For Archbishop Franz Lackner, with the adoption of the final document, the second general assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality has come to a “positive and hopeful conclusion”. “No matter how you feel about the results so far in detail, it is clear that the synodal process is having a lasting impact on church life,” emphasized the chairman of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference in an interview with Kathpress on Saturday after the vote on the synod document. The global process launched by Pope Francis three years ago is “unique of its kind” and will in the future be “the yardstick and touchstone for all types of church gatherings.”
The synodal method of moderated spiritual discussion at round tables created an “attitude of open speech and humble listening.” “It has proven itself, is a real asset and I will certainly practice it again and again in my area,” said the Archbishop of Salzburg. The method also made it possible to better exchange ideas on the so-called women’s issue. That alone is “real progress,” emphasized Lackner. The bishops’ conference chairman also assessed the fact that the issue “remains open” – according to the final document that has now been decided and in accordance with the statements made by the Prefect of the Dicastery of Faith, Cardinal Victor Fernandez, at a meeting with synod members on Thursday evening – as positive and admitted remember: “It is not pointless to endure open questions if they are suffered and lived through together.”
The Synod’s proposals for establishing synodal structures at various church levels also went “in the right direction”. The church in Austria has already achieved a “good standard” with its parish councils and pastoral and diocesan councils compared to the rest of the world, “although there is room for improvement”.
Have a say and share responsibility
“For me, it is actually no longer conceivable that as a bishop I would make far-reaching decisions without synodal consultation and, like the majority of synod participants, I expect additional canon law provisions,” said Lackner, who stated: “Anyone who wants to have a say must also share responsibility”. More synodality also means more transparency and accountability for everyone who holds office in the church. On this point too, there was a pleasingly broad consensus at the Synod of Bishops.
What Pope Francis initiated with the synodal process has not yet been completed. What is needed is not only “perseverance”, but also a common image of a synodal and at the same time hierarchically constituted church, the archbishop summed up and concluded with a comparison: “It seems to me in the universal church at the moment that we are like supply perfect individual parts to the automotive supply industry from everywhere, but without having a common plan for the end product. Nevertheless, I return from the Synod of Bishops with a new form of hope: it is a faith that does not yet see clearly and not yet precisely white.”
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Archbishop Lackner took part as a representative of Austria in both last year’s first and now the second and final general assembly of the Synod of Bishops. It began on October 2nd and will conclude on Sunday (October 27th) with a celebratory service in St. Peter’s Basilica.
From Austria, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn also took part in the World Synod as a member of the Synod Council, which includes a total of 368 men and women from all continents as voting members. 96 of them, or around a quarter, are not bishops, but rather priests, deacons, religious or lay Christians. Klara-Antonia Csiszar, pastoral theologian and dean of the theological faculty at the Catholic Private University (KU) Linz, was part of the group of around 70 non-voting experts at the meeting.
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