Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of Synod of Bishops. / Diocese of Gozo via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Vatican City, Jul 22, 2021 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Cardinal Mario Grech said on Wednesday that synodality is not a “fad” of the pope, but rather “the form and style of the early Church.”
The Secretary General of Synod of Bishops told Vatican News on July 21 that officials were working on a preparatory document for the 2023 synod on synodality.
“I would like to clarify a misunderstanding. Many people think that synodality is a ‘fad’ of the pope. I hope none of us shares this thought,” he said.
“In the various preparatory meetings, it became clear that synodality was the form and style of the early Church.”
The Vatican announced in May that the 2023 synod would begin with a two-year consultative phase involving Catholic dioceses worldwide.
The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops is expected to release a preparatory document and vademecum, or handbook, in September.
An infographic showing the timeline for the synod on synodality. / Vatican Media.
The Maltese cardinal, who was appointed to his present role in September 2020, said that the preparatory document recalled the Second Vatican Council’s desire to “return to the sources” of Christianity.
“The preparatory document clearly highlights this; and it highlights how Vatican II, with the movement of ‘return to the sources’ — the Ressourcement — wanted to recover that model of the Church, without renouncing any of the great advances of the Church in the second millennium,” he said.
“If we want to be faithful to Tradition — and the Council should be considered as the most recent stage of Tradition — we must boldly go down this path of the synodal Church.”
A synod is a meeting of bishops gathered to discuss a topic of theological or pastoral significance, to prepare a document of advice or counsel to the pope.
The theme for the upcoming assembly is “For a synodal Church: communion, participation, and mission.”
Earlier this week, the General Secretariat named the members of three groups helping it to prepare for the 2023 gathering.
Grech told Vatican news: “We have created four commissions to support the work leading up to the synod: one for theological study, another to help us grow as a Church in the spirituality of communion, a third for methodology, and finally a fourth that will be dedicated to the aspect of communication.”
Pope Francis is expected to “inaugurate the synodal path” over the weekend of Oct. 9-10 with an opening session and a Mass. All dioceses are invited also to offer an opening Mass on Sunday, Oct. 17.
During the initial “diocesan phase,” each bishop is asked to undertake a consultation with the local Church from October 2021 to April 2022.
The Vatican will then release an instrumentum laboris (working document) in September 2022 for a period of “pre-synodal discernment in continental assemblies,” which will influence a second draft of the working document to be published before June 2023.
The process will culminate with the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in October 2023.
Asked if the synodal process required too much of local churches, Grech said: “All this is not really a process that complicates the life of the Church. Because without knowing what the Spirit is saying to the Church, we could act in a vacuum and, even without knowing it, against the Spirit.”
“Once we have rediscovered the ‘pneumatological’ dimension of the Church, we can only adopt the dynamism of prophecy-discernment, which lies at the heart of the synodal process. This is especially true when thinking about the third term at play: mission.”
The cardinal recalled that the 2018 youth synod referred to “missionary synodality.”
“Synodality is for mission, it is listening to how the Church becomes itself by living, witnessing and bringing the Gospel. All the terms proposed by the title are connected: they stand or fall together,” he said.
“Let us also ask to be deeply converted to synodality: it means converting to Christ and his Spirit, leaving the primacy to God.”
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The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition cover the altar, just dedicated by the cardinal. The covering of the altar signifies that it is both the place of the Eucharistic sacrifice and the Lord’s table. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Sep 12, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
On Aug. 31, exactly 100 years after its dedication, the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant was reopened for worship on the hill of Kiryat Yearim, nine miles from Jerusalem.
The church, which was closed for four years for restoration work, stands atop the hill overlooking the (Muslim) village of Abu Gosh. From the top, visitors can see Jerusalem.
A view from the hill of Kiryat Yearim, where the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant stands. At the foot of the hill lies the Muslim village of Abu Gosh, with Jerusalem visible in the background, a little more than nine miles away. The place, mentioned in the Bible as “Kiriath-Jearim,” held an important role in the history of the Jewish people, as it was here that the Ark of the Covenant rested for about 20 years until King David brought it to Jerusalem. Credit: Marinella Bandini
The place, mentioned in the Bible as “Kiriath-Jearim,” has held an important role in the history of the Jewish people as it was here that the Ark of the Covenant rested after being recovered from the Philistines (see 1 Samuel 6).
