HOW DOES A SYNOD ACTUALLY WORK?

As the Synod on youth continues in its meetings and discussions, I thought it might be of some value to describe the actual working of such a gathering.

A Synod’s Final Report requires approval by the Pope.  However, the content of the Final Report is the product of the Bishop-delegates as well as the input of various observers who have been invited to contribute their expertise or particular viewpoint to the discussions.

A very brief overview of the day to day process looks something like this.

The Synodal Fathers and others in attendance are presented with a Working Document (instrumentum laboris) which is a broad agenda consisting of the various topics which a Preparatory Committee established at the behest of the Holy Father himself.

Bishops are grouped together according to the language skills or preferences.  Within these language groupings, a “reporter” (relatore) is assigned by the Secretariat for the Synod to keep track of the groups discussions.  The relatore then summarizes those discussions and prepares that “summary” (relatio) to the entire Synod assembly.

Basically, the various language groups study the instrumentum laboris and propose amendments which they believe contribute to the topic and advance the mission for which the Synod was gathered.

A set times during the Synod, the “reporters” (relatori) give short presentations announcing what their language group discussed and what amendments to the instrumentum laboris they wish to present to the Synodal Fathers for their eventual vote of approval.

These reports are then forwarded to the members of a writing committee which is charged with composing the Synod’s Final Report which will be voted upon at the very end of the meeting.

Bishops have several ways of presenting their views on a given topic.

The primary method most Bishops employ is by way of the “intervention”, or short presentation, that each Bishop may decide to give.  

And of course, the other way is the method described above in the language discussion groups.

In recent Synods, Bishops have complained that Secretariat for the Synod has been less than cooperative in making public the interventions which Bishops bring before the entire Synodal assembly.  The Bishops have argued that these interventions offer the context within whose framework the Final Report should be interpreted and understood.

Bishops have also complained that the writing committees of recent Synods have been less than exhaustive in the effort to include the content of the language groups reports in the Final Report.

The last Synod on the Family saw these tensions explode in a rare revolt on the Synod floor which required the intervention of Pope Francis himself to direct the Secretariat to see to it that the interventions were made available in their totality to the public by way of the Synod’s public relations office briefings conducted each day in the presence of the world press.

This then is a very general overview of the actual workings of a Synod.

What the Final Report of the Synod on Youth (which will for the first time carry the weight of being considered the ordinary Magisterium of the Church) is anyone’s guess this early in the process.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to guide the Synodal Fathers and the Pope in these discussions which the Church hopes will address and provide for a more effective transmission of the Faith to young people, the future of the Body of Christ and humanity itself.