Survey: Catholics aware of church’s social teaching but hear little on it in parishes, dioceses

(OSV News) – Catholic social teaching has widely been described as “the church’s best kept secret.” A recent report indicates that may still be the case, and that efforts to spread it may be thwarted by a reduction in diocesan positions dedicated to social action.

A report from the Loyola Institute for Ministry at Loyola University New Orleans titled “Advancing the Social Mission of the Catholic Church” indicates that while most of the people polled are familiar with Catholic social teaching, they have encountered little information about it from their parishes, dioceses or among fellow U.S. Catholics.

Catholic Charities staff and volunteers in the Archdiocese of Washington distribute boxes of nutritious grocery items to families in need in the parking lot of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception May 19, 2020. Among its seven themes, Catholic social teaching emphasizes an option for the poor and vulnerable, calling Catholics to “imitate Christ’s love for the poor by working to create a society where the needs of the poor are always considered first.” (OSV News photo/CNS file, Tyler Orsburn)

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops describes Catholic social teaching as the church’s “wisdom about building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society,” and organizes it into seven main themes: life and dignity of the human person; call to family, community and participation; rights and responsibilities; option for the poor and vulnerable; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; solidarity; and care for God’s creation.

In the spring of 2020, the Washington-based Catholic Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors received a grant from the USCCB’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The Roundtable collaborates with the USCCB Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, and partners with Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Relief Services.

The USCCB funding enabled the Roundtable to research two primary areas of concern: “the perceived diminishment of diocesan staff positions around the U.S. whose primary responsibility was the promotion of Catholic social teaching and social action” and “the level of understanding and awareness of Catholic social teaching among the clergy, religious and laity in the U.S. Catholic Church.”

The Roundtable commissioned the Loyola Institute for Ministry to conduct research via two surveys. The first, in 2021, surveyed Roundtable members, attendees at its Social Action Summer Institute, diocesan parish social ministry employees, and others identified by the Roundtable and CCHD, and also included 19 additional interviews.

Results from 311 survey respondents indicated around 90% of those polled said they are familiar with Catholic social teaching. But when asked whether they perceived other Catholics to be familiar with this teaching, respondents placed that knowledge at slightly over 20% for Catholics in their parish, a bit less than 20% for Catholics in their diocese and less than 10% for Catholics nationally.

Slightly less than half of respondents to the first survey said their diocese is committed to promoting action on behalf of Catholic social teaching’s themes. About 45% reported observing a reduction in local social action offices.

“It’s really a confirmation of what’s been pretty palpable for most of us in this kind of ministry across the country — and that is, we know anecdotally that many of our peers are losing their roles,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, Roundtable board chairman.

“Either the offices are being shut down by the diocese, or there’s attrition: They (social action directors) will resign and retire, and then that role will not be refilled,” Fitzpatrick said. “Or, an office will be merged with something else.”

While that means fewer members in the Roundtable’s association, he said, “the larger picture for the Catholic Church is how do we offer this kind of support for Catholic social teaching in our parishes, our dioceses, and our schools if people who are steeped in it and have a background in education are not available widely throughout the country?”

The bishops appear to be aware of reduction in social action ministry, he said, “but, for whatever reason, they don’t seem mobilized to address this issue.”

The second survey was conducted in 2022 among laypeople, deacons, priests, vowed religious men and women, and seminarians in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. That archdiocese was selected because of its vocational diversity, according to the report’s author, Thomas Ryan, professor of theology and ministry at Loyola University’s Institute for Ministry.

That survey received 812 responses. “One of the things that really stuck out to me is the majority of respondents in every category said they were familiar with Catholic social teaching,” Ryan said.

At the cumulative archdiocesan level, more than 70% of respondents said they are familiar with Catholic social teaching, feel it influences their faith and that it affects how they live. However, the extent to which this teaching is fully understood is an open question.

“I kind of doubt that everybody who responded to the survey knows the technical history and terminology of Catholic social teaching,” Ryan said. “But I think what this at least reflects is that people know that their faith has social implications, and that those social implications affect their faith and how they live. … I was surprised that overall, there was such a strong familiarity.”

