Synod Part II held the spotlight this weekend as delegates gathered to share their joys and disappointments, dreams and aspirations for a Church more alive, active and relevant. This gathering once again took place at the JFK Auditorium, St Augustine Campus, UWI, and followed on the heels of the mini-synods which took place in the five vicariates during the month of November last year.

This follow-up Synod concerned itself with the same themes outlined in Synod Part I – Catholic Identity, Seminary, Sacramental Issues, Priesthood; Religious and Lay Communities, Tobago Retreat Centre, Catholic Life Centre; Marriage and Family Life; Catechesis; Stewardship; Evangelisation; Schools/Catholic Education; Youth; Catholic Communications, and Social Justice.

As Archbishop Gilbert remarked, the various commissions need to be congratulated on the hard work they have done. Fr Allan Ventour has been doing a commendable job in spearheading Synod Part II. Some commissions have been more successful than others in creating structure and getting personnel but they have all worked tirelessly in building up the local Church.

Some highlights of the Synod so far include an effective Social Justice Commission that liaises with government on social issues; the success of the Stewardship programme where it has been tried; the warm reception given to the ALPHA programme; the various seminars of the Family Life Commission; a renewed confidence among youths as to their place within the Church, and the various events organised by the Evangelisation Commission.

The Internet café established at Gonzales is also a first in the archdiocese and should be an incentive for parishes to become more communication-centred and a vehicle along the information highway.

CONFRONTING WEAKNESSES

Despite the salutary efforts of the commissions several weaknesses confront us. The major one is the work of the commissions not filtering down to the parishes. The commissions have done much; the parishes have seen little.

Parish priests and administrators complain of too much correspondence from commissions and not enough person-to-person contact between commissions and parish groups. This is not an easy problem to solve since the commissions themselves are limited by the number of personnel, mobility and finances.

We hope that more people will commit themselves to both commissions and parish groups since a Church alive, active and relevant is not born overnight but is the fruit of commitment and sacrifice on the part of many.

Communications is a very important matter in the world today. The same holds true for our Church and the parishes that constitute it. Yet parishes are not doing enough to make themselves heard through the various media.

Catholic News depends on parishes to let us know what they are doing. For an archdiocese comprising 61 parishes much more can be done to make the faithful aware some of the great things taking place in parishes.

Similarly, Catholic Communications Studios, which performs an effective outreach to the Catholic community, needs to be more in touch with the parishes and vice-versa. Good communications is always a two-way street.

The inability of the Social Justice Commission to co-opt the creativity and interest of the parishes remains another bug-bear of the Synod process. This itself indicates a deficiency in our local Church, which tends to reduce spirituality to popular devotion.

But popular devotion is only one aspect of spirituality; other equally important aspects are sound theology and social action. As a local Church we need to be more pro-active and socially conscious. Leela Ramdeen and her Commission has done enough to make us aware of the evils of abortion, the status of prisoners and social displacement due to poverty in T&T.

Fr Matthew d'Hereaux's workshop on Liturgy and Social Justice was well received at Liturgy School 2004. It is now time for these concerns to filter down to the parishes and for us to form interest groups that will lobby for change in the community and national levels.

RECEPTION TAKES TIME

As we embark on further implementation of the resolutions of the Synod, two factors must be borne in mind. Firstly, we must be aware that the context of our Church today is not what it was twenty-five years ago. To a large extent our Church is one voice among many vying for attention.

We have to compete with cable TV, video games, unimaginable Internet possibilities, an explosion in the entertainment industry both local and foreign, and a pervasive disinterest in education, all of which makes reaching our youths a daunting task. Parents themselves are under increasing pressure from family life and work, often holding down more than one job.

Time becomes limited and commitment difficult. This does not mean that the implementation of the Synod is going to be impossible, but it will be an uphill battle. And we must be committed to fighting.

Secondly, theologians tell us of a concept call “reception”. Vatican II was an example of a synod (of bishops) in which many new things were taught concerning the nature of the Church, the liturgy, ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue etc. that are still being “received” by the faithful.

Receiving new teaching takes time. We must therefore not lose heart when we think of implementation of the Synod resolutions. This is particularly relevant for social justice issues; indeed, we must not flag in our zeal for the construction of the Anthony Pantin Re-Integration Centre for Ex-Prisoners.

When we think of implementation Archbishop Gilbert's “Think Four” formula is instructive: we must use KNOWLEDGE to inform ourselves; the knowledge must lead to proper FORMATION; this in turn beckons COMMITMENT, which put us on the MISSION of building a Church in keeping with the needs of our people..

As we celebrate Synod Part II this weekend and all the work undertaken by the commissions and vicariates, let us bonded by the waters of baptism and nourished on the Eucharist commit ourselves to forming a Church that is alive, active and relevant.