We have been meditating in recent DM’s on the round model of the recent synod in Rome.  It comes from the Global South. 

Logo of CELAM: Episcopal Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean. Wikimedia Commons.

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, spoke recently about how in 2007 CELAM (the Episcopal Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean) met in Aparecida, Brazil.  That conference was “a kind of synodal process of the South American bishops” and “the only continent that has made such a synodal process.” 

It resulted in the bishops developing “a kind of dynamic of working together and looking for solutions together.”  Its purpose was “better evangelization” in order to “accompany the people in their suffering, in their difficulties, and in their challenges.” 

A commission was appointed to write a document addressing how to “transmit the faith from one generation to the next” in a new cultural context, and Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina—the future Pope Francis—was chosen president of that commission.

Pope Francis, once referred to as “the People’s Pope,” here among the people in St. Peter’s Square in 2013, two months after his election. Photo by Edgar Jimenez on Wikipedia.

When Cardinal Pierre read it, he exclaimed: “My God, this is new!”  He saw it as “a new pastoral approach.  I saw it working in Mexico.  It changes the church.” 

Nine years later, arriving in the US, he was “astounded that many of the bishops didn’t know what had happened in Aparecida” because “what has happened was not banal. It was the beginning of what we live today….The whole South American church has made a tremendous effort at synodality.” 

Cardinal Pierre recognizes that “almost nobody comes [to church] anymore…so Pope Francis said ‘Go out of the church.’ But we still remain in the church. Why?” This is why Pope Francis says, “I want a missionary church.  I want a church of the poor that goes out to the poor.” 

When asked about the US church, Cardinal Pierre says that “We cannot just go to sleep…. We have structures, [but] the question is ‘Do they work?’”*


*See article HERE.

See Matthew Fox, “Sexuality and Compassion: From Climbing Jacob’s Ladder to Dancing Sarah’s Circle,” in Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion, pp. 36-67.

See also, Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, pp. 215f. 

And Fox, A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity.

Banner image: Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, the second largest basilica in the world after the Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican City. Wikipedia. Creative Commons.


Queries for Contemplation

“Almost nobody comes to church anymore.”  Do you think a more round ecclesial structure would make a difference in organized Christianity today? And in other institutions as well? What other issues are at stake?

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3 thoughts on “Round Models of Organization: Can They Work?”

  1. There is an Indigenious Prophecy that tells us that this is the time for One Heart, One Mind and One Drum; and that this is the time of Illumination, the return of the Spirit and Sacred Teachings of White Buffalo Calf Woman, also known as the Medicine Wheel Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers; that when followed and put into practice might lead humanity to live in peace and harmony with All Our Relations.

    These Sacred Medicine Wheel Teachings of Round/Circular Awareness, helps humanity to recognize and remember the natural order of the Sacred Hoop of all life; that being its interconnections, interrelationships and interdependencies that neccissitates Wholeness.

    Without this Down-to-Earth awareness of being and living WITHIN and respecting this natural order of Oneness and embodying the essence of the Spirit of HUMILITY, HONESTY, RESPECT, COURAGE, WISDOM, TRUTH and LOVE; already seeded within the depths of our true Soul/Self, simply needing to be nurtured and cultivated… humanities heirarchal man-made institutional structures will continue to become the peril that deeply affects the natural order of all life.

  2. The Divine Feminine Mystic Voice, Love, and Wisdom needs to be developed in our hearts~Souls and lives with one another in the Circle of Life as described in the DM Comments of yesterday by Melinda and today by Jeanette…

  3. Changing church conversations into circular conferences will not change the dynamics. of inequality and the abuse of power that infests organized religion. The rampant cover-ups of sexual abuse, along with the disgusting attempts to evade paying the settlements of the lawsuits, has dramatically tainted the “brand” of all organized religions. And the continuing male dominance in organized religions is reflected in every single facet of their interpretation of their faith, from the theology they choose, which so “coincidentally” protects their power, to the ways male clergy members ignore, dismiss or, all-too-frequently, man-splain and man-own (colononialize) women’s ideas and research — often right in from of them while in those round, supposedly “egalitarian” conference rooms.

    Organized religions have boxed themselves into unyielding, arrogant, culturally-outdated, power-abusing interpretations of Christianity that violate Jesus’s teachings. The fact that these organized religions prefer a religious message of power and male dominance, instead of Jesus’s message of equality and humility, means that the stampede of people away from these religions may be a sign that people have gotten fed up with all the lies, discrimination and abuse, and the dramatic exodus of disappointed faithful will continue. The organized religions are not willing to bend to the voice of the people.

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