Mario Grech: There should be no fear of renewal at all

The Church could be living through a historic moment at the end of October 2024, as confirmed by the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, with whom we sat down in Rome the day after the Synod of Bishops, which will significantly transform the Catholic Church.

– When we spoke two years ago, you said that nothing was written down in advance about the Synod on Synodality, that it would be a blank paper in front of you, that the Holy Spirit would work and we would see what would happen. We are now after the formal period of the synod, but obviously there is no end to the synodal process, because we are going home, everyone is continuing the renewal in their own homes. That particular paper is no longer blank – what is on it?
– So what happened at the synod? It is written: the final document tells us. This final document is the fruit of the work of a community that listened to the Spirit. I am happy to repeat that

there was no agenda, there was nothing preplanned,

but that the task of the commission responsible for writing the document was to put together the various voices and to detect the single voice, the voice of the Spirit, the voice of the Church.

– We are witnessing a special, historic moment. Whereas previous Synods of Bishops had ended with a final document, and then a few months later the Pope issued an exhortation with the force of a magisterium, this time Pope Francis decided that what was the Synod’s decision was the voice of the Church. Do you think that something new has happened, that will change the Church?
– It is something new, even though the constitution of the Synods of Bishops took into consideration this possible step. In fact, in this constitution it is written that the Pope can approve the final document of the assembly, making it his own, as it happened on the last Saturday in October. Obviously, the Holy Father also said that it is not a normative document – although it is part of the ordinary magisterium – but he also underlined that there are certain issues, such as those dealt with by the 10 synodal study groups, which need further discernment. And the Holy Father also said in his final speech that he will be also listening to the bishops and local churches on certain issues not concluded in the document. And that’s something very positive, isn’t it? That

even the successor of Peter is working on a synodal way. The Pope feels the need to listen to and consult with the local churches, obviously he will then make the final decisions. This is a historic moment, an important step forward.

– The closing liturgy of the Synod touched my heart very much. Pope Francis spoke about the image of the Church in a sitting style and the Church on the move. We must not allow ourselves as a Church to sit and wait, but we must move, we must develop. All of us, the people of God, have to go through a conversion, a synodal conversion. The starting point of this synod was in 2021, and now we are at a kind of end point in the autumn of 2024. As I have already said, the interesting part of the journey begins now, when we return home. What do you suggest for those who are interested in synodality in Hungary? How can they embark on this journey and follow the direction that the Synod has set out?
– The celebration of the Synod is come to an end, but it is a process and it is still going on. The very important phase that is just beginning is what I would call restitution. Because it all started with listening to the people, listening to the local churches. I repeat that the working documents that were prepared for both sessions of the Synod were not written in Rome. They were documents that we compiled from reports of the local churches. And now the final document of the synod is being returned to the local churches, not only so that the local churches can translate and apply the document in pastoral decisions, but also, that the members of the church can continue to discern it locally. Because there are certain issues that are still open and the importance of the particular place must be taken into account, since the Church is always present in a particular territory in history. One thing is sure: we are under Peter, faithful to the Gospel and to the tradition. There should be no fear of renewal at all. But

we need to understand each other better, and we need to be more together in order to be able to proclaim Jesus to the world today.

All the baptised share this.

– When I think about my personal faith, I feel that in the last three years, partially thanks to the synodal process, I have come closer to the Church. For you, who has done a tremendous amount of work over these years and are surely exhausted, has something changed in your heart about the Church?
– I am a baptised person, called to the priesthood, and I am also called to serve the Church as a bishop. There is nothing extraordinary – I feel the same as you do. In these three years my love for Jesus and my love for the Church got stronger. So much so that after three years of active ministry I am not tired. In a way, I am sorry that this Synod of Bishops has come to an end. But a new phase is already beginning. I pray to the Lord to assist me and my staff to have more energy, more passion to share the good news.

Written by István Gégény

László Német: My nomination as cardinal may be related to my commitment to the synodal renewal of the Church

The ambassador of Megújul.hu was in the Vatican when he was informed that Pope Francis had chosen him as one of his closest advisors. The Archbishop of Belgrade gave his first Hungarian interview from the heart of the Catholic Church, too.

– How did the news reach you that your name is included in the list of the 21 newly appointed cardinals?
– I was in my room after a midday walk, and roughly twenty minutes after twelve o’clock, I received the first congratulation via SMS from my friend who lives in Brussels, saying „you will have much more work to do”. I didn’t really understand what it was about, but one minute later three people called me one after the other to congratulate me, and then I understood that something really happened. I quickly looked at the Vatican media, but the Pope’s speech had already ended. I looked back for the announcement in the video, and it was really there as the Pope announced my name. By that time, the other ambassador of Megújul.hu, Klára Csiszár, had also called me, after Cardinal Schönborn’s media representative had informed her. This also shows that the Pope did not inform us in advance, and I know from the other appointed new cardinals that everyone was very surprised. But Pope Francis is a man of surprises, and we know that lately, that in the case of cardinal appointments he just reads the names in St. Peter’s Square.

When I started to understand what had happened – I’m not ashamed to say – I started to cry. I was very touched. This does not happen to people every day.

– We cannot talk about the ongoing Synod of Bishops itself, as we respect the Holy See’s request for media silence. What can be said, however, is that the Catholic Church is on the way to change its focus from a former European dominance to other continents, especially the southern hemisphere, which focus can also be recognized in the selection of new cardinals. As a few days have already passed since the announcement, perhaps you had time to think about why you were chosen as a European, and also as a Hungarian cardinal, who is one of the pastors serving in another country, Serbia. What do you think, what was the logic of the Pope with your nomination?
– To be honest, I don’t know the answer, and I don’t think I ever will. Many people are trying to interpret the list of newly nominated cardinals, many things can be read from it, there are many different points of view. You see: what you said, that I serve in Belgrade as a Hungarian, this is also an interpretation of the papal decision. I am the archbishop of Belgrade, and I assume that Pope Francis wanted one of the new cardinals to be the archbishop of Belgrade. I don’t know if he knows I’m Hungarian. I don’t think this influenced the decision, but my appointment as cardinal may be related to my commitment to the synodal renewal of the Church. I think my active presence in the synodal process matters. Many of the new cardinals are here at the synod for the second year already. And before Covid, we held a diocesan synod in the Diocese of Nagybecskerek, which I led as a bishop at the time – so we can say that even before the Pope started the synodal renewal of the universal church, we already learned in Nagybecskerek, what this would be. Sixty percent of dioceses worldwide have not yet held a diocesan synod. Back home, we can be proud, since the Archdiocese of Belgrade has already finished its diocesan synod. Being in Belgrade, we cannot forget the relationship with the Serbian Orthodox Church and the loving effort that Pope Francis is making to promote the unity of Christians. I am very grateful that as archbishop of Belgrade, I have a brotherly relationship with our Orthodox brothers, and I especially thank Patriarch Porfirije for the brotherhood he shows to me. Of course, if we were to read the interpretations given by the Croatian and Serbian papers on my appointment, we would come across a lot of political ideas: some are happy, some are not.

