Processes, Accompaniment, Implementation: Synodality Forever!

The Catholic Thing

By Fr. Gerald E. Murray.
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Now for today's column...
The unending process that is the Synod on Synodality has taken a new and unexpected turn. The current "Implementation Phase" of the three-year synodal path, following the conclusion of last Fall's Synodal Assembly in Rome, has now become the preparatory phase for something no one has ever heard of in the Catholic Church, namely an "Ecclesial Assembly."
In a March 15 letter to the bishops of the world, the General Secretariat of the Synod announced that it will now "start a process of accompaniment and evaluation of the implementation phase" of the conclusions of the Synodal Assembly's Final Document by the dioceses of the world. "It will ultimately culminate in the celebration of an ecclesial assembly in the Vatican in October 2028. For now, therefore, a new Synod will not be convened; instead, the focus will be on consolidating the path taken so far."
So, the synodal path now leads, ironically, to the canceling of the next synodal assembly, which will be replaced by a new and improved type of assembly that will stand in judgment over the whole synodal process: "the celebration of the ecclesial assembly in October 2028 will be structured in such a way as to offer adequate and sustainable times for the implementation of the Synod's indications, while also providing some significant moments of evaluation."
It seems, remarkably, that a synodal assembly itself is not an "adequate and sustainable" time to evaluate the work of implementing the synodal path.
Naturally, the question arises: What is an ecclesial assembly? Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the General Secretariat of the Synod, was interviewed on this question by Andrea Tornielli, Editorial Director of the Dicastery for Communications. Grech cautioned that "as we are dealing with the first time there will be an ecclesial assembly at the level of the entire Church, there are many things which have yet to be determined."
He is, however, perfectly clear on one point - it will be different from the synodal assembly: "the Assembly is ecclesial, which is meant to stress its distinct nature and function with respect to the synodal Assembly which we have just celebrated, which is and remains substantially an Assembly of Bishops." [Emphasis added.]
Insofar as this statement has any discernible meaning, Grech seems to be suggesting that, even with the inclusion of non-bishops, the bishops were, unsurprisingly, the majority at the assembly of the Synod of Bishops. This, apparently, is not synodal enough.
So, the Ecclesial Assembly will not be "substantially" an assembly of bishops. It will be substantially an assembly of non-bishops, which means that most participants will be lay people. The Ecclesial Assembly will more or less mirror the demographics of the Ecclesia (Church) in which the clergy, let alone the bishops, make up a tiny fraction of the number of baptized Catholics.
Here we see the trajectory of the not-so-slow-motion revolution that goes by the name of synodality: The Second Vatican Council's call for the creation of a Synod of Bishops to assist the pope in his governance of the Universal Church, primarily through periodic assemblies in Rome to discuss determined topics, became in Pope Francis' pontificate a forum in which a select group of lay people, deacons, priests, religious men and women were joined together as equal participants, in voting but not in number, with the bishops at the synodal assembly.
Now, that way of proceeding has been judged to be inadequate for carrying out the work of synodality. A new gathering called an Ecclesial Assembly, in which bishops will not be the majority, will now have the final word on what synodality means and...