The May 17, 60th World Day of Communications, occurred before Pentecost Sunday, when all heard a harmonious praise of God, despite differences in language and culture.

Global frustration over barriers to respectful conversation and the proliferation of false news demands a Church response to today’s Babel of division and discord.

Divisions demand Church response

Courageously, Pope Francis acknowledges, “We say one thing with words, but our actions and reality tell another story.” (Fratelli Tutti 22)

Tragically, we must address the divisions within the Church before we can become prophetic witnesses to unity and harmony.

The early Church’s unity, sharing of all things, and care for the poor elicited amazement, “See how these Christians love one another.” (1 Peter 1:22-23)

It was followed by millennia of codifying doctrine, radical distinctions between clergy and laity and institutionalisation.

Vatican II’s unfinished reform

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), reading the “signs of the times”, recognized the crisis of modernity’s secularization and decline of faith.

Evangelii Gaudium emphasized the Church as the “People of God” on a journey, the radical equality of Baptism, and the variety of gifts of all. It rejected clericalism and abuse of power.

There has been profound and ongoing disharmony over its direction and ecclesiology. Many responded enthusiastically; others resisted vigorously.

Some even misdiagnosed Vat II as the cause of discord rather than a needed reform.

Synods

In continuity with Vatican II, Pope Francis began reforms to make synods credible and effective today.

In October 2021, he opened the Synodal Path, acknowledging Jesus meets us “where we are, on the often rocky roads of life” and called us to “encounter, listen and discern…with the hearing of the heart.”

“Practiced with humility, the synodal style enables the Church to be a prophetic voice in today’s world…A path of spiritual renewal and structural reform.” (28)

Seated at round tables, erasing the rigid distinction between the teaching and the learning church, participants identified a wide range of issues.

In stunning contradiction, Pope Francis intervened to say doctrine was not to be discussed, ensuring doctrine would be.

Then, in a powerful witness to synodality, Francis did not issue an Apostolic Exhortation interpreting the synod but decreed the Final Report, For a Synodal Church: Communion. Participation, Mission, itself to be Church teaching.

The path ahead

The Synodal Path outlined the practical steps with local Church follow up in 2026.

Sadly, they have had varied support and even outright rejection of “a constitutively synodal Church” as a “linguistic novelty.”

2027 Diocesan Synodal Teams and 2028 Continental Assemblies continue the process.

Twelve Study Groups were established to address “contentious issues” including the role of bishops, seminary formation, the role of women and care of the poor.

The final document states, “What is of the Spirit cannot be stopped.” (60) “Conversations in the Spirit” are an iterative loop; never closed.

In Hippo, Pope Leo called for the model of church based “on the harmony of faith, affections, ideas and life decisions centered on the love of God who became man to save all the peoples of the earth.”

This is the glorious harmony of Pentecost. Open to the Spirit, may we break through the discord in the Church to contribute to a global symphony of praise to God.

• Nuala Kenny is a Sister of Charity in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a pediatrician. An officer of the Order of Canada since 1999, she has published several books, including Healing the Church (Novalis, 2012) and Rediscovering the Art of Dying (2017). She is co-author of Still Unhealed: Treating the Pathology in the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis (Novalis and Twenty-Third Publications, 2019). She most recently published A Post-Pandemic Church: Prophetic Possibilities (Novalis and Twenty-Third Publications, 2021).