Synod proposal could give ‘doctrinal authority’ to local bishops’ conferences

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Synod proposal could give ‘doctrinal authority’ to local bishops’ conferences
Bishops' conferences could essentially become the doctrine makers of their own local churches, thus completely undermining the unity of the Church.



Synod on Synodality members.
Michael Haynes

Oct 15, 2024
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Synod members are discussing a proposal that would give bishops “doctrinal authority,” essentially having the Catholic Church break up into numerous different, often contradictory bodies.

As the 300-plus members of the Synod on Synodality’s second session gather in the Paul VI Audience Hall, they began today the fourth of five modules of discussions that form part of the monthlong event.

Between October 2 and October 27, the members are working through the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, that was released in July to guide the month’s proceedings.

A total of seven working days will be given to the section of the working document that looks at “places” in respect of the overarching question “How to be a synodal Church in mission?” Those days, arguably, could prove to be the most momentous of the entire month.

Unlike last year’s October meeting, 10 study groups established by Pope Francis are dealing with a variety of topics, including the more controversial ones such as LGBT and female deacons.

But Francis and the synod leadership team have from the beginning insisted that the event is not intended to address such questions in the manner that, for instance, LGBT activists might wish. Rather, the synod is on synodality – meaning an examination and overhaul of the Church’s life, governance, and activity.

Opening the synod in 2021, Pope Francis quoted Vatican II theologian Father Yves Congar and called for “a different Church” courtesy of the synod. “Synodality is, in fact, the long game of Pope Francis,” Newark’s Cardinal Joseph Tobin revealed in May 2021.

With this month’s focus on how to be increasingly “synodal” – Francis and synod leaders have repeatedly declared the Church must be synodal in order to move forward – the discussions on this current module are therefore key.


Local churches holding doctrinal authority

Buried toward the end of the working document, in its treatment of “places,” are proposals that could turn the Catholic Church into a Protestant-style conglomeration of individual bodies rather than a unified body.

While paradoxically placed in a subsection entitled “the bonds that shape the unity of the Church,” these proposals would essentially allow bishops’ conferences to become doctrine makers of their own local churches, thus completely undermining the unity of the Church.

Paragraph 96 reads that the desire of Vatican II for local churches to foster the “collegial spirit” has “not been fully realized.” This, the document attests by way of a direct quote from Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium, is because “a juridical status of Episcopal Conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated.”

“Seeking how to be a synodal Church in mission requires addressing this question,” the Instrumentum Laboris adds.

The request for local authority over doctrine is expanded in paragraph 97:

From all that has been gathered so far, during this synodal process, the following proposals emerge: (a) recognition of Episcopal Conferences as ecclesial subjects endowed with doctrinal authority, assuming socio-cultural diversity within the framework of a multifaceted Church, and favoring the appreciation of liturgical, disciplinary, theological, and spiritual expressions appropriate to different socio-cultural contexts; {emphasis added}

(b) evaluating the real experience of the functioning of the Episcopal Conferences and the Eastern hierarchical structures, and of the relations between Episcopates and the Holy See, to identify the concrete reforms to be implemented; the ad limina visits, which fall under Study Group 7, could be a fitting context for this evaluation; and

© ensuring that all Dioceses or Eparchies are assigned to an ecclesiastical Province and an Episcopal Conference or Eastern hierarchical Structure (cf. CD 40)

With this proposal, the Instrumentum Laboris attempts to have bishops’ conferences assign to themselves the power to decide what is in accord with the Catholic Church’s doctrine or not. The results – as have already been witnessed historically with the breakup and proliferation of the Protestant churches – would herald the death of the Catholic Church as “One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic.”

Such a proposal is also being posited in line with another key synod theme, namely the inculturation of the Gospel in accordance with local cultures.

“The Church cannot be understood without being rooted in a place and a culture and without the relationships established between places and cultures,” the Instrumentum Laboris reads just a few lines above.

“The synodal conversion of minds and hearts must be accompanied by a synodal reform of ecclesial realities, called to be roads on which to journey together,” the text adds.

Such a call for local style of Gospel “inculturation” is reiterated once again, as the Instrumentum Laboris urges a continued push:

The desire that local synodal dialogue should continue and not come to an end and the need for effective inculturation of the faith in specific regions drives us towards a new appreciation of the institution of particular Councils, be they provincial or plenary, whose periodic celebration has been an obligation for a large part of the Church’s history.

With local style of ecclesial life thus emerging, activists will find considerable weight for making their local arguments in favor of – for instance – female deacons in the Amazon. Add to this the ability of bishops’ conferences to decide doctrine for themselves and the global Church risks crumbling.

It remains to be seen what the synod members make of the working document’s proposals and what recommendations they send to Pope Francis.