That familiarity, however, was not gained from Sunday homilies. When asked, “Is Catholic social teaching a regular feature of the Masses I attend?” the majority of respondents said no, Ryan said. The response was the same when asked if Catholic social teaching was a regular feature of parish life beyond Mass.

“Some of the conclusions I would draw from that is people are interested in the social implications of their faith and know about that, but are interested in learning more,” Ryan said. “There’s opportunity for growth in the Masses that people attend, and in parish life in general.”

With little parish emphasis on the church’s social doctrine, the applications of this teaching are at risk of being purely theoretical, he said.

“Catholic social teaching can’t just be for a certain group of people, or it can’t just be confined to an intellectual endeavor,” Ryan said. “People recognize it’s not purveyed in Masses, it’s not woven through parish life. It really needs to be an integral part of the practice of our faith — our sacramental life, our faith formation life, our communal life.”

Of the seven themes of Catholic social teaching, or CST, life and dignity of the human person was the area where respondents in the New Orleans Archdiocese devoted their most time and effort, while respondents to the first survey devoted most of their time and effort to preferential treatment of the poor.

Both surveys also identified the dignity of work and rights of workers as the theme of this teaching that is most overlooked in the church today.

The executive summary of the report, which was released in June, includes a photograph of a sign from St. Patrick Parish in Scottsdale, Arizona, that reads: “The Mass Must be Lived, Go Forth to Love and Serve the Lord.” The report’s recommendations pointed to this image, stating, “CST is integral to Christian faith, worship, and parish life. Without it, each of these is diminished. CST should be woven into all aspects of parish life and worship.”

Other recommendations included: “The Church should be attentive to CST themes that tend to be neglected and the challenges they pose personally, ecclesially, and socially,” and “the faithful should recognize how political language (left-right, conservative-liberal) can trigger in the Church the kind of partisan divisions that exist in the political arena. They should find less politically charged, more theologically informed language and employ generous and effective listening skills in discussions of CST.”

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans told OSV News he is pleased the report is raising awareness of Catholic social teaching in his archdiocese and elsewhere, and said he is grateful to the contributing organizations “for helping to keep Catholic social teaching in the forefront of our minds and hearts in the life of our church.”

Ryan said the survey results are intended to provide encouragement.

“I’d like to see this report as an invitation — not as a hammer or a club to say, ‘You’re not doing this right,'” he said. “How might this report help all of us on our journey? The life of faith is a pilgrimage. This report doesn’t have all the answers, but it’s an invitation to continue that journey towards, by grace, sharing God’s very life.”

Catholic social teaching can “contribute to the work of forming all the faithful as missionary disciples — people sent out into the world to announce the Gospel,” he said.

Ryan also thinks stronger emphasis on the church’s social teaching might draw nonpracticing Catholic youth and young adults back to the church and help them evangelize others.

“We have this gift to share with the world,” Ryan said. “It’s integral, and without it in some ways, our faith is diminished.”

(OSV News) – Amid wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, this year’s World Mission Sunday is “even more important” than ever, said an executive from the U.S. offices of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

The universal Catholic Church marked the observance Oct. 22, and the collection taken up that day forms the primary financial support for the societies, which have a presence in some 1,100 dioceses in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Pacific Islands and parts of Europe.

Lay missionary Josseline Montes Jiménez, right, teaches religious acclamations to members of Los Monckis, a street gang, during a May 18, 2023, visit to their hangout in Monterrey, Mexico. (OSV News photo/Nuri Vallbona, Global Sisters Report)

Pope Francis’ theme for the 2023 World Mission Sunday was “Hearts on fire, feet on the move,” which recalls the encounter between two disciples and the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35).

In an Oct. 18 message he recorded for the Pontifical Mission Societies and posted by the societies on X (formerly Twitter), Pope Francis said that World Mission Sunday was about “worship and mission.”

Speaking in Spanish, Pope Francis urged the faithful to “recognize the Father and worship him in spirit and truth, and go out to announce that message. Not as one who proselytizes, but as one who shares a great grace.”

