More news from the African Synod Assembly

African Synodality Newsletter Team www.synod.va – synodafrican@gmail.comView this email in your browser #Press Release – 03/03/2023 Visit addisababa.synod2023.org for more news Photos available here ShareTweetForward PRESS RELEASE N.2 Unity, fight against poverty, social equality and neocolonialism as first main concerns of the African Church The African Synod on Synodality Assembly taking place in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) entered the second working session as Prayers, Reflection, Spiritual Conversation and sharing on Document for the Continental Stage (DCS) remained key items on the delegates’ programme.  The first item on the agenda was the eucharist which was presided over by Antoine Cardinal Kambanda, the Archbishop of Kigali in Rwanda. The Cardinal opened up the day by reminding the participants of the need to foster listening. He expressed regrets saying, “We don’t listen to each other despite the means of communication we have.” Cardinal Kambanda who gave the homily during the morning Holy Mass said “the most precious gift that God gave to humanity is the word and the word realizes its objective and has sense when it is listened to. We need to listen to this word of God to live to receive his divine life. The Local Ordinary of Kigali Archdiocese lamented that “today there are a lot of means of communication but it is the period that communication is at its lowest stage because we don’t listen to each other despite the means of communication that we have.” (Read more here) After the recap of the experience and process of the previous day, the bulk of the morning of the second working day of the Continental Synodal Assembly was dedicated to the practice of spiritual conversation: the method presented at the beginning of the assembly aimed at fostering listening to the Holy Spirit and mutual listening among the participants.  Introducing the morning’s proceedings and providing a guide to reading the DCS was Fr Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator SJ, President of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar. He first invited the participants to recognize their common baptismal dignity. Baptism, the Jesuit recalled, “is our founding identity, which qualifies us to participate in the life and mission of the Church, in communion, sharing and dialogue with people of all denominations”. He then recalled that the heart of spiritual conversation “is prayer and silence” that allows all participants to express their opinions openly and honestly. Referring then to the invitation to “widen the space of the tent”, Fr. Orobator recalled how the image of the tent taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah can be compared to the African Tukul, the house par excellence consisting of a roof, walls and a central pole. Whether it is a tent or a Tukul, “the Church-house has no doors that close, but a perimeter that continually widens”. It is “a tent, a family where everyone can find a place and a home.” Finally, the Jesuit repeatedly recalled how “this is a time to thank God who has brought us together, guided by the Spirit of God. This is a time to rejoice: let us not allow the weeds to hinder us; let us allow the spirit to lead us forward. (Read more here) During the afternoon session 15 spiritual conversation groups presented summary reports of discussions in their respective groups. Various groups proposed unity, fight against poverty, fight against social equality, neocolonialism as some of the priority areas the synod Fathers need to focus on during the synodal process.The Church as the family of God called to evangelize through formation. A well-formed family will ensure the society is good and grows according to African values.The groups vouched for synodal Church as a family of God with defined roles and responsibilities that promote African values and ameliorate the structural governance of the Church family of God by empowering the laity through formation. Synodality invites us to journey together and not to walk alone by the diversity of our cultures. Africa is called to examine all mechanisms put in place to ensure journeying together is a reality. Synodality invites us to a profound conversion. This can be achieved through a respect of African values in which the family can play a major role. African voices need to be taken into consideration in the decision making process of the Church. The groups stressed the need for a family centered understanding of synodality and promotion of African values and a holistic catechism for all. SUBSCRIBE THE NEWLETTER Copyright  2023 General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops, All rights reserved.

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News from the African Synod Assembly

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The African bishops and other representatives of the African Church are meeting in Addis Abeba, capital of Ethiopia, where Christianity has been alive for longer than in most of Europe.

