Newly formed synod told to forget ‘unusable past’

MEMBERS OF the first diocesan synod in Ireland for half a century should challenge Catholics about being part-time Christians who are simply clients of “an ecclesiastical franchise”.

The Diocese of Limerick has announced it will hold its first synod in 70 years in 2016 to address its future and has already commissioned 350 delegates from 60 parishes ranging from teenagers to those in their eighties. These include politicians, doctors, the unemployed and students.

Fr Paul Philibert, a Dominican friar from the United States and expert in pastoral theology, told a gathering of the delegates on Saturday at Mary Immaculate College that the synod should pose fundamental questions to Catholics.

“Do you want to be clients of an ecclesiastical franchise? Do you want to be observers of sacred, sacramental rites performed for your inspiration and spiritual comfort? Do you want to continue to be part-time Christians who visit churches but live in a lusty world? Or, by contrast, do you want to be an active member of a mutually ministering community that has the world and its culture in view?” he said, adding: “The synod will help us to name the unusable past and to aim for the necessary future.”

He said people must stop calculating Christian life in terms of “Masses, rosaries and novenas alone.”

The synod process will be officially launched at a special Mass on Sunday 7 December in St John’s Cathedral.