He described it as a mission “shared with brothers,” that says “this is what I feel, this is the grace I received, I pass it on to you, I give it to you.

“You can do this if you are capable of worshipping,” said Pope Francis.

With “the ongoing situation in the world,” World Mission Sunday “should actually open us to be even more generous,” Ines San Martin, vice president of marketing and communications for the societies’ U.S. office, told OSV News from Rome ahead of the observance. “Now more than ever, the church in the Holy Land needs us, the church in Ukraine needs us.”

“The oldest church has to help the youngest church currently suffering so much due to the devastation of war. We at TPMS strive to model peace by supporting all those suffering from conflicts around the world,” Msgr. Kieran Harrington, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, said.

The societies’ worldwide network, which operates at the service of the pope, consists of four organizations designated as pontifical by Pope Pius XI in 1922.

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith supports the evangelization efforts of the local church; the Missionary Childhood Association educates children about their part in the church’s missionary outreach; the Society of St. Peter the Apostle trains the next generation of missionary clergy and consecrated religious; and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious focuses on forming clergy, religious and pastoral leaders more deeply in their role as evangelizers.

The collection taken up on World Mission Sunday forms the primary financial support for the Pontifical Mission Societies, with U.S. Catholics donating about $30 million in 2022.

The generosity of the nation’s Catholic faithful “cannot be underscored (enough),” said San Martin.

“World Mission Sunday is a concrete response to what is happening in the world,” she said.

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the U.S., noted in a reflection for the autumn 2023 issue of Mission magazine, published by the societies, that the collection makes it possible “to provide annual subsidies to missionary dioceses, and to directly support mission seminaries and religious formation houses, the education of children in mission schools, the building of chapels and churches, as well as sustaining homes for orphaned children, the elderly and the sick.”

The support is far more than financial, said San Martin.

“When we say that (the societies) feed the poor, we do mean hunger, but we also mean the hunger of the soul,” said San Martin. “And World Mission Sunday is a great response to give peace — not just material peace, but also spiritual peace to those in need.”

Having a missionary spirit “means we truly are open to our brothers and sisters, and (we are) sharing with others the joy that comes from having met Christ,” she said.

That joy can help to build peace among communities and nations, San Martin said.

“Do you really hate your brother when you see Christ in him?” she said.

Yet “the problem is that we have in many ways given up our missionary animations,” San Martin admitted. “It should be a desperate need (for us) to go out and spread the Gospel, to really answer the great command (of Christ) to make disciples of all nations.”

World Mission Sunday is an opportunity for Catholics to recommit themselves to fulfilling that task, she said, adding “it truly does start with knowing that Jesus died for us to save us.”

SCRANTON – Young adults of the Diocese of Scranton will kick off National Vocation Awareness Week at the eighth annual Leave a Mark Mass on Nov. 5, 2023.

The Mass, which will be celebrated at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton at 5:00 p.m., is an opportunity for young Catholics to worship together, enjoy delicious food from local food trucks, play some intense rounds of cornhole or card games, and meet new friends!

The name of the Mass comes from Pope Francis’ address at World Youth Day in Poland in 2016. He said, “Dear young people, we didn’t come into this world to ‘vegetate,’ to take it easy, to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on. No, we came for another reason: to leave a mark.”

Leave a Mark provides young adults in the Diocese with the opportunity to think about the vocation God is calling them to and to create friendships with others who are doing the same. Together, these young adults can offer their gifts and talents for the Church and discover how they can leave their unique mark on the world.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will be the principal celebrant and Father Alex Roche, Director of Vocations and Seminarians and Pastor at St. Maria Goretti Parish in Laflin, will be the homilist.

Please plan to join us at the Leave a Mark Mass and social and discover how the Lord may be calling you to leave your mark in your homes, in your parishes, and in the world.

SCRANTON – A Pontifical Mass in celebration of World Mission Sunday will be celebrated at the Cathedral of Saint Peter at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will be the principal celebrant. Deacon Edward Kelly, Interim Diocesan Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, will be the homilist.

