to April, Fr Timothy Lehane SVD and Sr Anne Codd pbvm, AMRI representatives on the National Synodal Team, hosted six meetings of leaders and members of Religious Congregations and Missionary Societies in Glasnevin, Donnybrook, Cork, Dundalk, Tallaght, and Galway, plus a Zoom conversation with two contemplative communities. In total, 200 participated.
To offer the National Synodal Team a contribution rooted in the lived mission of Religious, key points from the Final Document of the Synodal Assembly (October 2024) were chosen for reflection and discussion. These acknowledged that, shaped by their charisms and spirituality, Religious Congregations and Apostolic Societies bring rich experience of decision-making through dialogue and discernment, harmonising individual gifts, and pursuing common mission, now recognised as “practices of synodal living.” The Final Document urged Religious to “interrogate” Church and society from this perspective, noting that religious communities can serve as “laboratories of intercultural living” for Church and world. Their rootedness in local contexts, combined with global reach, is a gift to local churches. Their outreach to varied ministries, including those at the peripheries, as well as the spirituality and hospitality of monastic communities, were acknowledged with appreciation. All were encouraged to foster relationships within the Church to “facilitate an exchange of gifts.”
The Final Document also observed that Congregations’ and Societies’ structures, such as Chapters and Canonical visitations, models mutual accountability between leaders and members (Art. 99).
In all meetings, tribute was paid to the work of UISG and USG (Unions of Superior Generals of Women’s and Men’s Congregations) in the synodal process. Their contribution was seen as key to the significant advance made between the Synthesis Report (October 2023) and the Final Document (October 2024) in recognising the vocation, charisms, and ministries of religious congregations and missionary societies as integral to the Church.
The spirit of journeying forward together is captured with imagination and insight in the lines of Sr Raphael Consedine pbvm:
The pilgrims paused on the ancient stones
In the mountain gap.
Behind them stretched the roadway they had travelled.
Ahead, mist hid the track.
Unspoken the question hovered:
Why go on? Is life not short enough?
Why seek to pierce its mystery?
Why venture further on strange paths, risking all’
Surely that is a gamble for fools – or lovers.
Why not return quietly to the known road?
Why be a pilgrim still?
A voice they knew called to them, saying:
This is Trasna, the crossing place.
Choose! Go back if you must,
You will find your way easily by yesterday’s fires,
there may be life in the embers yet.
If that is not your deep desire,
Stand still. Lay down your load.
Take your life firmly in your two hands,
(Gently… you are trusted with something precious)
While you search your heart’s yearnings:
What am I seeking? What is my quest?
When your star rises deep within,
Trust yourself to its leading.
You will have the light for first steps.
This is Trasna, the crossing place.
Choose!
This is Trasna, the crossing place
Come!
