Latin American Ecclesial Assembly is synodality in action

Participants at the Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean are proud of what they’ve already been able to achieve this week in Mexico City.

For the first time ever, they’ve held a major Catholic Church meeting that has brought together clergy, laity and women and men religious – and not just bishops.

The November 21-28 assembly at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine has thus set the tone for a Church "of participation", in the image of the synodality promoted by Pope Francis.

But until just a few months ago, such an assembly was not at all evident. Initially, the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) wanted to organize a new general conference of the region's bishops, as it does every 15 years or so.

That last one was held 14 years ago in Aparecida, Brazil and it was led by the Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis.

The CELAM presidency traveled to Rome at the end of 2019 to ask him to endorse plans for another general conference.   

But as Cardinal Odilo Scherer of São Paulo noted, Francis turned them down. 

"The pope said we had to work differently, especially because the Aparecida document still had a lot to offer," the cardinal said.  

So CELAM revised its plan and submitted a proposal for an "ecclesial assembly".

"It is important to note that this format, which follows the same process as the Synod on Synodality, was proposed on CELAM's own initiative," emphasized Emilce Cuda, an Argentine theologian and head of the office of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (CAL).

This time, the proposal was accepted by Francis, who launched it at the beginning of the year.

A "meeting of the People of God"

In fact, CELAM has largely revised the composition of the participants in the meeting.

Bishops now make up only 20% of the thousand participants at the ecclesial assembly, which includes participants present in Mexico City and those participating virtually from afar.

It is also 20% for priests, and another 20% for brothers and nuns.  

The remaining 40% are lay people, one in four of whom come from outlying areas. 

As Pope Francis noted in a video message, this is "something other" than an assembly of bishops. 

He called it a "meeting of the People of God". 

For most of the work, the participants are in groups, divided according to these percentages. 

Though the laity are not in the majority, they are by far the largest single group. And according to many, everyone is actively participating.

"We are very much listened to, we feel that everyone insists on making room for the voices of young people," said María José López Bolaños, a young woman who is involved in youth ministry in Mexico. 

She is also the moderator of her group, proof that the responsibilities within the assembly are shared. 

A European ecclesial assembly?

"I see a lot of welcome, fraternity, respect and esteem in our discussions," said Sister María Suyapa Cacho Álvarez.

And yet this Honduran Daughter of Charity has also been sharply critical of the way the Church has treated Black Latin Americans like herself. 

Many of the participants are involved in various Church institutions of the Church. Few have criticized the way the assembly has been run.  

Only one female participant noted that "some group moderators may have a tendency to monopolize the floor, positioning themselves as 'know-it-alls'". 

But, she immediately added with a smile, "This is not unique to the church".

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, who is president of COMECE (Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community), was invited as an observer. 

He said he was "amazed" at this "passage from a clerical Church to a Church of participation". 

"In Europe, we are very far behind," the Jesuit cardinal admitted.

He said the bishops of the Old Continent would have to "double the effort" – "exchanging" among themselves and "being open to all".

Otherwise, the cardinal warned, "the Church will disappear".

So, is such an assembly imaginable in Europe? 

"When I return, I will report on what I have seen," Hollerich said. 

He said the bishops need to learn to "trust" more – especially the lay messengers, even those who do not attend Sunday Mass regularly. 

He noted that next year's continental phase to prepare for the Synod of Bishops’ assembly on synodality will be a "training ground", even if it risks being "imperfect" because of Europe's lack of experience in this area.

Lowered expectations

Although it has largely agreed on its method, the ecclesial assembly has yet to convince on its results.

On this point, Emilce Cuda was quick to temper expectations.

"We should not expect a final document as a strategy," explained Cuda, a laywoman who represents the Holy See in Mexico. 

"Rather, it should be seen as an implementation of Aparecida, a work still unfinished," she argued.

Saint Joseph Sister María Dolores Palencia, a Mexican religious who has a leadership position within CELAM, believes that it is not so much a matter of producing "documents" as of "putting into practice" the conclusions of Aparecida, whose "fire is in danger of going out".

In any case, a synthesis committee has been working hard every afternoon to produce a single summary of the discussions held in the various groups in the morning. 

This concise text is then used as a starting point for the discussions of the following day. 

The goal is to reach a consensus on Saturday that will guide the Catholic Church in Latin America until 2031, the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Xavier Le Normand (special correspondent in Mexico City)