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PRESS RELEASE n. 1  The African way of ‘walking together’  The Synodal Continental Assembly for Africa opened this morning in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) with the Holy Mass presided by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg and Relator General of the XVI General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, who reminded that “Synod is not about power. It is not about democracy. It is about the Holy Spirit. It is about a Church which is open to the world. Its mission is to all humanity. It is a Church which knows how to pray. It is a Church in line with the Holy Spirit” (more on his homily here).   The four-day event under the theme: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission” has gathered 206 participants from across the continent all determined to deliver a document that will represent the true voice of Africa. Among them are nine cardinals, 29 bishops, and 41 priests. The rest are consecrated people and lay people including women, men, and the youth, and representatives of the other faith.   The meeting is being presided by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, the newly elected President of the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), and attended also by Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod.   The morning session started with a welcoming address by the SECAM Secretary General, Fr. Rafael Simbine Junior, who urged participants to share the African experience of the Synod on Synodality (more on his address here). For his part Bishop Lúcio Muandula, SECAM’s first Vice President introducing works through a time of prayer has invited participants “to listen to each other about what the Holy Spirit is commanding the Church Family of God in Africa in order to start a new era of evangelization” (more on his address here). Work proceeded with the presentation of the «spiritual conversation” method by Fr Giacomo a Consultor of the General Secretariat of the Synod (more on his address here).   The opening ceremony which was scheduled for the morning hours had to be rescheduled to the afternoon hours due to a road blockade that drastically slowed traffic flow in the city of Addis Ababa curtailing delegates’ movement to the venue- as the country celebrated the Adwa Victory Day. In his greetings to the plenary President of the Ethiopian Bishops’ Conference Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel make a call “to listen deeply to the voice of the Holy Spirit and to listen to each other to be instruments of peace”. The Apostolic Nuncio to Ethiopia  Bishop Antoine Camilleri reminded that “Walking together, which is part of continuity, does not exclude discontinuity, especially for a Church which concerned by paying particular attention to everyone, even beyond the divisions that our societies live and in which we learn to listen to each other. This is why synodality means solidarity, mutual support, attention to others… Therefore, it is not a new structure of the Church: it is a matter of doing   things which have always been done, but in a renewed way inspired by the Gospel” (more on his address here) Cardinal Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo, SECAM President, expressed gratitude to the Holy Father for this pastoral initiative to call the whole Catholic Church to rediscover the precious value of synodality. “This synodal process, under the sign of communion, participation and mission, constitutes a time of grace and a great moment of ecclesial communion for the Church”, he said, and proceeded “this synodal process confirms the Church’s way of doing things in Africa. Indeed, rooted in African anthropological principles, especially palaver, Ubuntu and Ujamaa, which emphasize community spirit, a sense of family, teamwork, solidarity and conviviality, the Catholic Church in Africa has grown as a Family of God”. The meeting was also attended by Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chair African Union who represented the Secretary General of the African Union, Dr. Moussa Faki Mahamat. She said that “Synodality is an essential principle of the Catholic Church and its relevance extends beyond religious institutions. Synodality emphasizes the importance of inclusivity and dialogue in decision-making processes. It also has the potential to contribute to addressing the various challenges of the African continent” (more on his address here).   In his greetings, Cardinal Mario Grech, told the participants that “the Church in Africa, Madagascar and the Islands possesses significant resources to contribute to the Universal Church engaged in this process of synodality. An African theology of synodality – he noted – could be a lasting contribution to the development of a synodal church in the Third Millennium”. And he pointed out “when I refer to your distinctive African theology, I’m referring not only to the valid contribution that academics can offer but also to the theology elaborated by the entire people of God considering that the holy people of God are the subject of the theological and pastoral discernment – the holy people of God is the protagonist of this Synodal process. If we need to make theology we must listen to the people of God, even to the people of God in the African continent” (more on his address here).   In tomorrow’s working session, participants will deepen the practice of the spiritual conversation method. A new release will be issued at the end of the day.

The Synodal Process in the Vicariate of Arabia involved 150.000 participants

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• 
• Accepting the official invitation of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Pope Francis makes his historic visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain (3 – 6 November 2022).
  
  During his stay in the country, the Holy Father will address the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue, a conference that will focus on the theme “East and West for Human Coexistence”.

This report is encouraging but perhaps rather shaming for the rest of us.

