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October 24th: Some Synod Groups Discuss Women in Lectionary
A side story when a synod comes to town is the plethora of receptions and other activities outside the synod meetings themselves. Happily, I was invited to two such gatherings. At one, I was introduced to a bishop delegate who has a reputation for being sympathetic to progressive issues in the Church. As he had not previously received our resources, I spent some time explaining our Women and the Word initiative.
He gave me the very welcome news that he has heard discussions in more than one small group about the need to revise the lectionary and give attention to restoring women’s stories. Of course, synod fathers have named other reasons for revising the lectionary, including better correspondence between readings from the Old and New Testaments. My bishop friend said everything will depend on if the synod votes to submit a proposition recommending revision of the lectionary or not. Such a proposition is iffy, owing to cost considerations, but not impossible. He suggested we pray very hard. A proposition can make the final cut only if it comes from every language group and if it has received a majority from all the small groups from which it originated.
I came away grateful to the Holy Spirit that the bishops were at least discussing women in the lectionary, since I had been warned that this would be unlikely. That we were able to put this important issue on their collective screens is quite an accomplishment and bodes well for future endeavors.
My bishop acquaintance was clearly touched by the historic event the synod represents. He said it shows that Vatican II teaching on Dei Verbum (the document on the bible) has been accepted and received by the universal church. It can be hard to remember, nearly 50 years later, that there was a time when Catholics were forbidden to read the bible.
But now synod interventions show bishops in complete agreement about the centrality of Scripture in the life of the church. Of course, he said, Scripture has always been there in the Mass and in the breviary, but it has not in the past been recognized as a critical source of nourishment and communication with God for all the People of God. Now we see synod fathers enthusiastically supporting bible translations into every language and making sure every Catholic has one in their home. Some have even commented that if the Roman Church had had this attitude in the 16th century, perhaps we could have avoided the reformation altogether.
This leads me to Cardinal Kasper’s intervention just published two days ago. It is well worth quoting in full:
Despite all the sad divisions in the history of the Church, the Word of God witnessed above all in the Holy Scripture has remained the common inheritance even today; nothing else unites the Christian churches and communities like the Bible does. It is truly the ecumenical bond par excellence. Therefore, the Bible is the basis of ecumenical dialogue and the main instrument of ecumenical dialogue from the doctrinal as well as the spiritual and pastoral aspects. The common Lectio divina is therefore the privileged ecumenical method. This dialogue has been very fruitful in the last decades. As Christians we cannot only look at the abuses. First, wemust be thankful for all that the Spirit of God has done to bring Christians closer together, which is not a small thing. We are thankful and encourage the ecumenical work, which according to Vatican Council II is an impulse of the Spirit and - as we hope - the building site of the future Church. H. Em.R. Card. Walter KASPER, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity (VATICAN CITY)
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