ROME—For the first time since this month’s Synod assembly began, speakers at a Vatican press conference addressed LGBTQ+ issues directly. A U.S. cardinal’s message was, “Don’t go away,” echoing the words of one of the Synod’s spiritual assistants.
At Friday’s briefing, the Synod participants featured were Cardinal Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R., of Newark, Bishop Shane Anthony Mackinlay of Sandhurst, Australia, and Professor Giuseppina De Simone, a scholar ofFundamental Theology at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy.
During the question period, Francis DeBernardo, editor of Bondings 2.0, asked the following of the speakers:
“Cardinal Tobin, in the U.S., you are known for being very welcoming of LGBTQ Catholics. LGBTQ issues proved to be very contentious at last year’s assembly, and while this year they are not on the agenda explicitly, reports are that they have been arising in discussions, often as examples. Has the tone and approach to LGBTQ issues changed in any way from last year to this year? I’d also be interested to hear what the Bishop MacKinlay and Professor De Simone have to say about this question, given LGBTQ issues came up at previous synods and the Australia’s Plenary Council?”
Tobin responded first by acknowledging that “the pastoral concerns around ministry for and with LGBT persons is not evident in as dramatic a way as some would like, but it doesn’t mean people aren’t speaking about it.” He continued:
“People are aware of a number of things. They’re aware of the particular challenges and obligations that a response to the LGBTQ community claims on us. It also realizes how this particular issue is understood in different ways across the world. We need to work together and not simply presume that any country has absolute clarity on the type of response. I’m very happy to see that maybe linking it with this wonderful meditation that Fr. Timothy Radcliffe gave yesterday on the Syrophoenician woman who first Jesus ignored, apparently, and then gave an expression that sounded very harsh. And she responded to help him understand her dilemma. Hopefully, that’s a paradigm. The way Timothy finished his meditation. He said, ‘Even if what your greatest concern in the church isn’t satisfactorily answered today, don’t go away.’”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, C.SS.R.
The other panelists also responded to the question. Bishop McKinley said that he agreed LGBTQ+ issues were being raised at the assembly, and that in this regard, “two things have probably shifted since last year’s session.” He explained:
“One is we’re not starting from scratch. We have some familiarity with one another, and with how issues like this land in our different cultures. I would be noticing that there’s not such surprise that in Western cultures LGBTQ issues are significant and prominent for people. Equally, I think those of us from the West are not so surprised that it lands differently and has a different sort of priority in some other parts of the world. For instance, something I had no idea we’d be talking about when I came to last year’s session, something like polgyamy would have such a significant profile.
“The other thing that has shifted is the publication of Fiducia supplicans last year, which is really quite a significant step forward and, in some ways, a response to some of the discussion that happened last year. As in many of the things that Pope Francis has done over the last year, he hasn’t waited for the final document. He’s acted already on things that were present in the discussions and in the synthesis report from last year.”
Professor De Simone, who also participated in the Synod on the Family, picked up on the need to “consider the difference of the cultural contexts.” She pushed back against the idea this synodal process would provide “solutions that apply to everyone,” which, in her view, amounts to “a form of imperialism or cultural colonization, in a sense.” And yet, she concluded that it is still essential in this synodal journey “we must be able to welcome everyone in our diversity” and that “nobody should be left alone, or marginalized, or excluded.”
In the press conference’s final question, from Sebastian Gomes of America Media, the panelists were asked what message they might send to ordinary Catholics whose dioceses and parishes have not engaged the Synod, and thus they might be frustrated or disillusioned. Cardinal Tobin reiterated his desire for people to remain engaged, saying:
“I’d echo the wisdom of [Fr.] Timothy [Radcliffe] yesterday. Don’t go away. Don’t go away. Stay there and ask the questions. Things will change.”
Tobin was referencing a meditation that Radcliffe, who was named a cardinal last Sunday and has a highly-positive LGBTQ+ record, gave to the Synod assembly on Thursday. Preaching on Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman who persists in asking Jesus to heal her daughter, even despite his seeming dismissal of her (Matthew 15:21-28), Radcliffe said the story illuminates “the processes through which Church changes.” The Dominican theologian concludes his meditation:
“Our task in the Synod is to live with difficult questions and not, like the disciples, get rid of them. . .there are deep questions which underlie so many of our discussions. . .
“Many people want this Synod to give an immediate Yes or No on various issues! But that is not how the Church advances into the deep mystery of the Divine Love. . .We dwell with these questions in the silence of prayer and mutual listening. We listen, as someone said, not so as to reply but so as to learn. We stretch open our imagination to new ways of being the household of God which has room for everyone. Otherwise, as we say in England, we shall just be rearranging the desk chairs on the Titanic.
“Despite the hostile reception of the disciples, the [Canaanite] woman stays. She does not give up and go away. Please stay, whatever your frustrations with the Church. Go on questioning! Together we shall discover the Lord’s will.”
Live from Rome! A Mid-Synod Conversation: Join New Ways Ministry next Monday, October 14, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. Time for a virtual conversation at the Synod assembly’s halfway point to learn about and reflect on what is happening at 2024 Synod assembly this month—and to discern where we go from here. Associate Director Robert Shine, who will be in Rome all month, will be joined by Brian Flanagan, New Ways Ministry’s Senior Fellow and an expert on synodality. For more information or to register, click here.
—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, October 12, 2024