All people of goodwill are invited to attend the Mass.

CTV: Catholic Television will provide a live broadcast the Mass. The Mass will also be livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and across all Diocesan social media platforms.

This global Eucharistic celebration for the Church’s missions is an opportunity to remind our parishioners of their own call to be missionary disciples. We assist the Holy Father to exercise his Petrine obligation to support the Church in the missions by praying for our missionaries and financially supporting their ministry.

World Mission Sunday, organized by the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, is the only canonically mandated collection in the Church. This year, the spirit of Pope Francis’ theme, “Hearts on fire, feet on the move,” resonates with us as we are reminded of the energetic and unwavering faith that fuels our shared mission.

For the past 201 years, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith has extended its arms to support growing churches globally, reaching more than 1,100 mission dioceses across Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, Latin America, and parts of Europe.

This assistance bolsters the proclamation of the Gospel, the building of the Church, and service to the poor. Let us echo this spirit in our parishes, inspiring our congregations to contribute both prayer and sacrifice to this cause on World Mission Sunday.

As new Cardinal Christophe Pierre wrote to the bishops in the United States last year, our support to World Mission Sunday “makes possible the proclamation of the Gospel, the celebration of the Sacraments, and service to the poor in mission dioceses. For the first decades of its life, the fledgling Church in the United States received essential support from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and the Catholics of this country have returned that generosity in abundance.”

Your role in echoing this call is paramount. Your voices collectively carry great influence and can be the spark that inspires the “hearts on fire, feet on the move” spirit that Pope Francis calls us to embody.

ATHENS – Thirty-five years after her first medical mission trip to Africa, a Bradford County woman will be recognized as the ‘Catholic Doctor of the Year’ later this month by the Mission Doctors Association.

Dr. Cathy Schanzer, MD, FACS, will be presented with the ‘World of Difference Award’ on Oct. 22, 2023, at the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s Annual Mass for Healthcare Professionals at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

“I’m very proud of the award but I didn’t do this by myself,” Dr. Schanzer said.

Dr. Schanzer was first inspired to follow a call to missionary service in the third grade when she heard a Maryknoll priest speak about his mission work in Africa.

“I was just enamored with the work that he was doing for all these poor people that were living in underdeveloped countries and I decided as a kid it was something that needed to be a part of my life,” the Bradford County doctor said.

After attending the University of Texas Medical School and completing her Ophthalmology residency at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Schanzer married her husband, Tom, who became her partner in mission work.

“After I finished residency, I still felt God calling me to do mission work,” she said.
In 1988, the couple went on their first medical mission trip to a Catholic Mission Hospital in Abak, Nigeria.

“Neither of us knew exactly what we were doing,” Dr. Schanzer admitted.

“I remember them having all these paper signs attached to trees all over the area saying the American eye doctor is coming. That is how they got the word out,” Tom added.

Spending two weeks in the Nigerian village, Dr. Schanzer did approximately 75 surgeries and saw 200 patients.

“All of them had these rock-hard cataracts,” she remembered.

During her most recent trip this summer to Sierra Leone, Dr. Schanzer was accompanied by Elizabeth and Leah Reid of Athens, PA. “Lizzie” and Leah spent most of their missionary time teaching grade school children in the schools of Serabu, a remote village in Southeastern Sierra Leone. Dr. Schanzer, Tom and the Reid sisters are parishioners of Epiphany Catholic Church in Sayre, PA.

The couple continued with annual mission trips to other African countries including Zimbabwe and Mozambique with the Volunteers in Mission program until the early 2000s. In 2006, Dr. Schanzer and her husband were asked by Archbishop Joseph Ganda, first native priest and bishop of Sierra Leone, to establish the Southern Eye Clinic in the village of Serabu.

The challenges were immense.

“The village had no water and no power. Obviously, since then we’ve dug nine water wells and used several generators,” Cathy explained.

In addition to establishing nine water wells, Cathy and Tom also support numerous community development projects including a computer center, sports activities, food and feeding programs, and educational scholarships and stipends.

