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A few weeks ago my Blessing of the Week was a reflection on Fr. Timothy Radcliffe’s opening meditation at the retreat for synod participants. Fr. Radcliffe wrote that the participants, like Jesus and his friends on the way to Jerusalem, “are on their way with a fragile hope.” I liked this phrase, because it reminded me that hope is allowed to be fragile…you can have hope mixed with doubt, with fear, with uncertainty. Hope need not be perfect to be true. This fragile hope articulates the feelings I have about the synod.
In an article published in the NCR on Thursday, Christopher White talked about the tensions that are present in the synodal space. (Deb also comments on this article in her latest post of the SynodWatch blog!) The roundtable format requires that there are minutes of silence after participants share their views, allowing time to listen and process before responding. While this ensures that all get a chance to speak and hopefully be heard, it certainly takes more time and can be tiring for some who aren’t used to this form of communication. White wrote that the tensions among participants in the process were to be expected, and that they are part of the experience of learning, or remembering, how to be a synodal church.
As strange as it may seem, reading about some of the tensions in the synod actually contributed to the fragile hope I’ve been carrying with me throughout the month. Where there is tension, there is passion, and where there is passion, there must be a Spirit on the move. The tension tells me that different perspectives are being raised. It tells me that there is not only one voice speaking on behalf of the whole– that there are many voices, many perspectives, and many opinions being raised on that synodal floor.
My fear, when I consider the tension in the room, is that there will be what White says a participant called the “tyranny of the articulate,” or a usurping of the conversation by the folks in the room who are more accustomed to speaking in front of an audience. I fear that, with the small minority of women in the space, perhaps their voices will be overpowered by the men in leadership at the table. I fear that this “tyranny of the articulate” could be a real threat to synodality. This is a fear that threatens to put a crack in my already fragile hope.
At the same time, the reported tensions tell me that, at least to some degree, synodality is working. Whether they are met with acceptance or disapproval, open arms or closed fists, voices are being heard. Perspectives are being raised, and there is still a fragile hope to be found inside the walls of Pope Paul VI hall. We know the Spirit speaks through silence, and perhaps She can even speak through tension, too.
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