I am a member of the diverse Catholic Church, which does not exclude or stigmatize, but values diversity.

Even Pope Francis thinks only in terms of church politics, he does not conform to the general, everyday political logic.

– You shared a video on social media, where you express your gratitude for the many kind greetings and congratulations. Did you receive any message from Hungarian church leaders, can they reach you during the synod?
– I received from many of them: congratulations from friends, colleagues, and relatives… I couldn’t even answer them all, since most people want to call me, and of course it’s impossible to answer all the calls. I also express my thanks to those whom I could not speak to directly. Cardinal Péter Erdő, Primate of Hungary called me a few minutes after 1:00 p.m. on the day of the announcement, and he warmly congratulated me and wished me all the best. This is very important to me. Other Hungarian bishops also approached me and congratulated me kindly and lovingly. I can’t suddenly list everyone right now, but Csaba Ternyák, archbishop of Eger is among them, archbishop of Kalocsa-Kecskemét, Bábel Balázs, Bishop Ferenc Palánki from the Diocese of Debrecen-Nyíregyháza, and Bishop Miklós Beer, who is also a committed supporter of synodal renewal. I have not yet noticed that anyone from the leadership of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has contacted me, even though I was the secretary of this institution for almost two years. Anyway, I got a lot of greetings. But let’s talk about Serbia too, since I am the archbishop of Belgrade: the Serbian president called immediately after the announcement, and the prime minister also called that afternoon. The Serbian Patriarch is currently in Montreal on his apostolic journey, he sent a fantastic, beautiful message from there, several Orthodox bishops also congratulated me, the Croatian Catholic Bishops’ Conference greeted me. I was especially greeted by my Croatian bishop friends, among them Cardinal Josip Bozanić, archbishop emeritus of Zagreb, the entire Albanian episcopal community, Bulgarian, Romanian and Bosnian bishops… What can I say: the kindness of the former Yugoslavia and the surrounding states flows towards me, but I also constantly receive kind messages from many other European and non-European countries. A man is a man. I have joy and gratitude in my heart.

– You arrived at the current synod of bishops as an archbishop, and you will leave as an appointed cardinal at the end of October. What is changing in your life?
– For now, all I can say is that I have no idea. After the cardinal creation to be held on December 7., and after we celebrated together with the Pope, I will receive my titular church in Rome, and the decisions will come from Pope Francis as to where – if he wants – to use my experience, my cooperation in the various curial offices. Today it would be useless to dream about what awaits me. In two months, I will know more about my new tasks in the future.

– What would you like to tell Hungarian readers from the location of the synod?
– I warmly welcome all dear readers.

I think it would be important for as many of us as possible to enter into a dialogue with each other.

There are many good things here at the synod, and there are many good things in Hungary as well. It would be so nice to bring different insights and experiences closer together, and to jointly reduce the amount of hatred and fear that currently reigns in Hungary.

Written by István Gégény

Fülöp Kocsis: Let’s fulfill the synodal mission!

What significance does the synod have for the Greek Catholic Church? How does synodality influence the future of the Greek Catholic Church? These questions are answered by the Archbishop-Metropolitan of the Hajdúdorog Archdiocese.

– You were one of the church leaders who participated in and spoke at the first session of the papal synod in October 2023. What preparations accompanied your participation?
– As a metropolitan, I am a member of the synod by virtue of my office, so when I learned about the organization of the session, I knew I would be there. The first session was preceded by a long preparation period during which I was continually informed about the proceedings as a leader. After that, I convened the bishops of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church, the Bishop of the Diocese of Miskolc, Father Atanáz Orosz and the Bishop of the Diocese of Nyíregyháza, Father Ábel A. Szocska, to collectively contemplate about the synod.

– During the synod, some questions arose that the Catholic Church had not or only to a limited extent dealt with previously. Did this cause any tension among the participants?
– I did not experience any tension. The worst thing that happened was that I met several sceptical bishops who questioned the validity of the solidarity synod. Contrary to your suggestion, it was not only the topics discussed that raised suspicions but also the presence of laypeople, and it even arose whether we could speak of a valid synod in this case. However, I must also add that the LGBTQ issue that came up during the session divided the participants. Some argued in favor of being more open about homosexuality and many applauded this, while others were opposed to the issue. But

Pope Francis warned us all about an important point: we must not let the media influence our opinion.

That is, we must form our opinions based on the teachings of the Church, not on public opinion.

– What was the conclusion?
– We must welcome everyone into the Church who feels excluded from the community; homosexuals cannot be expelled from the community. I have been in situations myself where I have encountered the exclusion of a homosexual person from the church, so I stood up for them. However, it is very important to note that this is not just about homosexuals but about minorities. The Church must think the same way about all the people of other ethnicities and origins. It is essential that we distinguish between minorities and the LGBTQ community. In this regard, I spoke out at the synod, emphasizing that all those who identify as LGBTQ also support this ideology, which is not right!

– What effect did your speech have?
– It divided the session; some welcomed my opinion and agreed with me while others clearly rejected it.

(Photo: Archdiocese Hajdúdorog)

– How does the modern perspective, which sees people becoming more open to Eastern religions, affect the Greek Catholic Church? Is it conceivable that this will affect the number of faithful communities?
– It is true that reason does not reign in the world today. Westerners are turning to Eastern practices with pleasure, and we must also realize that

rational Western churches cannot satisfy the spiritual yearning of modern people compared to the rich traditions of Eastern churches. But by no means do I think that the number of believers will increase in Eastern churches.

