Our participation in Pope Francis’ synodality

By the time this column is published, the Diocese of Baton Rouge will have held all of its meetings, or “synods,” for lay Catholics throughout the deaneries of the diocese, plus one meeting for Bishop Michael G. Duca and his clergy (additional meetings for specific groups will be scheduled later in the spring). The questions to be discussed throughout the Catholic world about our church and its needs today were developed by experts assisting the pope in the Vatican. Both laity and clergy were answering the same questions.  

I asked myself whether there would be any significant difference between the answers given by these two groups, between laity and clergy. So, in addition to the meeting for bishop and clergy, I attended one of the two meetings held at the Catholic Life Center (in Baton Rouge) for the laity of the church parishes of the Baton Rouge Deanery. I found no significant differences between clergy and laity, but some common threads among those who spoke during these meetings.  

Both clergy and laity define the church in the same way: we are the people of God our father whom we know through his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the father raised from the dead and placed at his right hand in heaven, making him head of the church which continues as his body on earth. Through word (sacred Scripture) and sacrament, Jesus taught us how to dedicate our lives to God by continuing the work of the church he founded on his apostles. 

The clergy and laity who attended the meetings at which I was present were mostly middle aged to elderly. They knew who they were as followers of Christ and members of his Catholic Church. They appreciated the communion they enjoyed with their fellow Catholics. Both groups expressed concern about the faith of the past two generations of Catholics: Millennials born after 1980 and coming of age around the millennium and Gen Z’s, born around 2000 and coming of age now. These would be their children and grandchildren.  

The concern of elder Catholics is backed up by the most recent Pew Research Institute national study reported in USA Today, dated Dec. 14, 2021, showing the “percentage of Catholics has held steady in recent years, notwithstanding a slow downward trickle since 2007. Twenty-one percent of Americans are Catholics in 2021, the same percentage as in 2014.” However, this may include a large number of immigrants, 39% of whom are Catholic.  

A Crux column by Michael O’Loughlin on May 13, 2015, based on a 2015 Pew survey, reported that “the total number of Catholics in the United States dropped by three million since 2007, now comprising about 20 percent of the total population. And perhaps more troubling for the church, for every Catholic convert, more than six Catholics leave the church. Catholicism loses more members than it gains at a higher rate than any other denomination, with nearly 13% of all Americans describing themselves as ‘former Catholics.’ ” 

What makes the older generations’ concern more poignant is that their experience of local Catholicism was so different. Our diocese was created in 1961 out of 12 civil parishes formerly in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Second Vatican Council began in the fall of the following year, 1962, and lasted four fall sessions, ending in 1965. It was a very exciting time. Although there were serious debates in the aisles of St. Peter’s Basilica, the final documents passed with votes of about 2,000 to 200. The council fathers returned home feeling that they fulfilled Pope St. John XXIII’s desire that it be truly a council of ‘aggiornamento’ of “bringing up-to-date,” the church’s approach to evangelizing the modern world.  

In the Diocese of Baton Rouge those who were parents of families with children during the council filled our churches every Sunday. Our schools grew in number. The children in those schools became parents themselves, often buying homes in those same parishes because they felt that they had benefited so much from their own Catholic experience. They raised their children in the church. But many of those children, whom sociologists named “millennials,” stopped practicing Catholicism and in most cases, any other religion. And now many of a new generation called “Z” are also checking off “none” as their religious affiliation.  

Why? And what can we do about it? That is why Pope Francis called for a world-wide synod to listen to all Catholics and enlist their help in solving this problem. If we don’t, the gift of faith which has sustained us for so many generations, will be lost to those whom we love most.  

With regard to why, I did not hear any one single cause given, and I think there are multiple factors. Certainly this downturn in religious belief and allegiance coincided with the explosion of the information age of computers, cell phones and social media. Suddenly, anyone could be an authority on everything. Each individual felt free to make himself or herself whomever they wished to be.  

Why be limited in our choices as long as we don’t end in jail? We don’t need institutions to regulate our lives, church or state. After all, some of the highest representatives of both have shown serious flaws. And haven’t all the miracles of modern science made religious “truths” rather useless?  

Yes, all this has happened. Why then are people not any happier with their new “freedoms?” Both priests and laity noted the “confusion” among our Catholics caused by the social changes we have experienced in the past 20 years. This has resulted in “apathy” toward religion. But there is still a strong desire for a spirituality even among the “nones.” According to those speaking in the synod meetings I attended, our response should be: 
 

1. Teach our people how to grow their spirituality through a stronger relationship with Jesus. The face of Christ, his teaching and way of life and prayer portrayed in sacred Scripture, must be taught in our Catholic schools and parish schools of religion as well as preached strongly from our pulpits.  
2. Mass attendance and reception of the Eucharist must receive renewed emphasis.  
3. Eucharistic adoration through holy hours has to be strongly encouraged.  
4. Church history and how saints have impacted it must become part of every Catholics’ knowledge. 
5. Parishes have to become schools of praying.  
6. Some of us are more conservative while others are more liberal but we can all heed St. James and demonstrate our faith through service to the poor and the needy in our communities.  
7. Parishes and Catholic organizations must continually invite individuals to join their ministries, especially those who are single as well as those who have disabilities. All should be included. Several speakers among the laity mentioned the LBGTQ community. Others said that we should pay special attention to those who are suffering from racial discrimination or dislike for immigrants.  
8. The false dichotomy between religion and science must be addressed in high school, before students get to college. Our happiness is spiritual. It depends on how we seek the good, the true and the beautiful, all transcendentals that lift our spirits to God and find their perfection in sacred Scripture in the person of Jesus, not in the latest advancement in technology.  

These recommendations that I heard on how to stop the exit from our church and bring back the wandering are simply what impressed me. There were more, and all will be gathered and ultimately reach the Holy Father in Rome. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will bless this work of synodality. 

Father Carville is a retired priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge and writes on current topics for The Catholic Commentator. He can be reached at johnny [email protected].