Also emphasized was the importance of clerical and lay Catholics working together. “It is important for laypeople to rely on their pastors and help their pastors, and it is important for pastors to rely on their laypeople.”
Participants noted that parishes with “numerous small faith communities, Bible studies, and prayer groups prove most successful in welcoming and integrating people from diverse backgrounds” in a manner “beyond superficial welcoming.” The role of Catholic schools in evangelizing the community was also widely recognized.
Many participants said they were thankful for the witness of those who serve as priests, religious, and consecrated men and women as well as those who are discerning their vocations, but they are also concerned about “the lack of vocations and the need for vocation awareness, encouragement to discern vocations, and formation of discernment communities.”
Participants also expressed hope for priests to be united, something the bishops expressed hope for as well. “Division in the priesthood will bring division in the Church,” one participant commented.
At the same time, “some are very worried about how the Church responds to LGBTQ and other marginalized people … others want to stand firm in the Church’s teaching and not shy away from the truth.” It was expressed by many participants, the report says, that “leadership in the Church needs to be clear about our truth; confusion is leading to frustration and division among the faithful.”
“If we don’t talk about difficult topics, we can become like a dysfunctional family,” another participant said.
Many parts of the Church, including some of her long-established institutions, have “become complacent, even ossified … some are afraid of change and tired of doing new things, they are content with doing things the way it has always been done before,” participants said.
Several participants expressed appreciation for Church institutions that operate with more “nimbleness,” which they said allow these institutions and structures to remain mission-oriented, operating “more from a ministerial perspective rather than … as a business.”
Numerous reports from the listening sessions, the report says, cited instances of communication, “both from the hierarchy and from secular and Catholic media, which reflect and perpetuate division within the universal Church and send conflicting messages of what it means to be Catholic.”
“When the communication of the Church is not clear and consistent, it becomes an obstacle to the mission,” the participants said.
The report noted that the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass seems to be “a focal point of broader debates about tradition, modernity, and the best ways to nurture faith across the diverse spectrum of Catholic belief and practice,” with a participant adding that “young people want to find new expressions [of faith] and to be accepted when we do.”
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The report says that they heard from many people, including those who identify as LGBT or who are divorced and remarried, who “feel hurt by the Church and are not willing to come back.”
In addition, “there needs to be more opportunities for women to hold leadership roles within parishes, dioceses, schools, and organizations.”
“It was noted by many that the faithful “should not be embarrassed about recognizing that our Church might be a little messy — it’s better not to pretend that we are the perfect institution but that we belong to the perfect and one, true faith,” Flores wrote in the report’s conclusion.
The Vatican will hold the final meeting of the synod in October of this year. After the October assembly, the synod will produce a final report, which will be submitted to Pope Francis.
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