Penitential Vigil, Ecumenical Witness: Part Three | Synod on Synodality

Matthew Neugebauer

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Gathering in St. Peter's Basilica. Deacon reading at a lecturn in the foreground.

Cardinals, bishops, and other Synod members turn to a Deacon reading the Gospel at the Penitential Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica on October 1. The large covered scaffolding surrounding Bernini's Baldacchino looms in the background. The scaffolding has since been removed, revealing a renewed altar canopy. Photo © Salt + Light Media, 2024.

Welcome to the final entry of my three-part reflection on the two prayer vigils that framed the first part of the 2024 Session of the Synod Assembly, the Penitential Vigil on October 1 and the Ecumenical Vigil on October 11. You can read Part One here, and Part Two here.

Penitential Vigil, Ecumenical Witness Part Three: “The Sacrifice of Unity”

In my previous two articles, I highlighted the two prayer vigils that framed the first part of the 2024 Session of the Synod on Synodality, the Penitential Vigil on October 1 and the Ecumenical Vigil on October 11. I then considered the experience of the ecumenical movement and what it might offer to the increasing synodality of the Church. In this article, I’ll conclude by reflecting on how the Penitential Vigil was an example, to quote the task of Synod Study Group 10, of “an ecclesial practice…that [received] the fruits of the ecumenical journey” (2024 IL #107). The postures of humility and sacrificial offering expressed in the vigil, postures that also lie at the heart of the ecumenical movement, are essential to fostering increased participation in the Church's common mission.

Repentance, Conversion, Reform, Encounter

Catholics have, since before Vatican II, taken completely seriously that “separated brethren” (as they used to be called) legitimately claim to be fully Christian. Especially since the Council, Catholics have genuinely believed that God is actively guiding these communities and the lives of baptized Christians within them on our common "pilgrimage toward the Father's Kingdom” (Gaudium et Spes #1). Even if Catholics can’t technically recognize the Orders or Sacraments of, for example, Anglicans and Lutherans, Catholics are invited to take seriously the fact that Anglicans, Lutherans, and others do indeed believe they have valid Sacraments, and above all truly seek God’s loving presence through the Sacraments.

However, that step, taking seriously the convictions of other ecclesial communities in this way, was a reform. The path to open dialogue with other churches and communities was one of conversion, and at times, repentance. That process culminated, and was then spurred on by, a moment of formal confirmation in the Church’s magisterium, when the Holy Spirit “opened the windows” on October 11, 1962 at the Council's opening, and specifically on November 21, 1964 when St. Paul VI formally promulgated Unitatis Redintegratio. The Decree on Ecumenism’s admission that “often enough, people on both sides were to blame” for many of the conflicts and schisms that occurred throughout the Church’s history (#3) was historic for its time.

That reform continues in the ecumenical movement, because that conversion and repentance, guided by the Holy Spirit, continues as well. Ecumenism is not some self-congratulating club, satisfied with a communion that remains imperfect. In fact the idea is that if this sense of imperfect communion is this good, how much more will the reality of perfect communion be! As the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity puts it,

The grace of God has impelled members of many Churches and ecclesial Communities, especially in the course of this present century, to strive to overcome the divisions inherited from the past and to build anew a communion of love by prayer, by repentance and by asking pardon of each other for sins of disunity past and present, by meeting in practical forms of cooperation and in theological dialogue. These are the aims and activities of what has come to be called the ecumenical movement (Directory for the Application and Norms of Ecumenism, #19 emphasis added).

The Synod's Final Document released on October 26 tells of how Assembly participants experienced the witness of the ecumenical journey first-hand (part of which I also quoted in Part Two):

Ecumenism is first and foremost a matter of spiritual renewal. It demands processes of repentance and the healing of memories of past wounds, and, where necessary, finding the courage to offer fraternal correction in a spirit of evangelical charity. The Assembly resounded with eye-opening testimonies by Christians of different ecclesial traditions who share friendship, prayer, live together in community, are committed to serving those living in various forms of poverty and who care for our common home (#23, Working Translation).

The Church and the churches are continually in need of reform, continually need the “obstacles…in the building of a truly synodal, symphonic Church” to be removed. The Holy Spirit can and will guide that reform if we are humble enough to ask.

This brings me back to my main point. Ecumenical partners are impelled by the “grace of God” offered in Word and (possibly) Sacrament to find a communion across differences through dialogue. How much more does the Holy Spirit offer a table with which to dialogue, to converse, to process through differences, maybe even find consensus or compromise, to those who do share in full communion? How much more does God provide Catholics with encounters for deepened understandings of those who are also united with the pope, the bishops, possibly even in the same parish and family, but with whom they have held animosity in their hearts or obstinacy in their minds?

