By Sarah Mac Donald
The synodal process is about “a return to the Gospel” and it should not have “fashionable” reforms among its priorities, Bishop Paul Dempsey has said.
Speaking to The Tablet, the Dublin auxliary said the Pope had highlighted this during his brief trip to Luxembourg as he reminded the faithful that the question at the heart of the synodal process is: “How can we bring the Gospel to a society that no longer listens to it or has moved away from the faith?”
He added: “Our task on this journey together is to listen to the spirit and follow the path that may not be obvious to us, but is right in the life of the spirit.”
Bishop Dempsey was speaking after the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams addressed the Second Annual Dermot Lane Seminar at Ballaly Parish in Dublin on the themes, “Graced by the Holy Spirit”, “The Journey Inwards: Contemplation” and “Working Together for Justice and Care of our Common Home”.
Tracing the biography of the Holy Spirit, Dr William spoke of the “costly truthfulness of life in Christ”.
“Dr Rowan Williams reminded us that it was the Spirit who brings Christ into the world and animates that life today. One particularly interesting point is that the Spirit does not call us to the ‘obvious’ but to do what is right. What seems obvious to us, may not be obvious to the Spirit,” Bishop Dempsey said.
“I was struck by these reflections in light of the upcoming second phase of the Synod in Rome. Pope Francis has always emphasised how the Holy Spirit is the chief protagonist in the journey of synodality.”
“There are different voices wanting to Church to go in the direction they perceive as being ‘obvious’ but as Dr Williams reminded us, what is obvious to us, may not be obvious to the Spirit,” the auxiliary bishop of Dublin said.
Tributes were paid during the ecumenical seminar to theologian and former president of Mater Dei Institute of Education, Fr Dermot Lane, whom Archbishop Williams described as “one of the really creative theologians of this island”.
Separately, Julieann Moran, General Secretary of the Synodal Pathway in Ireland, has said the synodal process is “slowly but surely fostering participation and co-responsibility” and the discernment of the people of God has been at the heart of the journey, “guiding the mission of the Body of Christ into the future”. – The Tablet