Consider, for example, that the Greek Catholic Church sets high expectations for liturgy; members of the community cannot become Sunday Christians who participate in liturgy as they please. So serious commitment is needed, and this is not attractive to modern people, so Eastern churches will not attract crowds either. Our task as members of the Greek Catholic Church is to offer the richness that our Church possesses to the members of the Roman Catholic Church, as Pope St. John Paul II also encouraged us: let us help Western churches experience the depths of Eastern churches. As for conversions between the Greek Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church, I just signed a request before this interview from someone who wants to belong to the Roman Catholic Church. There are few of these requests (twenty to thirty per year), both in the current setup and vice versa.

– After all this, what do you expect from the second and final session of the synod? How are you preparing your heart for this?
– I do not know, I cannot know what will happen in Rome in October 2024. I can say that I am not preparing my heart, but my Church. We mobilized the groups dealing with the synod in the Hajdúdorog Archdiocese to fulfil the synodal mission. Part of this mission is for every baptized person to feel like a member of the Church, as the teaching also formulates. Unfortunately, I often find that ordinary people think they cannot be members of the Church because it is only for priests and bishops. However,

everyone has a say in the formation of the Church, whether they are a thirty-year-old working young person or a fifty-year-old head of a family, and so on.

I am awaiting the responses of my Church until the second session, and I hope we will fulfil the mission to which Pope Francis has called everyone.

Written by Nikolett Vermes

Photos: Hajdúdorog Archdiocese

Let the Holy Spirit speak

Gábor Mohos, auxiliary bishop and parish priest of the Saint Stephen’s Basilica, representing the Hungarian Roman Catholic community, attended the synod. In our interview we discussed his personal experiences and the papal encouragements during the event.

– You were personally present at the synod. Please tell us about the background. When did you learn that you would represent our community at this extremely important event?
– About a year before the synod I received the honorable invitation. The Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, as its membership does not exceed 25 individuals, was allowed to delegate one representative and the members of the episcopal brothers designated me for this task. I personally considered it a great opportunity as it allowed me to reconnect with a global church event. I fondly remember my first global church experience when, as a third-year seminarian I continued my studies in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where students from more than a hundred countries gathered. Experiencing that we are members of a culturally diverse global church united by our common faith in Jesus Christ was a tremendous gift. This unity was palpable during the synod as well as we were deeply connected through our shared faith although there were some fundamental differences of opinion as well.

– Did you have the opportunity to celebrate Mass with Pope Francis?
– During public masses I had the opportunity to concelebrate, but I did not attend his private masses. It was a grace-filled time and I fondly remember the months leading up to the synod when, as a parish priest, I had the opportunity to welcome Pope Francis to the Saint Stephen’s Basilica with the members of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Hungarian priests celebrating mass on the 8th of October 2023, during the Synod on synodality in the Hungarian chapel of the Vatican (Photo: Vatican Media)

– Many consider the synod as an entirely new ecclesiastical perspective. What is its historical background?
– The Synod of Bishops was established by Pope Saint Paul VI in the period following the Second Vatican Council. Therefore, it is not something entirely new but an institution that has been functioning for over fifty years, convening regularly. It’s essential to mention the extraordinary synods as well, like during the time of Pope Saint John Paul II when synods were organized continentally in preparation for the jubilee year 2000. The institution has been known for almost half a century, so it’s not a novelty. However, there have been modifications initiated by Pope Francis during the last few years. Previously the synods dealt with well-defined issues such as priestly formation, episcopal service, youth, family, or specific issues of a continent.

Synodality is a more general topic that, in a certain sense, concerns the entire Church. This is the reason why Pope Francis decided that now laypeople are also allowed to attend, seventy individuals precisely.

Understandably, this change raised many questions, including whether we would still call it the Synod of Bishops or rather the Synod of God’s people. The Vatican has firmly stated that it will continue to be called the Synod of Bishops but it is undeniable that there have been several changes.

– So, renewal did not begin recently?
– The Synod is the fruit of the Second Vatican Council. Renewal is an ongoing process and the goal is not complete alteration but to remain on the path so that we may continue to be God’s people in history as it has been for 2000 years. Recall that in the 1960s, a new missal was introduced, and mass began to be celebrated in the vernacular instead of Latin. In 1983, a new code of canon law was issued to incorporate the council’s changes into ecclesiastical legislation. Later, in 1992, Pope Saint John Paul II released the Catechism of the Catholic Church. These changes were all part of implementing the decisions of the Second Vatican Council in practice. I would also like to mention the importance of papal encyclicals which have addressed contemporary issues such as social or fundamental doctrinal questions.

Progress did not begin recently; we have been on this journey for two thousand years.

The Church is not renewed by us, humans but by the Holy Spirit. The central theme of the October synod was to pay attention to the Holy Spirit. This was tangibly realized by praying among the interventions and participating in a common mass at St. Peter’s Basilica before each new session. Pope Francis himself emphasized that we are not conflicting with our human perspectives but discussing certain issues with the suggestion of the Holy Spirit. We must understand that renewal is impossible without the Holy Spirit.

Gergely Kovács, archbishop of Alba Iulia and Gábor Mohos auxiliary bishop on the 30th of September 2023 participating the Together event (Fotó: Boldizsár Szefcsik )

– What message does synodality convey?
– In connection with this, the question arose about how unified of a community we can form, whether we can listen, pay attention to each other. Pope Francis wanted to draw attention to this with the term synodality, a term that many of us are still getting used to. Personally, I can best grasp its meaning through the Acts of the Apostles, where we read about the very first community of believers being of one heart and one soul (cf. Acts 4:32). However, this did not exclude the presence of leaders in the community. We also read that the apostles were the economic and spiritual leaders of the community, acknowledged by the believers (cf. Acts 4:34). The apostles were chosen by Jesus Christ himself and endowed with a grace that made them suitable to lead the Church with supernatural support. It should be noted that this still applies today. Bishops are endowed with the same special grace in serving the Church. Not because they understand theology better or are better speakers, although in some cases this is also true, but because God called them, called us.

– In your experience, can the synod have an impact on the sad fact that, according to statistics, the number of Catholic believers is decreasing?
– It’s an interesting question depending on how we look at this statistic. While surveys unfortunately show a decline in the number of Catholic believers throughout Europe, in other parts of the world more people are joining the Catholic Church even as the number of priests remains stagnant. Take Africa or the Far East, where dynamically growing communities operate. What impact the synod will have on this, remains to be seen. It was interesting when the leaders of the synodal secretariat were asked the same question and their response was: we don’t know as we are led by the Holy Spirit. If we had planned everything in advance, we would not have allowed the Holy Spirit to speak.

