The leader of the Irish Church has thanked Cardinal Mario Grech, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, and Sr Nathalie Becquart, for contributing to the Irish bishops’ recent discussions on synodality.
Archbishop Eamon Martin tweeted his comments in response to the publication of Cardinal Grech’s address to the bishops of Ireland entitled “Towards a Synodal Irish Church”.
In his talk, Cardinal Grech regretted that “clericalism still continues to underestimate the laity and their contribution in the Church”. He told the bishops, who are preparing to announce a national synod for the Irish Church, that synodality not only involves the participation of all the people of God but also needs the ministry of the Pope and the bishops, exercising a new way of leadership.
He referred to a question raised by Bishop Paul Dempsey, who is on the Irish bishops’ subcommittee preparing the ground for a national synod, as to how the Church’s mission in Ireland can thrive, considering that the Church’s reputation has been shattered by scandals, and that the majority of Catholics, although baptised, are, for example, divorced and remarried or non-practising.
“You are gearing up to take on a missionary attitude and help the Church in Ireland to go out and reach the fringes of humanity. Some may get startled when they learn that the bishops in Ireland are in a missionary mood because traditionally your nation was one of the world’s most deeply and most stable Catholic countries. But as the Holy Father acknowledges, ‘Christendom no longer exists’,” the cardinal stated.
He said that synodality is the means to a Church which is in a permanent state of a mission.
This requires a new style of leadership inspired by Pope Francis’ primacy of “listening”, which Cardinal Grech said could be characterised as “collaborative leadership; no longer vertical and clerical, but more horizontal and cooperative”.
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