Synod on Synodality: Continental reports

The 'Continental Stage' of the Synod on Synodality has concluded, with the publication of the 'Continental Reports': they can be seen here.

Since the FIUV and the LMS asked people to contribute to the consultation process, it is interesting to see whether our voices have actually made it through to these reports. I discussed the national reports here.

The voice of Catholics attached to the Traditional Mass do emerge in two of the reports: not surprisingly, those of Europe and North America. This is not because Traditional Catholics are absent from Oceania, Asia, Africa, and South America, but because the bishops of those regions have been unwilling to allow celebrations or to acknowledge their point of view. It is worth reminding ourselves that the Traditional movement is well-established in Australia and New Zealand; there are many apostolates of the Traditional priestly institutes in Africa, notably the ICKSP in Gabon; and South America is home to the Apostolic Administration of St Jean Vianney in Campos, Brazil, the one place in the world where one can find a bishop exercising ordinary jurisdiction over a community of traditional faithful.

The reports are a reflection not only of the inputs, of course, but of the process of selection. The reports as a whole have very little to say about the liturgy.

This is what got through in the European and North American reports: emphasis mine.

Europe (pdf)

67. From a fundamental point of view, it is possible to detect the link between Church and liturgy, between ecclesiology and the theology of liturgy: The liturgical dimension in the Church is a place of strong tensions. These tensions are part of a deeper tension of an ecclesiological nature. Ecclesiological tension often arises from a vision of the Church based on one’s own expectations (Italian language working group). In this context, the tensions and sufferings concerning the ancient form of the Roman liturgy should be understood, with explicit references by France, England and Wales, and Nordic countries to the pre-conciliar liturgy according to the Missal of 1962.

North America (pdf)

27. Some participants in the synodal process reported on the profound sense of suffering of those prevented from receiving the Eucharist. While there are a variety of reasons for this reality, perhaps preeminent among them is Catholics who are divorced and remarried without an annulment, and others whose objective situation in life contradicts the beliefs and teachings of the Church. Additionally, some delegates spoke of those wounded by the limitations placed on the pre-conciliar Latin rite. Unfortunately, liturgy is not always experienced as unifying. “We could find our unity in common prayer, but liturgy is one of the things that is divisive in the Church and we must break through that” (Session X Group 18).

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