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Which are the most important reform issues for you?

 
 
Are you concerned about the way the Church is managed?

Pope Francis has called for a new synodality that would permeate the whole church. It would promote communion and participation to make the Church more fit for mission. Clearly, such a synodality will need a change of rules. It should:
  • not deny representation to 99% of the faithful.
  • not restrict voting rights to a selected group of senior, male, career officials, who are told what they may and may not talk about . . . with their future careers ever on the line.
  • not allow issues raised by the faithful at diocesan level, issues that might prove embarrassing, challenging, indefensible, or simply inconvenient, to disappear anonymously and without explanation as the agenda is developed.
Silencing discussion has not made difficult issues go away.

If the new synodality is allowed to become a reality, then the suppressed issues will surely re-emerge. The sensus fidei will be able to make itself heard and the gaps between it and the magisterium will become so evident that the issues will have to be confronted and discussed.

So many reform issues, have been allowed to accumulate, however, that now the big question is: “Which are the most important?"   
 
As an early exercise in the new synodality, this survey seeks the opinions of Christians on the importance to them of a list of issues and proposals. There is space also for participants to add another issue that they feel needs to be discussed.
 
If there is any question that you do not wish to answer, just leave it blank.

This offers you an opportunity to play your part in the reform of the church that Pope Francis is seeking. If you, and enough other people, return the completed form, the officials will have to listen. Please help by sharing the link to this survey form widely.

Complete anonymity for all participants is assured. The results will be published in summary form only and brought to the attention of Pope Francis.

 Thank you for playing your part.

John O’Loughlin Kennedy

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1. Real synodality needs a guarantee of genuine freedom of thought and expression with no fear of subsequent retribution. More

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2. All Christians share responsibility for evangelisation. Therefore, decision making in a Synodal Church must be more democratic and less autocratic, while favouring subsidiarity and allowing lay people to fill management roles. More

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3. The scandals keep revealing a defective system of governance that continues to tolerate and protect corruption, as predicted by Acton in 1869. The Church needs a new governance system. A legal Constitution, with equality, separation of powers, transparency, checks and balances, and ‘an overwhelming option for the truth’, would reduce corruption and make the Church more fit for mission. More

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4. Christ’s promise to be with us was made to the People of God. So, the administration should try to discern the sensus fidei, and normally be guided by it. More

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5. A constitution that situates hierarchy in a democratic structure rather than an autocratic one would give back to the faithful a big voice in selecting their bishops and to the hierarchy, the discretion to match their responsibilities. They could then ordain enough mature people, male or female, married or single, without seminary training to meet the projected pastoral needs of the faithful and end Eucharistic famine.

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6. Ecumenism: The change of doctrine on this at Vatican II was received with joy by the faithful of nearly every denomination. The fearful and self-centered bureaucracy, however, has slowed the implementation to a virtual halt. True synodality would probably restore the momentum. More

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7. Collegial Governance by bishops with the Pope, as conceived at the Council, but with the addition of a meaningful proportion of laity and lower clergy, male and female. Membership for fixed terms (10 yrs?), staggered to give continuity. First duty; to draft the Church Constitution and its own bye-laws. More

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8. End Eucharistic famine rapidly by prioritising the specific commands of Jesus over man-made regulations and over the privileges and prerogatives of clerics. “Do This” can only mean that if no ordained person is available, the Eucharist may be celebrated where two or more are gathered in the name of Jesus. More

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9. Revoke the ban on blessings for couples, in a committed, loving, and respectful relationship, whether same gender or divorced, who request it. More

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10. Sharing the sacrament of unity with other Christians is the spiritual key to the deeper unity that Jesus prayed for. The sacraments effect what they symbolise. Denial of sharing works to achieve the opposite. More

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11. Make celibacy optional for existing and future priests.  All ordained ministries (and the necessary training) to be open to women and men,  provided they are deemed by the bishop to be adequately educated and they are needed in the diocese .

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12. Ordination of Women  The discrimination against women must end. It originated in the pagan social order about the third century when ordination was being introduced. It is blatant discrimination on the grounds of sex, condemned by Vatican II. Women must be accorded the full dignity and equality of the baptised.

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13. Justice for victims and survivors of sexual and spiritual abuse at any cost.

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14. Dissatisfaction with the state of Moral Theology was expressed by the Council, calling for it to “be renewed by livelier contact with the mystery of Christ” and suggesting that “ecumenical dialogue could start with discussions concerning the application of the gospel to moral questions”. This would involve updating the general area of sexual morality and resolve many of the apparent gaps between the sensus fidei and the official teaching on issues like divorce, remarriage, pre-wedding sex, responsible family planning, and attitudes to LGBTQ+ persons and activity. Theologians and pastors who engage in  this difficult renewal should be encouraged, not persecuted and silenced.  More

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15. We are called to love of neighbor which must include tolerance towards others who have different opinions and their own traditional practices. We can be members of one church if we follow Jesus and share one creed. There is no need for uniformity in secondary matters of belief, practices and trivialities. More

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16. The curia, like any large bureaucracy, is selfish. It nearly always prioritizes its own power and sustainability. No Christian Church should be governed by its bureaucracy.

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17. OTHER Please outline any other issue that you feel should be the subject of synodal discussion.

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18. What is your age?

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19. What is your gender?

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20. Your Religious Status

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21. Religion - Involvement?

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22. If you are a member of a Reform Association, please specify which one

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23. Nationality

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