(Transcription of the Video) Hi, I am Mathew Thomas coming from the United Arab Emirates. I am representing the two vicariates, the vicariate of Southern Arabia and the vicariate of Northern Arabia. In the Southern and Northern Arabia, we have seven countries; the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. So we had a very beautiful synodal experience actually in our vicariates. We have almost one hundred and fifty thousand people as participators in the Synod. After the inaugural mass, there was a team – actually a team constituted by the bishop, a five-member team – to coordinate the synodal activities in the vicariate and in each and every parish we had a parish synod coordinator. So in every parish we had Synod, the parochial Synod. For all communities we have people from all over the world in our vicariates, from almost hundred and fifty countries, different nationalities, different cultures, different tribes, and people from all communities, ministries, and sodalities took active part in the synodal process. The fasten foremost, we gave importance that the message of Synod should reach to each and every one, the message of the Synod, so the bishop-there was a video from the bishop which was circulated among all the parishioners and there are other videos we’ve prepared to educate the people about the Synod. And also we had an e-mail send to all the registered members, even to assemblies and to e-mail, the communication was sent to all the parishes. So finally as a result all one hundred and fifty thousand people participated in the Synod. Among this hundred and fifty thousand around thirty thousand are catechists and children. We have in our vicariate around fifty thousand catechists and children, and all they have participated in the Synod. And also there were a really active participation of the youth in the Synod. And to reach out to the voiceless, as our Pope Francis say, to reach out to the voiceless we have assigned the Jesus Youth Movement, a pontifically approved movement very active in our vicariate, they have a ministry called the Outreach Ministry, so the Outreach Ministry of the Jesus Youth were assigned to reach out to the people who live in the labor camps for majority of our people in our vicariate lives in the camps. They can’t come to the church on a regular basis. So these volunteers from the Jesus Youth visited each and every labor camps, met them individually, and spoke to them about the Synod, explained them about the Synod and what do the Church expect from them, all that, and they have participated because we had a questionnaire in different languages. So that was what was explained to them and they all helped participators. And also the Samaritan Ministry a charity wing of the church in the vicariate, they were assigned to meet the housemates, the hundreds of housemates were contacted, you know, personally they went and met them and collected their opinion, their feedback from them. So that was also a very beautiful experience and also we’ve contacted some of the people who left the catholic faith. Went to them, you know, like to ask them what is there opinion about the church, you know. And one very interesting thing is that the participation of the children, the catechist and children, very actively they participated and they were explaining how they want the Church to be loved and respected in the world. That was really a very beautiful thing and also I have to mention about the church in Yemen, the tiny church in Yemen, we have around four hundred catholics in Yemen, it is a war-torn country people are facing a lot of issues; where so many sisters of the missionaries of charity were martyred in the previous years. And all of them have participated in the Synod and they sent their Synod report. We had several interactions with them, online, through online media, so that was another wonderful experience. And I would like to share another experience that the youth from the Jesus Youth Movement, they visited the fishermen from one of the areas in Vasinkaima so they are actually not going to church for two or three years because of bad experience they had from the parish. Initially they were not willing to associate with the youth but later then they frequently went, visit them, talked to them, convinced them, you know, listened to them and finally they are regularly going to the church for the mass and other services. That is the fruit of the Synod. So this is what I just want to share like we had a very beautiful experience of the Synod and we are going to continue with the synodal process. Then another thing that the synodal team of the vicariate had decided to make a report to the bishop because from each parish we got a report. So based on that report what we need to implement in our parish, what are the areas that we need to improve. That report is given to the bishop for the bishop to continuously monitor with the parish priest and to see that the suggestions from the people are answered. Thank you.

The Synod Moves On.

General Secretariat for the Synod www.synod.va – media@synod. NEWS RELEASE – 29.11.2022/ FRA – ITA  –  Doing Synod is doing evangelisation Meeting with the Presidents and Coordinators of the Continental Assemblies of the Synod.Vatican City, 28-29 November 2022   The meeting of the Presidents and Coordinators of the Continental Assemblies gathered in Rome on 28-29 November to prepare together the Continental Assemblies, which are the culminating moment of the second stage of the Synod process 2021-2024, concludes this morning. The meeting took place at the offices of the General Secretariat of the Synod. “I feel gratitude and wonder. I have heard the testimony of a living Church!” was what Cardinal Mario Grech expressed at the end of the meeting, “The sharing of these days shows that the journey is already well underway and that we have much to learn from each other. I have great hope for our task, which is and remains first and foremost evangelisation: the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ. This is the synodal path. In this journey we must not be afraid of tensions, which can also be healthy. We must not exclude anyone and listen to everyone! Even those outside the Church’s formal enclosure, because sometimes the Church is present where we did not think we would find it’. On the afternoon of Monday 28 November 2022, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the participants. After the initial greeting by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg and General Rapporteur of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the Presidents or Coordinators of the Continental Assemblies presented the fruits of the process underway in their respective continents or regions, followed by a time of dialogue. The meeting, held in an atmosphere of great fraternity, lasted two hours. Below is Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich’s address of greeting. Your Holiness, thank you for taking the time to receive us and to give us your advice for the synodal process. With the continental phase of the process we begin our missionary discernment. With this stage of the Synod we are, in fact, already experiencing a first universal dimension of the process. This stage says, in fact, that the different Churches must not be isolated in their journey and the circular dialogue of the continental assemblies will benefit the Churches of all continents. Your Holiness, a synodality that wants to be Catholic needs the care and advice of Peter. We need you, because we need a healthy indifference that bears witness to freedom in the Spirit, but then because we also notice some temptations on this road. And I would like to talk about a temptation we sometimes see in the media: it is the temptation of ‘politicisation’ in and of the Church, that is, living and thinking the Church with the logic of politics. Some have an agenda for the reform of the Church; they know very well what needs to be done and they want to use the synod for that purpose: this is instrumentalising the synod. This is politicising. On the opposite side are – to borrow your word – the ‘indietrists’ who do not understand that a true Catholic tradition evolves while remaining a tradition in its time. They too would like to put the brakes on the synod process. We, on the other hand – and we heard this morning in our work – we want to be able to enter into a true discernment, an apostolic, missionary discernment, so that the synodal Church can carry out its mission in the world. We want to walk together, with you and above all with the Holy Spirit and with Jesus, in order to mend our Church. List of Participants Photos Copyright  2022 General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: General Secretariat for the Synod of BishopsVia della Conciliazione, 34Vatican City 00120Vatican City State (Holy See)