The essence of renewal is to be open to God; He is the one who renews us,

who touches us in a creative way and brings out the creativity within us.

Written by Nikolett Vermes

Photo at the top: Magyar Kurír

Austen Ivereigh: The church has been changed

The biographer of Pope Francis participated in the Synod on synodality as a theologian expert. He explained why this assembly was exceptional and how to move forward in the synodal renewal.

– After the first session of the Synod on synodality, what impressions are in your heart?
– Most of us feel that something important has happened, grace has been operating, the Spirit has been active. We have the feeling that we are part of each other – in spite of our differences, which is a sign of the Spirit. The conclusion of the assembly, with the marathon of the 35-hour-long reading of the final document followed by the voting was incredible – the numbers of the votes in favour were very striking, over 95 per cent, on every paragraph of the document.The only exceptions were the two paragraphs on women deacons, but neither of those was close to being opposed by a third. This shows that there was far more unity we hoped for. Something has changed during the session. The assembly ended with a spirit of openness. I think there’s a feeling that “we did it”. What actually happened is harder to explain, because if you look at what has been decided, everything is expressed in terms of proposals: commissions to look at this, we need to explore that. But thinking about where we were at the beginning of October, when the global church assembled for the first time to have conversations in the Spirit at a universal level, which has never been possible before, it is quite remarkable that we ended the session like this. If we had ended with “okay, we all think differently”, if there had been no agreement on the document summarizing the assembly, we would have to say it had failed. But it’s clear that, in spite of our many, many cultural differences and the incredible diversity of perspectives on the faith, there is a consensus that we must act as a body to wrestle with these complex questions, and find common paths forward.

– So you’re not dissatisfied with the Synod.
– No, I am not, but the real work begins now, and of course, by next October, many of these issues will not have been resolved. The fact that we have committed ourselves to this journey together, we are committed to looking at these issues together from canonical, moral, theological, pastoral perspectives, as the decision has been made to deepen our understanding, shows that we are in a process of ecclesial discernment together, and I find this remarkable. The church has been changed by this and will be changed by this.

We have chosen a vehicle, that is a very different vehicle from what we used to have.

Austen Ivereigh (Photos of this article made by Balázs Gégény)

– Thanks to the media briefings I had the chance to follow the first session of the synod from a distance. I have realised, that one important fruit of the conversations is the recognition that Europe isn’t the centre of the church anymore, the Catholic church is more diverse and multipolar than many of us imagined. Do you think that respecting, or even celebrating this diversity will be a challenge?
– Yes. It’s easy to say that we should celebrate our diversity. The phrase can sound very nice. To choose to stay together and work together despite our differences is quite hard work, and it demands an existential displacement which was painful to some during the assembly. What I mean is, we had a format and a method. This was the first time we had had a Synod of Bishops which had 25% of non-bishops and a few of the bishops found it hard to accept that. Some of them questioned the authority of the synod. We had moments of tension, which shows how hard work it has been. This was also a Synod at which the global church asserted itself over the western church. Participants from Africa or from the Middle East were saying: your priorities are not my priorities; your churches are empty, ours are full; you have hardly anybody trying for priesthood, our seminaries are full; you use ‘LGBT’, that’s not our term – it’s a western, liberal, ideological term. These are difficult things to hear! Sometimes, you know, voices like this come with a certain arrogance. And the fact that LGBT is missing in the final document is a sign of that. It was in many continental documents, it was in the Instrumentum Laboris, but it got taken out in the revision of the synod synthesis. But this reflects what happened. In many ways, we didn’t begin a conversation on this issue because we couldn’t start having a conversation on it since we’re not ready for it; for some parts of the Church, even the term ‘LGBT’ is hard to use. You might say, ‘okay, there’s a failure there’, but I don’t consider as a failure since we have never had this kind of conversation, on this level, as a global church. It’s vital that everyone can say what they think and we are honest about our differences. Only then can we begin to come together. While on some issues, like the women’s issue, we worked hard, and the documents show some important breakthroughs, such as on the diaconate question, on some other issues the conversation began but never really developed. So we were able to work together on many issues, but not all. This is the first of two stages. My point is, that it’s a success itself that we were able to begin an honest conversation, and at the end, to agree to continue this conversation.

– Let’s speak about your participation. There were two groups of non-bishops at the Synod: the voting members and a group of theologian experts. What were you doing during this session?
– There were 364 members of the Synod, meaning they had a vote and they had the right to speak. They took part in the small groups discussion meetings. There was another category of the fraternal delegates, invitees from other churches. They were also in the small groups; they could speak but they didn’t have a vote. And there was the group, known as experts, about 80 people in total. Most of them were facilitators who sat in on the small groups, guiding the process, but weren’t formally part of them. Their job was to facilitate the process. Finally, there was a smaller group of 24 theologians such as myself. We didn’t sit with the members, we sat at our own tables, in the same room when a plenary session was being conducted. When they were working in small groups, we did our work. It was to read everything coming out of the assembly or from small groups and as well as individual contributions. We worked on a synthesis to assist the writing of the Synthesis report. So we were the ones who were standing back, observing the process, helping the groups of writers to compose the final synthesis document. The writing of the report was also overseen by a commission elected by the assembly.

– As a theologian, what’s your answer to those who doubted the validity of the Synod?
– The answer to this question was very clearly given by Cardinal Grech in the assembly, who referred to Episcopalis Communio of 2018, which makes clear, first of all, that the Synod is a consultative body, called by the Pope to give him advice, and the Pope is free to arrange the Synod how he wants. It also says, as long as 75% of the voting members are bishops, it is a synod of bishops. What happened here was that 25% of the members were non-bishops. They were priests, religious men and women, deacons, and lay men and women, most of them delegates of 7 continents. Their contributions mattered very much. They were listed as “witnesses to the synodal journey”. According to Cardinal Grech,

this Synod had actually a greater authority because it was rooted in the “sense of faith” of the People of God. So the authority of the bishops is actually strengthened by the “others” present at the Synod.

The final document says there are canonical questions to be answered about how – at the end of the process – our bishops will be able to exercise their hierarchical charism of authority. Some think, for example, that should be a vote of only bishops at the end of the process next year. But I think there was a consensus that the Synod was richer because of the presence of non-episcopal members. You got a variety of people fulfilling a variety of roles in the Church from around the globe.