The ark contained the two stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments — God’s covenant with the Jewish people — were inscribed and was the sign of God’s presence among his people.
According to the Bible, it was hosted in the house of Abinadab, where it remained for about 20 years (see 1 Samuel 7:1-2) until King David brought it to Jerusalem.
For this reason, even today, the site is visited by many groups of Jews.
A Byzantine basilica was built on the top hill around the fifth century. The current church, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1920, stands on the remains of that building. It was consecrated in 1924 by the then-Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Luigi Barlassina, and dedicated to Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant.
The Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant in Kiryat Yearim (exterior). The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whom Christians also honor with the title of “Ark of the Covenant.” “The covenant of God with his people finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who is no longer just the sign of God’s presence but God himself among us. Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant because she carried Christ himself in her womb,” said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, in his homily. Credit: Marinella Bandini
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the current Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, recently came to the basilica to dedicate its new altar on the occasion of the reopening of the church.
“This reopening is a moment of trust in the future, a desire to start anew, and this is what we need most at this time, when everything around us speaks of death and endings,” he told CNA after the celebration on Aug. 31.
The opening of the doors of the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant in Kiryat Yearim on Aug. 31, 2024, for the solemn celebration with the rite of dedication of the altar, presided over by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
“Climbing this mountain, blessed by the presence of the Lord,” he added, “invites us to have a broad and farsighted perspective on events and not to close ourselves off in the dramatic present moment.”
Hosting the event were the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition, a French congregation founded in 1832 by Mother Emilie De Vialar, which owns and operates the church and surrounding property.
The complete details of how the land came to be acquired by the sisters are lost to history, but it centers on one of the order’s sisters who died in 1927. Sister Josephine Rumèbe, who is buried in the church, was reportedly endowed with special mystical gifts and managed to acquire the land on behalf of the sisters. The story goes that she had 5,000 francs at her disposal and sought the help of a clergyman for the purchase. To prevent a competing buyer from acquiring it, the cleric secured the entire hill for 20,372 francs. Miraculously, when Sister Josephine counted the gold coins hidden in her room, the amount matched exactly what she needed.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, pours the chrism oil on the new altar of the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant in Kiryat Yearim. On Aug. 31, 2024, he presided over the solemn Mass with the rite of dedication of the altar, marking the reopening of the church after four years of restoration and maintenance work. Credit: Marinella Bandini
The dedication of the new altar in the basilica took place after the recitation of the creed and chanting of the litanies. The cardinal placed relics in the altar, including that of Mother Emilie De Vialar, who was canonized a saint in 1951. This was followed by the anointing of the altar with chrism oil, the incensing of the altar, the covering of the altar, and the lighting of the altar.
The relics placed inside the new altar of the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant in Kiryat Yearim, which was dedicated by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, on Aug. 31, 2024. Among the relics are those of Mother Emilie De Vialar, founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition, the order who owns the church and surrounding property. Credit: Marinella Bandini
“The covenant of God with his people finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who is no longer just the sign of God’s presence but God himself among us. Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant because she carried Christ himself in her womb,” said the cardinal in his homily, inviting the faithful, following the example of the Virgin Mary, to renew their trust in God as the Lord of history and active within history.
Upon entering the church — whose iconographic elements were created by artists from the Ave Center of the Focolare Movement — the eye is drawn to the golden flame emanating from the center of the apse.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, celebrates the Eucharistic liturgy on the altar he dedicated in the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant in Kiryat Yearim on Aug. 31, 2024. Credit: Marinella Bandini
A special decoration that, on one hand, evokes the biblical significance of fire, symbolizing the presence of God, and on the other, is connected to the history of this place and particularly to Sister Josephine’s vision of a “mountain of fire,” holds significance here.
When she was still a young postulant in France, during Eucharistic adoration, Sister Josephine had a vision of flames forming a mountain with Jesus above them instead of the host. The vision then vanished, and only 50 years later, at the time of laying the foundation stone of the church, it was revealed to her that the “mountain of fire” was indeed Kiryat Yearim, which she used to call “the Holy Mountain.”
Sister Valentina Sala, the current provincial of the congregation for the Holy Land, immediately felt a strong connection to this place. She recounted to CNA: “The first time I came here for a few weeks, a sister took me to Kiryat Yearim. I knelt at Sister Josephine’s tomb and prayed to return if that was God’s will.”
