“Civil society no longer normally refers to the Gospel in its daily life.” This is probably the most realistic and at the same time most challenging observation contained in the new ones guidelines published on 10 June by the Italian Episcopal Conference for the implementation of the Summary Document of the Synodal Path of the Churches in Italy.
A statement that it does not sound like a surrender but like the starting point of a new ecclesial season. The document, approved by the Italian bishops during the 82nd General Assembly held in May and significantly titled Rooted and built in Christ recalls the verse from the Letter to the Colossians (“rooted, built on Him and steadfast in the faith”, Col 2,7) and proposes to the Italian dioceses and parishes some priorities that will have to guide the path of the Italian Church in the next five years.
Synodality is not a parenthesis
The bishops specify that the guidelines “do not replace the Synthesis Document” and “do not intend to overlap with the discernment of the local Churches”, but want to indicate some essential convergences on which “we all feel committed to walking”.
The decisive point is that synodality is a method to be implemented and carried forward. For this reason, the CEI clearly states that «synodality cannot be reduced to one method among others, nor to a season now concluded: it asks to become an ordinary form of life in our communities, a criterion of discernment, a precise way of exercising authority». An important position that shifts attention from the path taken to the style with which the Church is called to live and operate.
Young people at prayer
(Getty Images)
Starting again from the announcement of faith
The underlying diagnosis is known but no less urgent. Italy is no longer the country in which the Christian faith can be presupposed. Many of the traditional ways of transmitting the faith show their limits today, especially towards the younger generations but also towards adults. For this reason the first priority identified by the document consists of «bringing the gift of faith back to the center», through renewed attention to the first announcement and ongoing formation.
The bishops observe that faith in Christ “It can no longer be taken for granted” and they indicate in the kerygma, the essential announcement of the Gospel, the point from which to start again. The need for one arises from this true “missionary conversion of pastoral care”, capable of accompanying adults in the different stages of existence and of creating “hospitable contexts for listening and adult narration of the faith”. It is not enough to preserve what exists: it is necessary to generate places and relationships in which the encounter with Christ can be proposed and experienced again.
Community as a response to individualism
Alongside the centrality of faith, a second theme emerges: the community. In a society marked by individualism and the fragmentation of social ties, the community form of ecclesial life takes on a prophetic value. In fact, the document underlines that it represents “an authentic prophecy regarding the fraying of interpersonal ties that characterizes civil society”. The Christian community is not only the place where faith is celebrated, but becomes a concrete sign of a possible brotherhood. In a time characterized by loneliness and the fatigue of relationships, the Church is called to testify that there still exists a space in which people can feel welcomed, listened to and accompanied.
Rethinking the presence of the Church in the territory
From this belief also arises the need to rethink the presence of the Church in the territory. The guidelines invite a “courageous reconfiguration of the Church on the territory”, overcoming fragmented responses and organizational models that are often very different from each other. The objective is not simply to merge parishes or rationalize structures. Rather, it is a question of promoting a renewed vision of the parish as a “community of communities”, capable of enhancing the charisms present and collaborating more effectively in the mission. The experiences gained in many dioceses will have to be shared and networked, so that the change is not only administrative but pastoral and missionary.
More space for lay people and baptismal ministries
One of the most significant themes that emerged from the Synodal Path concerns the co-responsibility of the baptized. This is why the document insists on «differentiated co-responsibility», inviting us to give greater value to lay ministries and to reflect on any new ministries to be established.
The objective is to overcome an ecclesial form in which the ministry of the priest appears visible almost exclusively, recognizing instead the richness of the vocations and charisms present in the communities. The perspective is that of authentic «pastoral diaconies”, where priests, deacons, consecrated women and lay people work together in true “team work” at the service of evangelization.
Review the structures for a more missionary Church
The guidelines also address the issue of ecclesial structures. After the Synodal Path, the bishops observe, the time has come to verify whether the existing bodies are still adequate to express the missionary nature of the Church. Among the hypotheses put forward is that of integrating the Episcopal commissions with non-bishop members, possibly transforming them into «Ecclesiastical Commissions». Similar reflections concern dioceses, parishes and participation bodies. It’s not about erasing the past or inventing new structures on principle but about identify more effective ways to announce the Gospel in the current context.
A Church that looks forward
To accompany this process, the CEI is committed to establishing a Ecclesial participation body at national level who will have the task of periodically checking the progress made. It is the concrete sign of the desire not to consider the Synod as a concluded event but as the start of a transformation that concerns the very way of being the Church. The challenge is demanding. But the document reminds us that the starting point is not a pastoral strategy nor an organizational reform. It is Christ himself, in whom the Christian community is called to remain «rooted and built». Only from here can a credible presence be born in a society that has stopped considering the Gospel an obvious reference but which continues to need – sometimes even unconsciously – its word of hope.