24 September: Franciscans in Walsingham

Our Lady of Walsingham

This is the beginning of an interesting article by Ellen Teague in Saint Anthony’s Messenger Magazine, setting the Franciscans’ return to Walsingham and their ministry there in their historical and ecumenical context. Today is the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham.

IF YOU have ever visited Walsingham, England’s National Marian Shrine, you may have noticed a ruined friary standing on a small hill outside the village. This Franciscan Friary was built in the mid-14th century and flourished for nearly two centuries, until the dissolution of religious houses under King Henry VIII. Over the last five centuries, the friars of the order which served there until the 1530s  – the Order of Franciscan Friars Conventual, more commonly known as Greyfriars – never forgot Walsingham. They have prayed for friars buried there, for those who had caused the destruction of this holy place, and for the day when Greyfriars would return to Walsingham.

There were great celebrations then on 19 March 2018 when a small group of Greyfriars formally returned to Walsingham, to be based in the centre of the town; it was the solemnity of the Feast of St Joseph. Friar Marco Tasca, Minister General of the Greyfriars, attended from Rome. He said the friars aim to a prophetic sign of dialogue and reconciliation to the world today, ministering to Walsingham’s many pilgrims just as they did five centuries ago.

Ancient pilgrimage

Pilgrims have flocked to the small Norfolk village of Little Walsingham since the 11th century to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. It was in the Anglo-Saxon village pre-dating the Norman invasion that a devout English Lady, Richeldis de Faverches, experienced three visions in 1061 in which the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her. In these visions Richeldis was shown the house of the Annunciation in Nazareth, and was requested to build a replica of it. Mary is said to have promised that, “whoever seeks my help there will not go away empty-handed.” In Medieval times, when travelling abroad became difficult because of the Crusades, Walsingham evolved into a place of great Christian importance and pilgrimage, ranking alongside Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela. The popularity of Walsingham was boosted since it was impossible for Christians to visit Nazareth itself, which was in Saracen hands.

30 April: Ramadan ends tomorrow!

Bishop Claude Rault, Bishop Emeritus of the Sahara, shared this prayer by an early Muslim mystic, Rabi’a al Adawiyya, (717-801). It is a prayer that anyone could make their own. Bishop Claude has devoted his life to being present in dialogue and neighbourliness with the Muslims of Algeria, and to the study of Islam.

Oh my God,
if it is through fear of hell fire that I adore You,
then burn me in hell fire.
And if it is through hope of Paradise that I adore You,
then chase me out of Paradise.

But if I adore You simply for Yourself,
Do not deprive me of Your eternal beauty.

Oh my God,
all my desire in this world is to remember You
and all my desire for the world to come
is to encounter You.
That is how it is for me
but You: do whatever You will.

+ Claude Rault, Jesus, l’Homme de la Rencontre, Marseille, Publications Chemins de Dialogue, 2020, p31.

