San Diego Plans Diocesan Synod, a New Way of ‘Being Church

May 20, 2016

SAN DIEGO: The Diocese of San Diego will soon be assuming a vanguard role in demonstrating how local churches can embrace the “synodality” promoted by Pope Francis. Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego has convened a diocesan synod to meet Oct 28-29 to reflect on the major themes of the recent apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia."

The bishop believes the synod will not only help San Diego Catholics grapple with the modern challenges to family life and the Church as they are explored in Amoris, but it will also offer the diocese a new model for “being church.”

Bishop McElroy proposes turning the diocesan synod into a biannual, themedriven event, an opportunity for spiritual renewal, reflection and “meaningful lay input into important sets of decisions within the governance of the diocese.” Bishop McElroy believes the Pope’s exhortation Amoris Laetitia offers a unique and timely focal point for discussion. “The substance of it, namely marriage and family life, is right at the heart of the pastoral agenda of the Church, thus the topic itself… lies at the heart of the Christian moral life basically, for everyone in various ways.”

The San Diego synod may be the first such structured diocesan- wide response to Amoris worldwide. Though he chuckles to hear himself described as a global trendsetter, Bishop McElroy said, “I like to look at new ways of doing things and trying them and seeing if (they work.)”

The bishop is keen on taking the idea of the synod as an event and transforming it into an ongoing process that involves the entire diocesan community. Church leaders in San Diego, he says, had been seeking to create structures that would allow “lay participation in substantive and profound ways in the life of the [local] church…in terms of agenda setting, in terms of bringing the wisdom of the laity to bear on how we do things and in bringing to us problems we, as a bishop or a priest, do not see sometimes”. “We were looking for a process…to have a substantial engagement of priestly leadership, lay leadership, religious leadership, struggling together along with the theological community on various topics. (The diocesan synod) seems promising to me, and I hope it will be.” -- America