At the Synod, "Variety in Unity"

By Richard N. Ostling

Over the past year an intensive debate about secularization has raged within the ranks of Roman Catholicism. Liberals say the church should plunge more deeply into social problems; conservatives contend such involvement has already gone too far. Late last week Pope John Paul, summing up an extraordinary synod of bishops in a modern Vatican meeting hall, called for a careful balance of both views. The church is the "mystical body of Christ," he said, thus emphasizing its spiritual quality, but it is simultaneously "at the service of the world."

This moderate approach also ran through a "Message to the People of God," a 1,500-word inspirational document that the bishops issued at the close of the synod. The statement called the church the "mystery of the love of God present in the history of men." It is necessary to "avoid evil sociological and political interpretations of the nature of the church," said the delegates. At the same time, they proclaimed, the church must respond to such issues as "lack of respect for human life," "economic disequilibrium," suppression of civil and religious liberty, racial bias and the arms race.

Those declarations came from a gathering where 162 delegates worked in a friendly and surprisingly freewheeling atmosphere. There was, said the Pope, "variety in unity." The bishops, drawn from 105 nations, candidly discussed such complex questions as readmitting divorced and remarried Catholics to the sacraments and the need for more ecumenical progress, but often without achieving any consensus. That may have been the inevitable result of trying, within twelve working days, to cope with an impossibly ambitious task: analyzing the consequences of the Second Vatican Council, whose sessions stretched over four years.

Since the end of Vatican II in 1965, the Popes have summoned eight synods, but previous ones discussed only specific themes, such as religious instruction and evangelization. Prior to the opening of this synod on Nov. 25, there were ill-informed rumors that the Pope wanted the meeting to roll back some of Vatican II's reforms. The bishops' "message" was designed to allay any such fears with a staunch endorsement of the council's work.

Another product of the synod was a 17-page, issue-oriented document summing up its deliberations and proposals. Responding to a strong sentiment among the bishops, the Pope agreed to release it this week. The detailed document calls for improved teaching about Vatican II throughout the church, further study of the place of national bishops' conferences and a deepened commitment to the poor. One noteworthy proposal, endorsed by the Pope in his closing speech, was for a churchwide catechism, or compendium of teachings, issued under Vatican auspices to clear up confusion about the beliefs of Catholicism.

Boston's Bernard Cardinal Law, a strong advocate of the catechism idea, also differed somewhat with the president of the U.S. hierarchy, James Malone of Youngstown, Ohio, about the increasingly important role played in the church by national bishops' conferences. Malone emphasized their importance to the church in collective policymaking, and argued that the teaching authority of the conferences, on certain issues and in cooperation with the Pope, should be recognized by Rome. Law, however, warned that national conferences should never usurp the powers of individual bishops.

Although strong sentiments were expressed for the continued involvement of the church in political and social affairs, there was deep division over the direction that commitment should take, especially in Latin America. Bishop Jose Ivo Lorscheiter of Santa Maria, president of Brazil's hierarchy, insisted that the controversial liberation theology movement does not "push toward violence." Neither, he said, does it "assume or justify Marxist ideology" or "break with Catholic theological tradition." To him, the movement is "indispensable to the church's activity and to the social commitment of Christians, even if it carries with it risks." A contrary view came from Colombia's Bishop Dario Castrillon Hoyos, secretary- general of the Latin American bishops' conference. By embracing hate and violence, he warned, "some lines of liberation theology have generated some very sorrowful and very sad fruit."

Several personalities made their mark during the meeting. Cardinal Law, 54, one of the delegates who did not represent a national bishops' conference but was appointed by the Pope, gained in stature. He could be poised to become the leader of the conservative wing of the U.S. hierarchy. Prominent among the progressives was Godfried Cardinal Danneels, 52, of Belgium, a disciple of his predecessor Leo Jozef Cardinal Suenens, one of the great liberals of the Second Vatican Council. John Paul's appointment of Danneels as the synod official assigned to summarize the discussions was one indication that the Pope is not quite so conservative as he is sometimes depicted. So was the Pope's bow toward ecumenism last week when he led worship with a group of non- Catholic observers that he had invited. In a significant maneuver during the closing hours, the delegates defeated a bid to supplant the current committee of bishops, who are to plan the next synod. That group includes many noted progressives. Topic of that synod: the laity's role.

During the synod, one lay Catholic, a U.S. feminist who was wearing a priest's stole, attempted to celebrate a mock Mass on an altar in St. Peter's Basilica; two Vatican guards removed her. Bizarre though the incident was, it dramatized a growing issue in U.S. Catholicism: demands of women for fuller involvement in the church. The synod fathers did allow women, including Mother Teresa of Calcutta, to attend, but only as nonvoting "auditors." Bishop Malone sought to bring the women's message to his colleagues, but lack of interest among the majority of delegates from developing nations was a reminder of the great variety of opinion that now exists within world Catholicism.

With reporting by Daniela Simpson and Wilton Wynn/Rome