The Synod and International Women’s Day

General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops www.synod.va – media@synod.vaView this email in your browser

#newsletter n.07 – 03/2022 – Available also in FR – PT – ES – IT Celebrating Woman’s Day Women are particularly involved in this synodal process, they are often the driving force behind synodality and have a great desire to “walk together”. On this 8th of March we want to give thanks for all their commitment to the service of synodality …Read more … Caritas Internationalis and the British Ambassador to the Holy See, Chris Trott, are organizing the event “Church and Society: Women as Builders of Dialogue” on March 8 in Rome, with online streaming.  Read more… Sr. Nathalie Becquart, Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, offers us a collection of texts dealing with the theme of women in the documents of the last two synods.Read more… Listen to five women speak about their roles within the Synod of Bishops on the Synod on Synodality at this event of last December hosted by the Australian Embassy to the Holy See, La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University. Read more The aim of “Female Doctors of the Church and Patron Saints of Europe in Dialogue with Today’s World” International Interuniversity Conference scheduled for March 7 and 8, 2022 is to focus on the emblematic example of so many women in history to restore momentum and hope to the many challenges that characterize the dynamic contemporary world.Read more… The Dutch Network of Catholic Women (NKV) translated the synod themes to questions specifically meant for women. The project is called ‘She has something to tell’ and Laetitia van der Lans tells us that the responses rate is surprisingly high for a small, secularized country. Among the most important questions are: what gives you joy in the Catholic Church? What are your dreams for the Church? Read more The Maronite Church launched the initiative “Synod of Women” in Bkerké, at the headquarters of the Maronite Patriarchate: a unique ecclesial process and opportunity for shared discernment on the presence and mission of women in the Church and in society. Read more…

Copyright  2022 General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: General Secretariat for the Synod of BishopsVia della Conciliazione, 34Vatican City 00120Vatican City State (Holy See)

16 February: Today this is my vocation XIV: The humble generosity of books.

Some people’s vocation goes on past their own lifetime. Think of what we owe to writers from 3,000 years ago and more. This is part of a conversation between Joy Clarkson of Plough magazine and the writer Alan Jacobs, who is speaking here. The whole conversation can be found here, on the Plough website. It is wide-ranging, we could easily have chosen among many other paragraphs as our appetiser. Today the ongoing work of a writer, perhaps long-dead; tomorrow the work of the visual artist.

There is [a] kind of humble generosity to libraries and books. They’re always ready to accommodate themselves to us. We have so much control over our encounters with books. If a book frustrates us, we can walk away. We can never pick it up again. We can take a book and throw it out the door if we want to. We can put it in the trash or we can just put it on the shelf and come back to it later, or we can just devour the whole thing. At times like that, we feel like we’re so caught up that we’re almost not choosing anymore. But we know at the back of our minds that we really do have some control over all of this and, as a result, it lowers our blood pressure.

And it’s a human connection. A book can be an incredibly powerful conversation partner, but it enables us to deal with ideas in our own way and at our own pace. That’s especially important when the ideas are challenging to us or maybe even offensive to us. We can set a book aside, calm down, and come back to it and think about it and think about what our answer is to it.

22 November: On Glastonbury Tor

More inspired curiosity from Eddie Gilmore at The Irish Chaplaincy.

There are always interesting characters to be found on Glastonbury Tor and my latest visit was no exception.

I was having a few days of retreat at Downside Abbey, the Benedictine monastery in Somerset not far from Glastonbury. On my previous stay at Downside I’d also climbed the Tor, on which occasion there was a large group of women performing some kind of ritual which included a circle dance and various incantations, as well as them laughing a lot and breaking out into the singing of old pop songs in the tower. There had been a nice energy about the group and I’d wished I could be part of it.

On this occasion I’d seized the opportunity of a sunny day on which to drive over and make the steep ascent. The Tor stands at about 180m and commands spectacular views in every direction, even, on such a clear day, all the way across the Bristol Channel to a point on the Welsh coast forty-five miles away. St Michael’s Tower is perched right on the top and I especially love to look through the archways on each side. They provide a pleasant framing of the view beyond. It has been a site of pilgrimage for centuries and the following day, it was explained to me later, it would be especially busy because of the Autumn equinox. The site is said to be on a certain ‘ley line’, believed to be routes of particular sacred energy going in a straight line across the country and linking particular holy places.

