by Gregory A. Ryan

  ‘Let us find in You our unity — so that we may journey together’

Adsumus, Sancte Spiritus (attributed to St Isidore of Seville, 560–636)

Readers of Open House can hardly be unaware of the ‘Synod on Synodality’— the XVI Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops initiated under Pope Francis and now being implemented under Pope Leo — given the series of informative and thought-provoking articles by Tom Magill, Mary Cullen and several others, and will know that it was ‘ordinary’ in name only.

One of the many remarkable things about the synodal process has been its commitment to the ecumenical nature of being church and particularly the role ecumenism can play in renewing the Church. In itself this should not be a surprise — the Second Vatican Council was called with the unity of Christians as a prime concern after all — but what has been striking is just how pervasive that ecumenical commitment has been at every stage of the synodal process. It is a commitment which now requires embedding in ordinary practice, not just in formal theological dialogues but in the everyday life of the local church.

Synodality must be ecumenical

 ‘The path of synodality, which the Catholic Church is on, is and must be ecumenical, just as the ecumenical path is synodal.’

 This statement, from Pope Francis’s Address to His Holiness Mar Awa III (2022) has been increasingly visible throughout the synodal process, appearing in the 2023 Instrumentum Laboris, entering the ordinary magisterium in the 2024 Final Document (FD 23), and has recently been affirmed by Pope Leo as a continuing path for the church.

What justifies this reciprocal relationship? The rationale has developed over the course of the synodal journey. In a 2021 joint letter from Cardinal Grech (General Secretary for the Synod of Bishops) and Cardinal Koch (President of the Dicastery for Promotion of Christian Unity) to bishops responsible for ecumenism, four reasons are given: a) common baptism and thus participation in the sensus fidei; b) learning from each other’s synodal practice; c) the Catholic Church becoming a ‘more credible dialogue partner’ due to synodal shaping of the Catholic Church at all levels; d) the possibility for ecumenical guests in synodal meetings. The Instrumentum Laboris expands this list, recognising the existence of a certain synodality whenever Christians come together (not just in synods) describing credibility as ‘a reciprocal relation between synodal order of the Catholic Church and its ecumenical commitment’, adding new notes on learning from ecumenical practice (a ‘laboratory of synodality’), and identifying an essential link between internal reform of the Catholic Church and coming closer to other Christians.

Dr Gregory A. Ryan is Assistant Professor in Synodality and Receptive Ecumenism at the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University, and Academic Coordinator of the Northern Diaconal Formation Partnership, where he oversees initial theological formation for the permanent diaconate in eight dioceses in Northern England and Wales. He has published four books and is currently working on an edited volume on synodality and ecumenism (due 2027) and on the T&T Clark Handbook of Ecumenical Theology and Practice (due 2028).

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Image: The ‘Learning Together on the Way’ Symposium, 2023. Courtesy of Catherine Tuckwell, Centre for Catholic Studies