Looking at how institutional structures can support both synodality and a missionary mindset. First, we get the notice that all of the continental groups voiced support for “walking together” in parishes, dioceses, and with Rome too.
B 3.3. What structures can be developed to strengthen a missionary synodal Church?
The Continental Assemblies express a strong desire that the synodal way of proceeding, experienced in the current journey, should penetrate into the daily life of the Church at all levels, either by the renewal of existing structures—such as diocesan and Parish Pastoral Councils, Economic Affairs Councils, diocesan or eparchial Synods—or by the establishment of new ones.
Perhaps we still struggle with too much secrecy. The recent episodes in Texas come to mind. Why was a bishop dismissed: was it administration or ideology? Do people deserve to know, or does privacy for individuals need to be respected? And the continuing soap opera with the Arlington Carmelites. The sisters simply want to be informed, as they say. Why wasn’t a synodal exercise established when the conflict with their bishop crept into the open?
While not meaning to diminish the importance of renewed relationships within the People of God, work on structures is indispensable to strengthen changes over time. In particular:
a) in order not to remain merely a paper exercise or to be wholly dependent on the goodwill of individuals, co-responsibility in the mission deriving from Baptism must take on concrete structural forms. Adequate institutional frameworks are therefore necessary, along with spaces in which community discernment can be practiced on a regular basis.
This second point is the more crucial. Catholics on all levels do need practice. Many lay people come from work environments where bosses rule by fiat. Church people likewise in dealing with the more bossy shepherds. Monasticism might offer lessons, but most Catholics are never exposed to real monasteries, let alone their processes of making serious decisions.
Trust that it’s not a revolution:
This should not be read as a demand for a redistribution of power, but the need for the effective exercise of co-responsibility that flows from Baptism. This latter confers rights and duties on each person, which each one must be able to exercise according to his or her charisms and ministries;
Catholic Sensibility 