On my previous visit to the Tor I’d been reminded of a place on the Camino to Santiago with similarly vast and commanding views from a high point over the surrounding flat countryside and a sense that it was somewhere the ancient Celts might have described as being a ‘thin place’ i.e. there being a thin veil between earth and heaven. This time I was mainly relishing the uncommonly warm day and, like many of those who had made the climb, lying down in the sun. I was also, as I like to do, observing those around me! Of particular interest was a woman who appeared through the archway of the tower with an ivy chain around her head. She was closely followed by a second and then a third woman who were each of them similarly adorned, also carrying armfuls of ivy and other bits and pieces. ‘What’s going on here, then?’ I wondered. They proceeded to set up shop on the grass, creating a circle of ivy and other things and with a vase of flowers at the centre. And one of them was lighting some kind of incense. One or two similarly curious onlookers asked what they were doing and one of the three explained that they were performing a little ceremony for Mother Earth and getting rid of bad things from their lives and welcoming the new. A woman who until then had been sunbathing asked to join them and she was welcomed and crowned with an ivy chain. And then the ritual began, which included the ringing of a bell, the beating of a drum and one of the women moving round the circle spreading the sweet-melling incense. It was a little bit wacky but I suppose to many people these days the liturgies I’d been attending in the Abbey church might seem equally wacky. At any rate, seeing a ritual performed by women was a nice counterpoint to the exclusive maleness of that morning’s monastic Mass. I reflected as well that some of what the women were doing wasn’t too far from what the monks had been doing on the Sunday in their High Mass, at least in terms of the incense, with a deacon having gone round the altar with the thurible; except that the men didn’t have a bunch of pretty flowers in the middle!

It was then that I heard a guitar and singing coming from inside the tower and went to explore. A man was there and he had a lovely, gentle voice which was pleasantly amplified by the acoustics of the tower, and when he finished I clapped in appreciation, along with a couple who were listening as well. He was explaining to the couple in answer to them asking where he came from that he lived in Spain, although I could hear the unmistakable sound of a Dublin accent. After the couple made their leave I got chatting with him and he was interested to hear about my background and about the work of the Irish Chaplaincy. I asked him his name. He replied that he’d been born Denis (and a Roman Catholic) but had changed his name twenty years ago to Ananda. When I later checked the spelling with him he said, “It’s like Amanda but you just change the ‘m’ to an ‘n’!” He told me that the word in Hinduism, as in Buddhism and Jainism, denotes extreme happiness and is one of the highest states of being. He believed in the unity in all religions and as if to demonstrate that he sang to me a self-composed mantra which began, conventionally enough, with the words that had been sung that morning in the monastic Mass, ‘Kyrie eleison’, Lord have mercy. Ananda’s version continued, ‘Maria eleison, Mama eleison, Allah eleison, Buddha eleison’ before ending with another verse of ‘Kyrie eleison’.

He went on to tell me that he’d lived in Glastonbury for four year and had walked up the Tor every single day, rain or shine, with his guitar and it was his personal ministry to sing in the tower and chat to people. He also pointed out to me the Celtic connections with the area. An old legend has it that Patrick came back to Britain as an old man and gathered together some hermits in Glastonbury and became the first Abbot. What’s more, the carved figure of Brigid, patron saint of the Irish Chaplaincy as I explained to Ananda, is carved right there in St Michael’s Tower where we were speaking. Legend has it that she spent two years in Glastonbury in prayer before founding in Kildare her dual monastery, one for women and one for and men and over both of which she ruled as abbess.

Ananda was summoned to go and meet his wife, his ring tone being a nice bit of violin music! As he invited me to “go well” I decided it was time to be brave and engage with the ivy-clad women. I went over and asked if I could take a photo of their circle and one of them said with a smile, “Do you want the models in the picture?” I asked what the incense had been and was told it had been sage and myrrh. “Oh” I said, “sage was used by the native Americans to purify the atmosphere of bad vibes.” I happened to know that because when I’d been in a role at L’Arche that seemed to involve having a lot of tricky 1 to 1 meetings, my counterpart in L’Arche London, an American called Keith, used to tell me about the sprig of sage he kept hanging in his office for such meetings. We’d call one another sometimes and say, “So how much sage did you need to burn today?”