Sister Valentina Sala, the current provincial of the congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition for the Holy Land, prays at the tomb of Sister Josephine Rumèbe, founder of the convent and the church in Kiryat Yearim. “The first time I came here for a few weeks, a sister took me to Kiryat Yearim. I knelt at Sister Josephine’s tomb and prayed to return if that was God’s will,” she recounted to CNA. Credit: Marinella Bandini
On the centenary of the church’s dedication, Sister Valentina also emphasized the significance of this place for her congregation, whose charism is to serve the needs of people through works of charity.
“What is charity work? What people need today is not just health care or education; there is a hunger and thirst for God. We must be able to recognize this need, helping those who come here to listen to his voice. We need places where people can pause and rest with God,” she said.
When the construction of the church was nearly complete, Sister Josephine had a vision of the Virgin Mary, at the top of the church, facing Jerusalem with outstretched arms in a gesture of dispensing grace. A statue now stands above the church to recall that vision, facing away from those entering and directed toward Jerusalem.
“This place, which evokes the covenant, invites us to realign ourselves with God and to be under this blessing,” Sister Valentina concluded.
This is also the meaning of the words she addressed to those present — the vast majority of local faithful from Jerusalem as well as from Galilee — at the end of the Mass.
Hundreds of local faithful from Jerusalem and Galilee attend the solemn Mass with the rite of dedication of the altar, marking the reopening of the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant in Kiryat Yearim, on Aug. 31, 2024. A hundred years ago, Sister Josephine Rumèbe of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition wrote about having seen a vision of “a crowd rushing toward the basilica. I saw priests, sisters of our order, and then men and women of the world who were even more pleasing to God than all the others, holy souls shining like stars.” Credit: Marinella Bandini
“Sister Josephine had already seen you in various visions: ‘I saw a crowd rushing toward the basilica. I saw priests, sisters of our order, and then men and women of the world who were even more pleasing to God than all the others, holy souls shining like stars.’”
She continued: “And what if we are that vision? What if we are that future? Of course, we are! From now on, you will be the ones to bring life to this hill, to this covenant between God and his people. Come, rush, stay, feel at home. There is not only a newly renovated church to see but a Presence to discover: Take the time to dwell with the Lord. What could be more beautiful… Many graces await to be dispensed from here!”
Card. Grech says: “If we want to be faithful to Tradition…” the Synodal approach is the traditional approach, so it is the way of the future. The TLM is a traditional approach, so it must cease.
Right. Got it.
Now I think I hear Peter crying “Wolf” again. Anyone else hear him??
We read: “Cardinal Mario Grech said on Wednesday that synodality is not a ‘fad’ of the pope, but rather ‘the form and style of the early Church.’”
Very uplifting to hear this, recalling now, for example, the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops convened in 1985, to reclaim after 20 years of distortion the real Council from the virtual Council, and which culminated in publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992, as further elucidated in Veritatis Splendor (1993), now long-unmentioned and seemingly a victim of the “throwaway culture.” Both, ALREADY, of “the second millennium’ and advancing aggiornamento and ressourcement!
The fly in the ointment today includes, as but one example, the accommodated German “synodal way”, plus the subliminal message that while synods were “the form and the style of the early Church,” synodality—much abused—is now at risk of becoming the presumptive and very definition of the Church.
Synods and councils are what the Church DOES, not what it IS.
As for the outcome of the Youth Synod which “referred to missionary synodality,” the several gratuitous paragraphs on synodality were tacked on by someone else, not coming out of the Youth Synod at all (!). And it was only with the “demand” of every bishops’ discussion group (I think eighteen in all) that the subversive and enabling code language “LGBTQ,” also not mentioned by the youth (!), was removed from the draft final report, over the earlier objection of the dominating front microphone (Cardinal Baldiserri?).
Now, Cardinal Grech is reassuring, and yet wasn’t it Archbishop Charles Scicluna, also of Malta, who was among those who fell in line with blessing second-marriages without the first being annulled? Another agenda surely awaiting synodal validation…
The doubt is not over the merit or good potential of synods, but that, again, they will be EXPLOITED. And, this doubt, downplayed by Cardinal Grech, has been festered and fostered from on high. It is not simply that synodality is a mere “‘fad’ of the pope”…but that praxis is being severed from dogma, even as the dogma itself is fastidiously and schizophrenically reaffirmed.