– I also heard many bishops, cardinals said that this Synod was much better because it wasn’t just one big hall of bishops, with some of them talking at the front table, but it was a fruitful conversation thanks to the roundtables.
– It was really better. In the former system, under Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, it worked like this: in the first week, everyone could speak for 10 minutes on whatever topic they wanted. Literally, about everything! It was chaotic. One bishop described it as like being on a transatlantic flight without movies. There wasn’t really any discussion. Under Francis, the synods have become more dynamic, but no doubt, moving the whole event into the audience hall with the roundtables was a great breakthrough. I don’t think anybody wants to go back to the earlier system now. People also loved the retreat at the beginning, it really helped them to enter prayerfully into the process. At the heart of the roundtables was the conversation in the Spirit method, whichwas also new to the synod of bishops: each member speaking for 4 minutes, no discussion, just listening. Then silence. Then a second round during which you, rather than debating, shared what resonated in your heart about what you had just heard. At the third stage they would try to reach agreement on where the group agreed, where they disagreed, and what further steps were necessary to clarify and take things forward. This method means having to listen deeply to other people but, unlike a parliamentary system, you don’t seek to convince others; it wasn’t an attempt at negotiation or persuasion. The idea was to listen deeply, and hear what the Spirit was saying to us. And it worked! When someone tried to persuade someone of their point of view, there was a negative reaction to that. It’s not about persuading others, it’s trying to find out what the Spirit is trying to say to the Church. It’s a collective search for the truth which has a very different dynamic. Many have said, “hey look, we’ve got something here that the world needs”. In this time of war and polarization we’ve found a method, actually a very old method dating back to the early church which allows consensus, but also allows divisions to be generative and fruitful instead of being polarizing. We don’t have to settle our differences by majority-minority votes, we can grow into a consensus, which is neither A, nor B, but something else, a different horizon. It was a learning process for everyone, and it was hard for some; people got impatient. But by the end, In think the view was: this works and this is how we should operate, as a Church, at every level.

– What do you suggest for local and national churches in which the clergy and the lay people seem to be far from each other?
– The Church is in a state of crisis in the western world, because the structures and mindset in many ways were set up in a way to defend ourselves from modernity, from hostile states and so onThese structures were made to survive and even thrive in modernity. But modernity is breaking down and the Church is not well equipped for the listening and dialogue that a postemodern society of seekers demands. It is no longer enough to say to people, “we have the answers, don’t worry we’ll tell you what to do and what to think” by the bishops and the pope. It just does not work anymore. The question arises: how do we proceed?

Patriarchalism, authoritarianism don’t work any longer. But nor does a parliament-like system at a time when democracy itself is breaking down. We rather need to recover the way given by Jesus to the Church. He said to the disciples: do not worry, the Spirit will lead you,

and that is what happened when the apostles all assembled at the Council of Jerusalem, 20 years after Pentecost. There was a breakthrough, a coming-together around a new horizon opened by the Spirit. But it required all to assemble, and all to be involved in the listening and discernment, and the authorities to decide only at the conclusion fo that listening and discernment. This is what synodality is, putting into practice what Lumen Gentium says about us being the People of God, by the virtue of our baptism, and about the Spirit being poured out on all of the baptized. We have to start to take this seriously in the structures and in the culture of the Church. That’s what this really is about, what the whole Synod on synodality is about. This assembly is an attempt to act like this at a global level, with the Synod of Bishops, making the participation of all important. It is the reason why we have a religious sister alongside a deacon or a layman or a bishop and a cardinal. We are all engaged in this together although we have different functions, different roles. However, we’re, first of all, the people of God, engaged in this collective discernment, listening to what the Spirit is saying to the Church..

– How can we use our time best between the two sessions of the synod?
– As Cardinal Grech said at the last briefing: we hope that the participants will now go back to their churches, with their feelings, transformations, testimonies from the Synod, to suggest having conversation in the Spirit at every level in the Church – diocesan level, pastoral councils, parishes. When people participate in the Church, they take responsibility, the Church can become missionary, evangelizing. The three go together: missionary, evangelizing and participating. Now we have a year, and if you look through the document, a lot has to happen this year. Realistically, I think, much of it isn’t going happen because we’re at the beginning of this journey. The trouble is that our local churches, whether in Hungary or in the UK or in America or in France, are not ready for this. We don’t have the proper mechanisms and culture at hand. No parish is going take this document and suddenly form groups to debate, I doubt it. It’s going be more difficult. But we can begin to open windows identified by the assembly, to create commissions, and come up with proposals, and bring those experiences to the next assembly.

– My last question is based on the title of your book, Let Us Dream. What could lay people do to achieve their dreams within the Church?
– I often tell this story when I’m asked about how all of this works in practice. In February ‘22 I gave a workshop in my parish on the conversation in the Spirit. People loved it, and said we need to use it in the parish. And then everyone went away and nothing happened. Some time passed, Putin invaded Ukraine, and my parish priest, the abbot of a monastery, asked what we should do. I proposed to call a synodal meeting. What makes it synodal, and not a business meeting, was that we didn’t ask, how do we help Ukrainians? The question was: what is the Holy Spirit asking us to do? We need to begin there, it’s a discernment question. So I advertised the day, and on the occasion, we had people coming to our parish, but not just from our church. Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists participated, too… They had no idea about the conversation in the Spirit method, so I had to teach them first. As a result, we were gathered in four different groups, made up of Catholics, Anglicans etc. all discussing what we are asking from the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the whole morning of discernment was the realisation: yes, we should open our houses to the refugees, but more importantly, that in the future we should work together as churches in the whole area, we should build unity among us. We realized that the main challenge for us was not having the material resources, but are we capable of working together? Do we have communion? It shows the essence of the synodal method: the Spirit would point at things you hadn’t expected. As the result, we did create a group, which is ecumenical, and at the moment various families are housing six families in the area.

I encourage you to always start with the question: what is the Holy Spirit asking of us at this time? The ‘us’ can be a parish, a school, it can be a diocese. First of all, you have to start facing the reality you’re living in.