Later I went for a stroll in the town which is a truly fascinating place. On the residential street leading to the centre almost every other house has a statue of the Buddha in the window. Then there is the main street, which is a veritable hot-potch of what used to be called ‘New age mysticism’: tarot card reading, crystals, hypnotherapy, ‘Saturday morning yoga with Andrew’, the ‘Zen Music Shop’. Outside the C of E parish church a wizard had set up a stall, next to a man playing reggae music, and was waving cheerfully to passers-by. Ananda had told me that Glastonbury is home to seventy-three different religions and beliefs, the highest such concentration anywhere on the planet. There was even an RC church. How, I wondered, did they get on in the midst of the seventy-three?

I was kind of relieved to get back to the peace, and monotheism, of the monastery. Interestingly, the book being read that evening in the monastic refectory was by a Benedictine who made the observation that the professed religious life as we know it in the West is in terminal decline. The Downside community is typical in that most of the eight members are in their seventies or older and they are currently planning to leave their home of the last 150 years and move in with another, similarly diminishing, community. I agree with the prognosis of terminal decline and think we, the ever dwindling faithful in the Church need to be honest about that rather than hold our heads in the sand. I think there might not be more than a couple of decades left, in the West at any rate, of a tradition that goes back over 1600 years and which has had such a profoundly positive impact on civilisation, in such areas as healthcare and education, even in the development of champagne, thanks to Dom Pérignon, a French Benedictine monk.

What will take its place? The innate human yearning for meaning will still be there, and a need for ritual. Many of us will continue to seek places of stillness; and a sense of the sacred will be as strong as ever, however that finds its expression. My guess is that things could get even more eclectic and a whole lot more wacky! But I take comfort in the words of one of the spiritual greats (I’m afraid I can’t remember which one): “The good will out.”

Eddie Gilmore

Church on the Way

We’ve received another Newsletter from the Bishops’ Synod Office. Here it is. What did I say a few weeks ago about long words and unusual vocabulary? Still, it’s good to see that they want to use the synod to help make us Christians all one.

God Bless,

Will

General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops www.synod.va – media@synod.vaView this email in your browser #newsletter n.7 – 11/2021 – Available also in FR – PT – ES – ITShareTweetForwardShare The ecumenical dimension of the synodal process In a joint letter of 28 October 2021, Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Cardinal Mario Grech, General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, addressed the Bishops responsible for ecumenism in their Episcopal Conferences and Synods of the Oriental Catholic Churches. The two Cardinals trust that the “ecumenical dimension of the synodal process will promote both synodality and Christian unity so that ‘all may believe’ (John 17,21)”.“Indeed, both synodality and ecumenism are processes of ‘walking together’ ”. In fact, “as ecumenism can be understood as an ‘exchange of gifts’, one of the gifts Catholics can receive from the other Christians is precisely their experience and understanding of synodality”. (From the letter of cardinals Grech and Koch) The Synod in the world We continue to receive pictures, videos, … from all over the world showing the great creativity of our communities. Be inspired: come and see! Feel like singing?   Listen to a synod hymn by artist Merlin Dsouza, one of India’s leading music directors, composer and pianist, has a wide range of work in theatre, concerts, films (Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham). Find out more about Merlin Dsouza and … sing with her! Synod and Synodality: Theological Approaches New Course at the Pontifical Gregorian UniversityThe synodal process also challenges theology to deepen what is a “constitutively synodal Church”, in order to integrate visions and skills, experiences and concerns, tradition and readings to the “signs of the times”.  The Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Gregorian University is launching a course on “synod” and “synodality”. In 12 meetings, the professors will address the topic from different angles. The aim  is to create a wide space for listening and sharing among the participants, both in the classroom and online, thus implementing the synodal process and developing a truly synodal style in theology. Programme (ONLY IN ITALIAN)Promoting a time of listening and discernment Synodal ReportsWe present today the Document for Community Discernment for the First Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean (soon available in  other languages).Wanting to share a brief report with all synodal “fathers and mothers”, look at the example of the Church in Laos and Cambodia! Synodal spirituality We continue our journey to discover the spirituality of the different religious families, associations and ecclesial movements. Today we invite you to discover the Benedictine spirituality.  “The practice of listening “with the ear of the heart” sets in motion a pathway to authentic discernment of the will of God.” Pray for the Synod In order to support the synodal journey and ask for the Spirit’s assistance, together with the World Network of Prayers of the Pope and UISG, we have set up a website in 5 languages: Church on the Way. Pray for the Synod. From 2 November, you too can send your prayer. See how to do it… Copyright  2021 General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops Via della Conciliazione, 34 Vatican City 00120 Vatican City State (Holy See)