Such is my memory. But who am I to judge, or even remember? As for ressourcement, this from St. Ambrose: “Keep safe what you have received.”
Cardinal Grech cites synodality in the early Church as today’s model, which it is not. Early Synods 170 AD in the East dealt with Montanism, and later in the West as in the East were synonymous with Council. To date [in deference to the upcoming Synod on synodality] the synodal concept is more a localized body of bishops searching for an ecclesial issue, or doctrine to modify in conformity with current cultural practice. Malta where Grech resides is an example of the reformist proclivity of bishops including well known canonist Archbishop Scicluna who have gone further from what Amoris Laetitia suggests regarding communion and practice, bishops advising the faithful to simply follow their conscience. Example. Cardinal Grech highlights “dynamism of prophecy-discernment” as the guiding principle of synodality, whereas early synods/councils had as their guiding principle pastoral guidance in context of clarification of the revelation of Christ and Apostolic tradition. The former is revisionist the latter were expository.
By 
What they are engaged in has no resemblance to first-millennium synodality.
Card. Grech says: “If we want to be faithful to Tradition…” the Synodal approach is the traditional approach, so it is the way of the future. The TLM is a traditional approach, so it must cease.
Right. Got it.
Now I think I hear Peter crying “Wolf” again. Anyone else hear him??
We read: “Cardinal Mario Grech said on Wednesday that synodality is not a ‘fad’ of the pope, but rather ‘the form and style of the early Church.’”
Very uplifting to hear this, recalling now, for example, the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops convened in 1985, to reclaim after 20 years of distortion the real Council from the virtual Council, and which culminated in publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992, as further elucidated in Veritatis Splendor (1993), now long-unmentioned and seemingly a victim of the “throwaway culture.” Both, ALREADY, of “the second millennium’ and advancing aggiornamento and ressourcement!
The fly in the ointment today includes, as but one example, the accommodated German “synodal way”, plus the subliminal message that while synods were “the form and the style of the early Church,” synodality—much abused—is now at risk of becoming the presumptive and very definition of the Church.
Synods and councils are what the Church DOES, not what it IS.
As for the outcome of the Youth Synod which “referred to missionary synodality,” the several gratuitous paragraphs on synodality were tacked on by someone else, not coming out of the Youth Synod at all (!). And it was only with the “demand” of every bishops’ discussion group (I think eighteen in all) that the subversive and enabling code language “LGBTQ,” also not mentioned by the youth (!), was removed from the draft final report, over the earlier objection of the dominating front microphone (Cardinal Baldiserri?).
Now, Cardinal Grech is reassuring, and yet wasn’t it Archbishop Charles Scicluna, also of Malta, who was among those who fell in line with blessing second-marriages without the first being annulled? Another agenda surely awaiting synodal validation…
The doubt is not over the merit or good potential of synods, but that, again, they will be EXPLOITED. And, this doubt, downplayed by Cardinal Grech, has been festered and fostered from on high. It is not simply that synodality is a mere “‘fad’ of the pope”…but that praxis is being severed from dogma, even as the dogma itself is fastidiously and schizophrenically reaffirmed.
Such is my memory. But who am I to judge, or even remember? As for ressourcement, this from St. Ambrose: “Keep safe what you have received.”
The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks.
Cardinal Grech cites synodality in the early Church as today’s model, which it is not. Early Synods 170 AD in the East dealt with Montanism, and later in the West as in the East were synonymous with Council. To date [in deference to the upcoming Synod on synodality] the synodal concept is more a localized body of bishops searching for an ecclesial issue, or doctrine to modify in conformity with current cultural practice. Malta where Grech resides is an example of the reformist proclivity of bishops including well known canonist Archbishop Scicluna who have gone further from what Amoris Laetitia suggests regarding communion and practice, bishops advising the faithful to simply follow their conscience. Example. Cardinal Grech highlights “dynamism of prophecy-discernment” as the guiding principle of synodality, whereas early synods/councils had as their guiding principle pastoral guidance in context of clarification of the revelation of Christ and Apostolic tradition. The former is revisionist the latter were expository.