Make sure you listen as widely as possible, listen to as many different people as you can. Have a consultation phase when you’re just listening. Later, have another phase when you’re discerning, using the conversation in the Spirit method so you’ll listen for what the Spirit is saying to you through all of this. It should be one or two things, don’t make a long list, find the most important issues. Finally, the last question is how to do it, how to move forward, but this really should be the last question, and only if there is consensus in the earlier ones. Any organization, any school, any institution, can do this. Begin with prayer, begin with the word of God, learn to listen, use the conversation in the Spirit method, be aware of the temptation to always have to have a debate and to turn into a business meeting. The church is not a corporation, is not an NGO. If you want a business meeting, go into business. If it’s the church, you do it in the church’s way, meaning: synodally. I believe we are all called to do that: it is only by practice you get to discover what it means. You’ll see its fruits. And we, who lived it in Rome, we know how hard work it is, sometimes painful and difficult, it requires commitment but its fruits are very, very great. It is transformative. Most people, when they do it, realise: this is how the church should be.

Written by István Gégény

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Austen Ivereigh’s new book, First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis is published by Messenger Press in February.

Church is not a monster, but a round table, without sharp edges

A workshop of the Taizé Meeting held in Ljubljana focused on the achievements and the open questions of synodality.

„Synodality in the Church – a new way of being together” was the title of the conversation on the 30th of December 2023 in the Slovenian capital. The guest speakers were: Grzegorz Ryś, Catholic cardinal, archbishop of Łódz, member of the Synod (Poland), Maksimilijan Matjaž, Catholic bishop of Celje, member of the Synod (Slovenia), Ove Sander, Evangelical Lutheran elected bishop (Estonia) and Matej Cepin, lay director of Socialna Akademija (Slovenia). The leader of the dialogue was István Gégény, Catholic lay theologian, president of Szemlélek Foundation (Hungary).

As a first step all the participants of the workshop were asked about 2 questions, so we got to know, that the majority already has some information about synodality, but a very few participated actively in the synodal process.

Cardynal Ryś expressed, that Synod on synodality is important, but their were also important synods before. He is convinced for example, that focusing on youth in the church is a core topic, because young people are not the future of the church, they are the present of the church.

Matej Cepin shared a story that goes back in the time before the synodal process: after organizing a „reading club” on the theme of Fratelli tutti during the pandemic period, he recognized that the synodal process is like a way how to put into action what they read and what they did with that group of people, as a model of ’togetherness’.

He also mentioned, that as a man of IT science, he believes that synodality based on the logic of synergy, that expressed like: 1+1=3. It means that

if 2 person enters to a mutual sharing, a real dialogue, the result will be more than if they shall stay alone, without being together.

Cardinal Ryś shared some details about his archdiocese: he is glad that 7000 Catholics participated in the synodal process’ local stage, but he is sad, that only 7000 Catholics participated from a few hundred thousands of believers.

As told by bishop Matjaž, Slovenian people – mostly the priests, bishops – was ’tired’ to participate actively in the process, we have to confess it. We heard also that the Slovenian Catholic Church is ’very clerical’.

Bishop Sander warned not to be unsatisfied, we have to be patient:

big things in such big structures like the church needs not months, not years, but decades to happen.

We heard that the participation of other denominations and ecumenical representers – like Brother Alois – in the Synod is not just a lovely gesture from Pope Francis. He is convinced that we can learn also from those who is not part of the Catholic church, but they also have some connection, experience with synodality.

In Hungary, a synodal survey highlighted that the majority of the participants (mostly devoted Catholics) did not participate in the local stage of the synodal process, because they were not informed that it is possible for them.

The Catholic communication is in crisis in our region – came out a strong sentence.

During the workshop we tried to understand, why is it important to join to the synodal process, what is this synodality exactly, what is this new way of being together.

One of the participants suggested – from Germany – to think on the word ’Geschwisterlichkeit’, what means ’brotherhood’ and ’sisterhood’ at the same time as a plural expression.

Cardinal Ryś quoted Cardinal Koch’s phrase, that synodality is not about being together as people, but walking together with the Holy Spirit. So without Holy Spirit there is no synodality.

It was also a common sentence from the guests that synodality is not such a process that has an ending point, and even more: synodality is not about creating documents.

Synodality is a way, that is not really new, better to say it’s ’the original way of the Church’.

We also tried to express the lack of synodality.

The moderator called the attention to the fact that this was the first synod where the organizers used dozens of round tables, not to collect all the members into a big audition halls, where a few ’leaders’ speaking at the ’front’ table. According to that, the model of synodality is like a round table, that has no sharp edges, where there are no few important leaders who are speaking and the majority has only right to listen and obey. In synodality we all counts, we all have talents, we all have the right to speak and being listened. Hierarchy is still useful, leaders will stay leaders, but model of making decisions shall be more fraternal, not clerical any more.

Cardinal Ryś warned us from being a ’monster church’ that has only a big head and fingers (based on the words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux).

Bishop Sander shared his experience that as understanding better what is going on in the universal Catholic church, he recognized that even their Estonian Evangelical Lutheran church is on the way of such a synodal renewal in these years.

As the fruit of this workshop we recognized a great hiatus of the synodal process that shall be healed. Lay people are invited, involved. Religious orders, spiritual movements are invited, involved. Bishops are obviously invited, involved. Who are missing? The priest! A very few priest participated in the Synod, they are somehow forgotten, or they are at the end of the line.

If we want a real renewal, the church has to focus more on the priests, listen to their voice, involve them, motivate them,

and it is also important to form them, even in the meaning of synodal formation in the seminaries.

The main message we expressed through this workshop: their is no plan ’B’, the future of the church is synodality. If there will be no synodality, their won’t be church.

James Martin: Even though we disagree, we are still brothers in Christ

The American Jesuit became a worldwide known pastor of those who are feeling persecuted out of the Catholic church because of their sexual orientation. He is convinced that this is not only a “Western” topic.

– What are your reflections on the first session of this synod, how do you feel about the proceedings so far?
– I’m feeling very grateful for having been invited by the Holy Father to participate. It was really quite an honor. And the four weeks was both fascinating and exhausting! So mainly I’m filled with gratitude.

– Can you recall a particularly interesting detail of this 4-week-long meeting and did you miss something you had expected to happen or be discussed?
– Perhaps the most important facet of the Synod was how we were able to dialogue with one another at our tables, through the method of „conversations in the spirit,” which emphasized listening and discernment. In the first round at our tables, everyone was able to speak without any interruptions, which meant that everyone else had to listen. In the second round, everyone spoke about what moved them or challenged them, again without interruption. And, finally, in the third round we were able to have a more free-flowing dialogue. So there was a lot of listening involved. Then we summarized our conversations under the headings of „convergences,” „divergences,” „questions” and „tensions,” so there was not a move towards a false consensus, but on truly recounting what had happened at the tables. It was very fruitful.