That table, I submit, is (both symbolically and literally) the round table in the Paul VI Hall but primarily insofar as the unifying encounter of the Synod table flows from and leads back to (“source and summit”) the unifying encounter around the Altar where the Church gathers at Mass. The spiritual, personal, practical effect of the summons to receive the Sacrament, the Mystical Body of Christ present in the Sacrament, and the offering of this Mystical Body to God, is visible in our common cause and common agreement, as well as in our honest, sober reflection of our disagreement, in the openness to new and creative perspectives, and above all when we offer to God the prayer, the hope, that through this journey of synodal conversation, the Holy Spirit will gather us in prayer.

A comment from the USCCB, quoted in the Introduction to the 2024 IL, describes the mindset that prioritizes unity amidst difference, rather than one that entrenches divisions:

Gratitude for this synodal journey is profound. Much has been done to move along the synodal path as companions in the U.S. Church. Mindful of Pope Francis' notion of a culture of encounter, tensions remain that will require continued reflection and dialogue. These tensions need not disrupt the communion of charity in the Church. (IL Introduction, p IV, emphasis added)

Sacrifice and Offering

The Penitential Vigil reminds us that cultivating this communal mindset will require sacrifice. The Synod's Final Document points to martyrdom as the "icon" of Christian sacrifice, and too calls it an ecumenical experience:

In many regions of the world, there is, above all, the ecumenism of blood: Christians of different backgrounds who together give their lives for faith in Jesus Christ. The witness of their martyrdom is more eloquent than any word: unity comes from the Cross of the Lord (#23, Working Translation).

In Catholicism, de Lubac follows up his section on the Mystical and True Body with one titled “the Sacrifice of Unity" (p. 102-105). As in the Synod's Final Document, his emphasis is on the "one Sacrifice" of Christ throughout the world as the source of our unity, which we participate in through the Eucharist. Within that emphasis on unity, there are twin connotations of the term “sacrifice.”

First, our minds naturally go to the idea of "surrender." What do we have to lose, to give up, for the sake of unity? Certainly not our capacity to reason – we don't "check our brains at the door” or learn from our quite valid experiences. By no means do we give up our cultural heritage and histories: de Lubac will devote a significant section later in Catholicism all about inculturation.

However, we do have to give up the idea that “I'm always right,” that I have nothing to learn or gain from someone else, and even that I am the only one who has received the Catholic faith correctly. This is why the Penitential Vigil at the beginning of the 2024 session is so profound. Everyone involved in the Synod was invited to confess ways that they have harmed or failed to listen to those whom they are called to include, those whom the Holy Spirit may be inviting into deeper participation in discerning the mission of the Church. Importantly, this is true for the hierarchy as well as lay people who in the past may have been needlessly distrustful of Church leaders who have extended the hand of inclusion and participation. Everyone was invited to confess the times they have come short of that mutual recognition so necessary in dialogue and common discernment, times when they have “hardened their hearts” (see Psalm 95:8) and said to another part of Christ’s Mystical Body, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:21).

Of course, this vigil was at the beginning of the session. Repentance is meant to lead to conversion. It is an act of turning to the God who can transform us to deepen our charity for each other, and it can empower us to live out a vibrant mission in the world, if we offer ourselves and our communities to him.

This emphasis on “offering” is primarily what de Lubac meant with the word "sacrifice”: the Sacrifice of Christ to the Father is the Sacrifice of the Whole Christ to the Triune God. We aren't simply offering ourselves, our sense of rightness, our time for listening and dialogue, or the act of dialogue itself, to a mere human process made up of more flawed human beings. That's part of what's contained in the refrain, "the Synod is not a parliament." The Synodal conversation, this process of and deepening our mutual recognition, listening, and structures of participation throughout the Church, is an expression of that common life which flows from and returns to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is therefore part of the sacrifice offered to God by the Mystical Body of the Son, through the power and love of the Holy Spirit, "for a greater more united Church: for the salvation of the whole world” (Catholicism, 103)

With that in mind, it may well be appropriate for us to pray these words for Pope Francis, and for all who gathered at the altar in St. Peter's and the tables in the Paul VI Hall last month, as they commend their finished work to God and return to their local churches:

"May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church."

Watch the final episode of our weekly recap show, Step by Step: For a Synodal Church, tonight at 7:30 pm ET | 4:30 pm PT on Salt + Light TV. To catch up on previous episodes, and for all of our coverage on the Synod on Synodality, visit slmedia.org/synod.