“The invitation was kind of like when we adopted our seven children,” Tom said. “The conversations were fairly short. We said, God is calling us to do this, he’ll see us through this.”

Because Sierra Leone is a very male-dominated country, it took a long time for Dr. Schanzer to receive respect.

“The chiefs weren’t interested in talking to me about building the eye clinic. They would only talk to Tom,” she said. “They would watch me do the surgeries, turn to Tom, and say, ‘Oh Tom, you bring very fine woman with you.’”

Regardless of the challenges, the work has been extremely rewarding.

“It is very life giving. Tom and I both come back from our trips physically exhausted but spiritually uplifted. We feel God’s presence in everything that we’re doing, whether it’s me in the operating room or Tom helping to organize something in the village. We truly know that this is something that God has called us to and guides my hands and guides Tom in doing things in the village,” Dr. Schanzer said.

Volunteer mission teams have traveled with Cathy and Tom during the months of January and June each year. This past January they had their busiest trip ever, as five surgeons and one medical student conducted a total of 476 eye surgeries, including on 21 children.

During the rest of the year, 64 employees keep the primary clinic and 10 satellite clinics in nearby villages running.

The clinic is one hundred percent charity to all patients for examinations, treatments, medicines, glasses, and surgeries. Patients come to the clinic from seven West African nations.

When they are not serving the village of Serabu, Dr. Schanzer and her husband are active in the Epiphany Parish community, serving on the Pastoral Council, Spiritual Development Committee, and RCIA faculty. The couple are also lectors, Eucharistic Ministers and attend daily Mass.

Earlier this year, Dr. Schanzer was diagnosed with Glioblastoma (brain cancer), a diagnosis that is often terminal in less than two years. Dr. Schanzer had surgery to remove the primary tumor, followed by radiation therapy and continues with chemotherapy. Cathy and Tom feel grateful for their deep faith and the strong worldwide support of family and friends.

“Cathy’s future is unknown, of course, but we’ve developed a strong relationship with ophthalmologists, so our future mission trips are already staffed. Cathy will be able to come and go as her health allows. She can go without pressure,” Tom explained.

The mission program started by Dr. Schanzer and her husband, Southern Eye Institute, is funded by private donations and every dollar received is used to assist the needy people in Sierra Leone. For more information, visit TheGiftsofSerabu.com or SouthernEyeInstitute.net or donate to Southern Eye Institute, P.O. Box 771317, Memphis, TN 38177.

PITTSTON –– Our Lady of the Eucharist Parish will host its 66th Annual Novena to Saint Jude, patron saint of hopeless cases and things despaired of, at Saint Mary, Help of Christians Church, 535 North Main St., Pittston, beginning Thursday, Oct. 19, and concluding on the Feast of Saint Jude, Saturday, Oct. 28.

Mass, homily, Novena prayers and veneration of the relic of Saint Jude will be held Monday through Friday at noon & 7 p.m. Saturday devotions are offered at noon & 4 p.m., and the Sunday Novena is held at 11 a.m. & 5 p.m.

Recitation of the Rosary and Sacramental confessions (except Sunday) precede all Novena devotions.

Scheduled Novena celebrants/ homilists are as follows:

Thursday, Oct. 19, noon, Monsignor John Jordan, and 7 p.m., Father Louis Grippe;

Friday, Oct. 20, noon & 7 p.m., Father Joseph Verespy.

Saturday, Oct. 21, noon & 4 p.m., Father Kenneth Seegar; Sunday, Oct. 22, 11 a.m. & 5 p.m., Father Seegar.

Monday, Oct. 23, noon & 7 p.m., Saint Joseph Oblate Father Paul McDonnell

Tuesday, Oct. 24, noon, & 7 p.m., Father Sam Ferretti; Wednesday, Oct. 25, noon, Father Seth Wasnock, and 7 p.m., Father Alex Roche.

Thursday, Oct. 26, noon & 7 p.m., Monsignor Dale Rupert; Friday, Oct. 27, noon & 7 p.m., Father Michael Bryant.