– You are a well-known pastor of LBGT+ people. How did you come to terms with the fact that the expression ‘LGBT’ is missing from the Synthesis report – although all the 7 continental documents and even the Instrumentum Laboris contained it and, all in all, the topic is not excluded at all?
– This was not a surprise to me. Some of the delegates, from various places, objected to that term „LGBTQ” or „LGBT+.” So the drafters felt it would be better to leave it out. But still in the final document there is a strong call to accompany those who feel excluded because of „identity or sexuality” (in the Italian it is because of „gender identity and sexual orientation”) and to deepen our reflection and study of their situations, as well as of others who feel excluded. For me, I think it’s important to use that term, since that’s what most LGBTQ people use. But in the end it was more important for the idea of accompaniment of the group to be included. Also, I want to say that

I was happy throughout the Synod to speak to people who did not agree with me on LGBTQ issues in a cordial and open way: for example, Archbishop Péter Fülöp Kocsis,

the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archeparchy of Hajdúdorog and the head of the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church. We had a good and honest discussion and afterwards took a photo together. It was a reminder that even though we disagree, we are still brothers in Christ. I was very grateful to him for our conversation.

– As I see it, the main aim of the synodal process is to change the form of discussion from the ‘judging from above’ style into a ‘listening beside you’ style. What does synodality mean for you, and do you believe that the dream of Pope Francis can actually be realised?
– Synodality is a confusing word–and concept–for many people. At heart, it means coming together to listen to one another, and it is a reminder that the Holy Spirit is at work in all of us, not just cardinals, archbishops and bishops. Of course this new way of „being a church” will take time for people to understand and to put into practice. It’s very ancient–after all, the Council of Jerusalem, in the Acts of the Apostles, was perhaps the earliest such gathering. But doing it in modern times–with priests, members of religious orders and lay men and women, and not just bishops, having voting rights–is brand new. Synods were revived after the Second Vatican Council, but only with Pope Francis do „non-bishops” have the right to attend and vote. So all this will take time.

– As the first session had ended, news about the 6 answers of the Discastery for Doctrine of the Faith arrived. As declared in them, being transgender or gay poses no problem to people to be godparents, witnesses of a marriage, being baptized, given the appropriate circumstances. What is your reaction to this statement?
– It was a very positive step in seeing transgender people not as categories or stereotypes, but as real people, and also as Catholics. I’m no expert in this area but, at the very least, these people need to know that they are part of the church, just like everyone else is. They need the church a great deal, given all the violence and hatred that they face. And of course the church needs everyone too, no matter who they are. I know the whole phenomenon may be confusing to some people, but I know many transgender people and they just want to be part of the community.

– I participated in almost every media briefing during the first sessions and clearly, the most frequent questions asked by journalists from all over the world focused on LGBT issues. How do you feel about this fact and can you share your opinion about what message it delivers?
– Well, some people might say it’s just a „media issue,” but I would say that the media covers it because people are obviously interested in it. And, more and more, the issue affects a greater number of people around the world, as more and more people have family members and friends who are LGBT. Also,

some people say it’s just a „Western issue,” but LGBT people are in every country. So while it’s not the most important issue discussed at the Synod, it was certainly an important one,

as the church continues to reflect on how to minister to this community, who are so often the victims of violence, harassment and bullying.

– What is your message to the LGBT people who expected a bigger step by the universal church towards them, and what would you tell to those who fear that the Catholic church may be too ‘liberal’, even ‘self-destructive’ if it becomes more open/inclusive regarding LGBT people?
– To LGBT people who were expecting more, I would say that the Synod is not juridical–that is, it does not make laws. It is consultative. But I’d also say that the concerns of LGBT people were discussed on a universal level for perhaps the first time in church history. Also, I would point to many positive steps forward that have happened for LGBTQ people under Pope Francis, the most recent one being, as you said, the openness to transgender people. As for people who fear that the church is being „self-destructive” by welcoming LGBTQ people, I would invite them to come to know LGBT people as human beings. Some of this fear, I believe, is from a certain lack of knowledge or from seeing these people simply as categories or stereotypes. And for people who are concerned that LGBTQ people may not be following church teaching in one or another area, I would say that no one’s life is in perfect conformity with church teaching. Consider, for example, straight married couples who use birth control, which is a large percentage of Catholics, at least in the US. This too is considered sinful by the church, yet no one is saying that they are „destroying” the church. Some of the animosity against LGBTQ people is seeing them primarily as a result of an „ideology,” which I think is inaccurate. Gays and lesbians–as most psychologists, biologists and scientists will tell you–are largely born that way. It’s a complicated topic, and while the media may influence some impressionable teenagers, in the end, a person does not become gay by reading a book or watching a video on YouTube. (There were gay people long before social media, after all.) Second, some of the opposition comes from seeing them as a result of „Western colonialism,” when in fact they exist, and have probably always existed, in every country. And, by the way, another form of colonialism comes from American media outlets and other wealthy political groups spreading anti-LGBTQ hatred overseas. We have to understand that kind of „colonialism” as well. But beyond these more intellectual arguments, the main thing is to see them as human beings.

Get to know them. Ask them what their lives are like, how they suffer, who God is for them.

Then you’ll see them as your brothers and sisters.

Written by István Gégény

Opening photo: László Német, archbishop of Beograd

You can reach the Hungarian translation here.

Myriam Wijlens: The members of the church need to talk with each other

The Dutch-born professor of the University of Erfurt is not only participating in the synod, but also taking an active role in the preparation. At the end of the first session, we sat down to talk about cultural diversity, lonely bishops and wall-breaking walks.

– What is your task during the synodal process?
– In 2021, I was invited by Cardinal Mario Grech to participate in the work of the steering committee. I was the only woman in this team, along with three Italian priests and a bishop. From the very beginning of the synodal process, I actively participated in the preparation of the documents, I was present at the expert meeting preparing the continental phase in Frascati in September 2022, and at the European continental meeting in Prague in February 2023. In the meantime, Pope Francis appointed me as a consultor to the synod itself. I was also invited to participate in the first synodal session held in October 2023, where I assisted the assembly as an expert. There are four canon lawyers in this team: one of my colleagues, Péter Szabó arrived from Hungary, one person originates from Belgium and another from Spain. I was part of the English-language working group, and our task was to read the summaries of the discussions of the synodal members and examine on which topics there was agreement, where tension might have arisen, what issues require more theological deepening, and what further steps are needed.

