The Wise and the Wherefores

Much of the media focus on the synod has been on western churches with the underlining question centred on how the process can reverse declining congregations and respond to the abuse crisis.

But what does it all mean for Africa, a part of the Catholic world where churches are overflowing and vocations booming? Is the synod having any impact?

In this episode, I put these questions to two leading Catholic figures: Fr Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, the President of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar, and Dominique Yon, a youth ministry co-ordinator in the Cape Town archdiocese and a Vatican adviser.

Both of them make a strong case for why a synodal Church is needed in Africa, how it can help implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and include marginalised voices such as those from the LGBTQ community. I also hear about how synodality gives the tools for the Church to become a peacemaker in a continent often scarred by civil war and conflict.

Prepare to be surprised by their answers.

Producers: Silvia Sacco, Jamie Weston

Christopher Lamb, the Tablet’s Rome Correspondent, updates us on current events in Rome together with giving us some insights into working as the Rome Correspondent for The Tablet and covering the pontificate of Pope Francis.

A panel discussion in conjunction with The University of Notre Dame in Australia, on Christ-Centred Leadership Frameworks in Catholic Education led by Maggie Fergusson, the Literary Editor of The Tablet.

Maggie’s distinguished guests were: Renee Kohler-Ryan, National Head of the School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia; Jenny Sinclair, the founder director of Together for the Common Good; Paul Stubbings, a Catholic Head Teacher of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in West London and Raymond Friel, CEO, Caritas Social Action Network.

Synod Watch Two explores Synod wisdom from the Religious, gaining an insight into the Religious Orders’ response to the Synod and their experience of discernment. Christopher Lamb and a panel of representatives from the Religious Orders discuss the synodal journey in this webinar with The Tablet. Details of past and future events are here.

Webinar host Christopher Lamb is a British journalist who is the Rome Correspondent for The Tablet. He is a contributor to the Vatican Insider page of La Stampa and a regular commentator for the BBC on Vatican and religious affairs.

Guests

Fr Nick Austin SJ is the Master of Campion Hall, Oxford and Senior Fellow in Theological Ethics. A Jesuit priest and spiritual director who teaches moral theology. His current research area is in moral discernment as understood by St Ignatius and brought to prominence by Pope Francis.

Sr Jolanda Kafka RMI is Superior General of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate – Claretian Missionaries, and the current President of the International Union of Superiors General.

Dr Sr Gemma Simmonds CJ belongs to the Congregation of Jesus and is Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Religious Life Institute at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology in Cambridge. Sr Gemma was previously Senior Lecturer in Pastoral Theology at Heythrop College (2005-18) and President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain.

Sr Jane Bertelsen FMDM is Congregational Leader of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, an international Congregation present in 10 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. Sr Jane has been a member of the congregation, whose primary ministry is one of presence within the local community wherever they are sent, since 1977.

Sr Lynda Dearlove RSM was born in Middlesbrough and educated by the FCJs before reading Microbiology at Kent University, followed by a second degree in Social Policy Administration at Lancaster University. She joined the Institute of Our Lady of Mercy and took her final vows in 1989. She has always been dedicated to serving women involved in street based prostitution and victims of trafficking, managing the Dellow Day Centre in East London before founding women@thewell in 2006.

Natalie K. Watson, Publishing Editor of the Pastoral Review, in conversation with Seán McDonagh, eco-theologian and author of Robots, Ethics and the Future of Jobs, about the ethical and theological implications of Artificial Intelligence. 

Seán McDonagh SSC is an Irish Columban missionary priest. As well as theology he has studied Anthropology and Linguistics. During his time as a missionary among the T'boli people in S.E. Mindanao, Philippines, he became aware of the enormous destruction of the environment which was taking place and has continued to challenge behaviour which destroys the Earth and impoverishes People.

This episode of The Church's Radical Reform is an interview with Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras and a member of Pope Francis’ council of cardinal advisers.

The Church in Latin and Central America has been at the forefront of reform in Catholicism. Cardinal Maradiaga tells Christopher Lamb how the synodal process is something “totally new”.

He discusses how synodal reforms are being implemented, while also talking about Pope Francis’ plans to reform the Vatican. A keen saxophonist and musician, he says the Church must aim to create a symphony out of a cacophony of different voices.

He sees the future of the Church as lay people taking a lead. Every day more lay men and women are taking on responsibilities in the life of the Church, he says.

Regarding the role of women, he said: “In our countries in central American, women have been all the time leaders.” In many communities, women form the majority churchgoers and responsible for catechesis and passing on the faith. Clergy are “servants” and not people of power. In the Curia, highly-qualified women were now being placed in positions of leadership by Pope Francis.

The Catholic Church has embarked on a two-year synodal pathway towards the Synod of Bishops on synodality in 2023. Women’s submissions to the synodal process must be made “as public as possible” in order to prevent any attempt to airbrush them out, theologian and broadcaster, Professor Tina Beattie said at a webinar hosted by the Tablet. The retired Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton said making submissions public would ensure that “if our voices are airbrushed out, or if the things we say that they don't like are airbrushed out, we can say this is not discernment. It is censorship”. Natalie K. Watson, Publishing Editor of the Pastoral Review, was in conversation with Tina Beattie, Penelope Middelboe, author and podcaster, Daisy Srblin, chief executive of the Catholic charity Million Minutes, and Dr Alana Harris, director of Liberal Arts and Senior Lecturer in Modern British History at King’s College, London, about synodality and the experience of women in the Catholic Church.

The synod process is opening up discussion about the role of female leadership in the Church.

In this episode, Christopher Lamb discusses what shape these roles could take, the position of women in early Christianity and why a “synodal” Church is a more inclusive one.

To find out more, he speaks to Professor Phyllis Zagano, who served on Pope Francis’ commission looking at female deacons, Nicola Brady, who has been tasked by the Irish bishops to lead their national synod and Susan Pascoe, an adviser to the Vatican and expert in church governance.

Executive Producer: Silvia Sacco

In a new podcast series on synodality, “The Church’s Radical Reform”, Christopher Lamb explores the most ambitious Catholic renewal project in 60 years which was launched last month by Pope Francis. Episode One asks "What is a Synod?" and focuses on why a global synodal process is needed, what it might achieve and the opposition it is already facing. Among those interviewed for this episode are Sister Nathalie Becquart, from the synod office in Rome, Fr Hans Zollner, the Church's leading expert child protection, and Fr Jan Nowotnik, Director of Mission for the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. The series is sponsored by the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University in partnership with The Tablet. Producers: Silvia Sacco and Jamie Weston.