On the Feast of Saint Jude, Saturday, Oct. 28, Father Seegar will celebrate both the noon liturgy and the Novena’s closing Mass at 4 p.m.

Novena prayer cards are provided. For more information, contact the parish office at (570) 654-0263.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Warning against a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and ongoing conflicts elsewhere, Pope Francis has called for a day of fasting, penance and prayer for peace in the world Oct. 27.

“War does not solve any problems, it only sows death and destruction. It increases hatred, multiplies revenge. War erases the future,” he said at the end of his general audience talk in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 18.

Pope Francis prays during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Oct. 18, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

“Our thoughts go to Palestine and Israel,” he said to applause.

“Casualties are rising and the situation in Gaza is desperate,” he said. “Please, may everything possible be done to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.”

What is also “disturbing,” he said, is the possibility the conflict will spread just as so many other battles of war are being waged in the world.

“Please,” he said, “let us continue to pray for peace in the world, especially in tormented Ukraine,” a tragedy that is no longer talked about but continues.

“Silence the weapons. Listen to the cry of the poor, the people, the children, for peace,” the pope said.

He urged all people of faith to take “just one side in this conflict: that of peace. But not with words, with prayer, with total dedication.”

For this reason, he said, he has decided to call for a day of fasting, prayer and penance Oct. 27.

The pope invited men and women of every Christian denomination and other religions as well as those committed to the cause of peace to participate in any way they feel is appropriate.

There will be an hour of prayer starting at 6 p.m. Rome time in St. Peter’s “imploring for peace in the world,” he said, and local churches are invited to organize similar initiatives.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis will celebrate a memorial Mass Nov. 3 for Pope Benedict XVI and cardinals and bishops who have died in the past year.

The Mass will take place at the main altar in St. Peter’s Basilica at 11 a.m., the Vatican announced.

Pope Francis touches the casket of Pope Benedict XVI at the conclusion of his funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Jan. 5, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope Benedict died Dec. 31 at the age of 95.

The previous day, the Nov. 2 feast of All Souls, the pope will celebrate Mass at the Rome War Cemetery, the burial place of members of the military forces of the Commonwealth who died during and immediately after World War II. The 426 men buried there died between November 1942 and February 1947. They came from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa.

While Pope Francis often goes to a cemetery to pray for the faithful departed with their family members on the feast of All Souls, he also marked the feast day at the French Military Cemetery in Rome in 2021 and at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy, in 2017.

Also on the pope’s liturgical calendar for November is his celebration of Mass for the World Day of the Poor. He will preside over the liturgy Nov. 19 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As the Catholic Church learns to be more “synodal,” to listen to all its members, value their gifts and seek together the Holy Spirit’s guidance, Catholics will need to be patient in awaiting responses to their questions and concerns, said several synod members.

After close to two weeks of discussion — including on issues such as synodality itself, the role of women in the church, welcome for LGBTQ Catholics, better education and formation of Catholics and more collaborative relationships between priests and laypeople — “there is a sense that things are tightening up, emerging, but through that process of hopeful patience,” said Renee Kohler-Ryan, a synod member from Australia.

Jesuit Father Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, dean of the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University in California, speaks during a briefing about the assembly of the Synod of Bishops as Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero of Rabat, Morocco, listen at the Vatican Oct. 17, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

“It is going to take time, but it has to in order to give all of those issues the seriousness that they deserve,” she said Oct. 17 at the press briefing for the assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

“Are these issues being discussed in the synodal hall seriously and passionately? I testify, yes,” said Jesuit Father Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, dean of the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University in California.

“It is important to remember that the synod is a consultative body; it doesn’t make decisions,” he said. But “the process is important,” and if synod members and the church at large do not focus on “niche issues” at this point, but on forming a synodal church, “it becomes possible for us to address these issues in a way that is constructive and not confrontational.”

Especially as a theologian, he said, he sees this as a “privileged moment” in the life of the church, “an experience of a process of the church making and remaking itself in a way that is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“I remain convinced that the process is probably going to be more important than the outcome,” the Jesuit said.