– It seems that very active work took place during this session. Those who followed the event from a distance may feel that little of the expectations and desired renewal steps appear in the synthesis report issued at the end of October.
– We are witnessing a tremendous change. The synod itself is implemented in a completely different way than previous similar meetings. It had never happened before that the local churches were not told something from above, from Rome – now Pope Francis decided: you, the members of the local communities, will start the process. The first step was to establish mutual sharing and direct interaction between the local churches and the universal church. And when the dioceses sent their comments to the bishops’ conference, the focus was on whether the pastors had heard and understood well what the other faithful said. Clarification and feedback therefore played an eminent role. During the next step we wanted to enable the people in the dioceses to listen to what others in other parts of the world had said: in this way the faithful from e.g. Budapest could listen to the message of the faithful living in New York, Kinshasa, and Mumbai. This is what is expressed with the notion of being catholic as Vatican II articulated it.: each part of the church shares its own gifts with the others. This was the essence of our work in Frascati:

the representatives of the individual areas should not only tell their thoughts, but we should listen to each other, so that the voice of the Holy Spirit as heard through the whole church could reach everyone.

With this, everyone can explore how their own community can become a part of the symphony in a huge orchestra. Some people can play this or that instrument very well, but it is important to be tuned in the same way. And it is not enough to have a dialogue between the universal church and local communities, we must recognize that each continent has unique features. The Catholic communities of Asia, for example, have two thousand years of experience about how they can live together and be in contact with other religions that are the same age or even older than Christianity. Europe is characterized by the dominance of Christian culture, but our continent also has many differences in this regard. We therefore invited the Catholics of the world to listen to each other. I just published a book containing the results of all the continental conferences. It contains not only what the Catholics of the world formulated, but also how they arrived at the stated realizations. True diversity characterized the synod, in which we used the same method – conversation in the Spirit – that also characterized the continental councils. It was not by chance that we used round tables for the conversations instead of square tables, because in the latter case there is always one most important person who sits at the head of the table. The round table expresses a kind of Christian equality that based on our baptism. Another innovation is the fact that people from completely different cultures listened to each other. They did not preach to each other, but listened to each other. Everyone had the same amount of time to share their thoughts. And just as different communication cultures met – for example, we, Dutch people are outspoken, while a woman from Asia is more likely to being silent until she is given permission to speak – it is also true from an ecclesiastical point of view that some cardinals were very willing to speak, while some believers wondered: who am I, could I dare to comment? The rule that everyone had the same 4 minutes in the same sharing round helped ensure that those sitting at the tables heard each other.

– This was the first synod of bishops where lay people, including women, were given the right to vote, and their voices were heard in the same way as those of church leaders. How did the bishops and cardinals accept this new situation?
– I can tell you what I heard myself from the bishops who had participated in six or seven episcopal synods. They all expressed that the current method was quite different, because personal statements did not clash with each other, but they said all paid attention to what the Holy Spirit wanted to say to us about how to be a Church. I heard from many bishops how enriching this one month was for them, they got to know many new perspectives about the church. I think it was especially valuable to pay attention to the testimony of religious women, because they don’t just talk about the poor, they live there and serve among them. They live with the dying, those with rockets exploding overhead, who had to leave their homes. If anyone understands and knows the feelings of homeless, poor and needy people, it is the nuns. They live in a world that is foreign to many of us. I also hear about it, read about it, but I have no personal experience.

The participation of women in the synod and the hearing of their voices is extremely important because the majority of church communities are made up of women,

and we mainly meet them in the service of caritas. The obvious question arose for the bishops: how can we leave women out of such an important conversation?

– So the church leaders welcomed the presence of women in the synod session?
– I believe so, and the same is true in connection with lay men. There was, for example, an online communication expert who is familiar with the digital world. He communicated to us in what world the Church is operating or not operating while we can see how people are moving on the internet and what the church has to discover there. We are talking about a rapidly developing area where young people feel most at home, and bishops cannot avoid the question of how we can bear witness to our faith in an environment about which we currently know very little of. It is as if we are entering a new mission era, where we are not travelling from Europe to Africa, but are moving from the real world to the digital world. For this we must take the necessary steps. This requires appropriate media and communication training. You have to go where people are, because they don’t care where you are.

Prof. Dr. Myriam Wijlens meets Pope Francis

– The central theme of the current synod on synodality is the reality and function of the church itself. As our conversation shows, clerics and lay people used to live side by side. When I had a conversation with Cardinal Grech a year ago, it became clear that it is an important task to say goodbye to clericalism, religious selfishness, which can tempt lay people as well. This, however, would require much more dialogue, listening, and openness on the part of the members of both groups. I don’t know how common it is, but in Hungary a particular fear can be felt by the church leaders regarding the laity, while the laity do not really look for the possibility of dialogue due to a kind of disappointment. How can we break down these invisible walls?
– The first thing that comes to mind is how it struck me, when bishops shared their feeling of loneliness.

– Really?
– Yes, many bishops feel lonely. And they feel a lot of expectations that they are unable to meet. They should be present in the church as fathers and judges at the same time – the latter role arises, for example, in connection with abuses committed by members of the church. The mentioned clericalism is closely related to abuse issues. I was also a member of the Pontifical Committee for Protection of Minors between 2018 and 2022, I participated in 100 procedures, so I know quite well what I’m talking about. My answer to the question is that, because of all this, we must definitely find ways of dialogue.

We need to talk with each other. Sometimes it is difficult to sit down at the same table. But why can’t we walk, why can’t we literally walk together?

A trip, a pilgrimage, a walk together in which we ask each other: what about you, how are things going? In this way, we can invite each other to look together at the blisters that lie in our souls, to open up mutually to each other for help, for being served. I know that winter is coming, but even then we will surely find time, a nice afternoon, when we can organize a parish walk, a joint walk with the young people, to listen to them, priests can also walk with each other. The great thing about walking is that you don’t have to constantly look at the other person, and this situation often makes it easier to open up and listen to each other.

Written by István Gégény

Opening photo: Anthony Tynan-Kelly

You can reach the Hungarian translation here.