The bishops of Oceania have this week been challenged to take up the path of synodality and to be prepared to confront a “silent earthquake” in the Church on the third day of their quadrennial assembly in Fiji.
Synodality and formation for mission are two of the three major themes for the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania assembly, along with the effects of a changing climate on the oceans.
Undersecretary of the Holy See’s Synod of Bishops General Secretariat, Sr Nathalie Becquart XMCJ, addressed the Assembly on Tuesday morning, hot on the heels of a multi-city visit to Australia.
In helping set the scene for synodality, not solely in the context of the current process preparing for the Synod of Bishops for a Synodal Church, Sr Nathalie explained that “we don’t learn synodality in a book, or with a beautiful academic presentation”.
“It’s learning by doing,” she said. “It’s about living the Church in the world of today, in our concrete situation, with all the challenges.
“It’s about really growing in the sense of synodality in the journey of the Church.”
In light of some concerns that synodality is a novel concept, Sr Nathalie explained that it is rather a “dynamic vision of the Church in history, the realisation of the Church in history as communion in mission”.
“And we know, and if we look back to the history of the Church, you have seen that,” she said.
“And we know that the Church is the same from the beginning, but has taken shape in different ways according to the context, history, what we are living. It is a dynamic vision really rooted in the Trinitarian God.”
Sr Nathalie conceded that the path of synodality – of walking together as the People of God – is not always wide and straight.
“We are a community all together as a body, and we are relearning that, and it’s really not easy. It’s full of challenge,” she said.
“But we know that Jesus Christ is with us and is calling us to do this journey.”
Columban missionary priest Fr Frank Hoare spoke on formation for mission – a key issue that emerged from the churches of Oceania for the Synod on Synodality’s consultation phases and also one of the three central tenets of the Synod.
He saw, through the publication of the Synod’s working document for the continental stage, Enlarge the Space of Your Tent, that the focus is on mission.
“It emphasises listening, welcome, inclusion. No one is to be excluded,” Fr Hoare said.
“The tent is the space of communion, the place of participation and the foundation for a mission.”
Fr Hoare said an emerging challenge to mission in Oceania is the shortage of priests, or at least the shortage of local priests, calling it a “silent earthquake”.
He said some people look to blame globalisation, consumerism, secularisation, radical individualism, moral relativity, the media or other things for that predicament, but “the Church’s own sins and weaknesses also contribute to this silent earthquake”.
Fr Hoare proposed that “a new era of Christian mission will be grounded on a return to the Gospel message” and a simplification of some of the Church’s structures.
“The Holy Spirit is the instigator of the mission and helps us to recognise the signs of the times,” Fr Hoare said.
Tuesday’s program concluded with an inculturated Fijian Itaukei Mass at a local parish, followed by a cultural performance of song and dance.
The Assembly runs until the evening of Friday, February 10. Stories and content will be shared during the week at www.fcbco.org, on the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s Media Blog and through CathNews.
Opening Mass celebrated for Oceania bishops’ Assembly
The offertory is brought forward for the opening Mass of the FCBCO Assembly
A Mass steeped in Fijian spirituality and tradition has opened the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania assembly – a gathering its president hopes will turn “a new page” in the bishops’ shared mission.
Sacred Heart Cathedral in Suva was overflowing on Sunday morning with hundreds of local worshippers, along with dozens of bishops and other assembly participants.
Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, celebrated the Mass.
Reflecting on the Gospel for the day, Cardinal Czerny said that “to be salt of the earth and light of the world, we must rediscover the beautiful strength of being siblings in Christ”.
“As Pope Francis reminds us in Fratelli tutti, his most recent encyclical, we are called not only to do good but to be good, to want the good of others,” he said.
“If, as baptised people, we do not learn to love as children of God and live as siblings in Christ, our existence falls into insignificance, and our witness as Church becomes insipid and dull.”
Cardinal Czerny concluding his homily by praying that God may “abundantly enlighten and season this General Assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Oceania”.
Speaking after the Mass, FCBCO president and assembly host Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of Suva said he hoped that a pastoral plan for the Oceania region will emerge by the end of the week.
He said that will happen as a result of the bishops’ deliberations, but also through their engagement with the document prepared on behalf of the People of God in Oceania for the Synod of Bishops for a Synodal Church – often called the Synod on Synodality.
“It’s not only the bishops that’s deciding or whose voices are being heard,” Archbishop Chong said.
“It’s the whole people that were consulted in the four conferences (of Oceania) and their voices are now being brought to the assembly of the bishops to endorse the document that will then be passed on to the Synod on Synodality.”
He said he also hopes that the Federation becomes better organised as it moves into the future.
“Today is important to the Federation of Bishops Conferences of Oceania, because it begins what I’m calling a new page in how we organise ourselves for God’s mission in the region,” he said.
“We want to end the assembly with a very clear mission that the next bishops’ executive council will take forward.”
A traditional Fijian welcoming ceremony followed the Mass, before the work of the assembly commenced on Sunday evening.