(Vatican Radio) Philippa Hitchen of Vatican Radio is spending time inside XIII Ordinary
Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the New Evangelization, providing special reporting
and in-depth interviews with participants. She is also sharing her impressions of
the sessions as they unfold, in short essays after the manner of blog posts. Below
is Philippa's first "log entry".
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As
I hurried up to the synod hall on the opening morning, I was somewhat surprised to
see workmen busy putting up scafolding in front of St Peter’s Basilica – I assume
in preparation for the big Mass marking half a century since the opening of the Second
Vatican Council. The Council, of course, which marked such a turning point in the
modern history of the Catholic Church: its liturgy, its language, its engagement with
peoples of all faiths and none. The Council also looms large over this synod,
with its emphasis on how to recapture the energy and enthusiasm that the Church felt
under the enlightened leadership of Pope John XXIII. A Church that was encouraged
to open the windows wide, to find new ways of bringing justice and peace to a world
on the brink of war, to act like “a loving mother to all mankind, gentle, patient
and full of tenderness for her separated children.” (That speech from the opening
of the Council really is well worth reading again if you haven’t done so recently). So
what will these synod fathers and experts, gathered for the next three weeks inside
the Vatican, come up with to meet the challenges of the 21st century? It’s
the largest encounter of its kind, since Pope Paul VI started the practise of calling
bishops from across the world to debate some of the most pressing issues of the day.
262 church leaders, plus almost a hundred other experts, men and women, religious
and lay, as well as a handful of special guests and delegates from other Christian
churches. For the first time ever, they include a woman bishop, from Texas Sarah Davis,
representing the World Methodist Council. An African American, known for her hands-on
approach to empowerment of the poor through education, she cuts an elegant figure
with her cropped hair, discreet make-up and clerical collar. What on earth, I wondered
during the opening session, did she make of all these lengthy speeches in Latin with
endless references to the Instrumentum Laboris or working document that the Catholic
bishops have been preparing for the past couple of years? At the coffee break, I caught
up with her to find out and was slightly taken aback by her enthusiastic response.
“I am so struck, she said, by the similar challenges that we face within the Methodist
family and I simply can’t wait to hear more ideas about how the Catholic Church is
hoping to tackle this.” I look forward too to hearing her address to the synod
on October 16th - a far cry from the opening session of Vatican II, when
not a single woman was invited to share her views on such an historic event in the
life of the Church.