The synodal process can help the church experience “a new way of being where people, no matter who they are, no matter their status, station or situation in the church, are able to be part of a process where they are not only heard, but they also are able to contribute to the process of discernment.”

Kohler-Ryan insisted that the synod discussions, including about women, are much broader than the media would have people believe. With members from around the globe, including lay women and men – some of whom are mothers and fathers – participating as members for the first time, the discussion about women is not focused on the possibility of women deacons, but on a myriad of issues related to their lives in the church and the world, including supporting their families and educating their children in the faith.

Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication and head of the synod’s information committee, told reporters some of the topics discussed in the synod hall late Oct. 16 included “overcoming clerical models” that prevent cooperation and shared responsibility, the importance of inclusive language, the example of Jesus including women among his followers, the relationship between leadership and service, and the possibility of allowing women to preach at Mass given that women were the first to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection to the apostles.

Sheila Leocádia Pires, secretary of the commission, said much of the focus Oct. 17 was on the ministry and role of bishops, their role in promoting ecumenical and interreligious relations, a suggestion that more people be consulted in the appointment of bishops, the importance of bishops listening to victims of clerical sexual abuse and the need for Catholics to pray for their bishops.

Bishop Anthony Randazzo of Broken Bay, Australia, told reporters, “One of the geniuses of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, is that this (synodality) is not something that is born in a vacuum.”

“He has reflected very deeply and sincerely upon the human reality of the community of people around the world, and how we experience life together on this planet, but also how we as Catholic Christians live our faith and how we proclaim the Gospel in every single moment of our day, regularly by what we say but always by who we are as a community of Christ’s faithful and disciples of the Lord.

Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero of Rabat, Morocco, told reporters, “I’m enthusiastic for synodality” and for learning to live that way on a local level as well as on the level of the universal church. “Even if the synod were interrupted tomorrow, it would be worth it,” he said.

Synodality, he said, must become the “concrete modus operandi” of the church, but it is important to remember that the current synodal process, which began in October 2021, is set to go through October 2024 when the second assembly gathers in Rome.

In the meantime, he said, people must have “patience and hope.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Catholic Church’s highest ranking prelate in the Holy Land offered his “absolute availability” to be exchanged for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, told reporters during an online meeting Oct. 16 that he is willing to do “anything” to “bring to freedom and bring home the children” taken into Gaza during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which more than 1,300 Israelis were killed. The Israeli military said Oct. 16 that some 200 people, including children and elderly persons, are being held hostage.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, poses for a photo while speaking to reporters at the Vatican Sept. 28, 2023. (CNS photo/Carol Glatz)

Returning the hostages held in Gaza is “absolutely necessary” to stopping the ongoing violence between Israel and Hamas, the cardinal said. He expressed the Vatican’s willingness to assist in de-escalation and mediation efforts but said they had not been able to speak with Hamas.

Cardinal Pizzaballa said some 1,000 Christians in Gaza are currently sheltering in church-affiliated buildings because “they don’t know where to go and moving is dangerous.”

While Christians concentrated in northern Gaza were told to leave the area by the Israeli military, “practically all have chosen to stay there because it is safer for them to stay, since the situation is even more delicate elsewhere.” The cardinal said none of the Christians sheltering in Gaza have been killed, though some have suffered light wounds.

“Moving is dangerous because many die in transfers,” and “possible places of refuge are already overflowing; there is no place to go,” he said.

The cardinal said that some 500 Christians are sheltering at a Latin-rite church, some 400 are in a Greek Orthodox church and approximately 300 are at a YMCA. “Supplies are beginning to run short,” he said. “We try, through our contacts, to make as many physical supplies as possible reach (them), provisions such as medicine, water, even generators.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa said the Catholic Church, in coordination with humanitarian agencies, is “trying to insist” that a humanitarian corridor can be opened into Gaza to allow basic necessities to be brought in.

After praying the Angelus Oct. 15, Pope Francis publicly called for humanitarian law to be respected “especially in Gaza, where it is urgent and necessary to ensure humanitarian corridors and to come to the aid of the entire population.”