Canadian bishops at plenary hear presentations about progress on creating a ‘listening’ Church
Canadian bishops heard presentations on progress toward building a synodal, or “listening,” Church at their Sept. 21–25 plenary in Montreal. Archbishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera described how synodality developed over decades in Latin America and the Caribbean, where it grew from existing Church culture. Bishop Alain Faubert said Canada’s implementation work has been more modest and influenced by direction from the Holy See; the bishops’ ad hoc committee is scheduled to meet again Oct. 15. Canadian and Latin American Church leaders agreed that synodality must become a lived experience and serve the work of evangelization.
2 days ago
At their Sept. 21–25 plenary in Montreal, Canadian bishops heard contrasting accounts of synodality: Latin America and the Caribbean described a long-established, locally rooted process, while Canada reported more modest progress since 2021. Both presentations emphasized that listening must become a lived Church practice directed toward evangelization. 1
Coadjutor Archbishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera of Cusco, secretary general of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), traced the region’s synodal development to CELAM’s founding in 1955. He described its growth through decades of episcopal conferences and cross-border Church cooperation, including a 1979 conference focused on evangelization and the realities faced by Latin American communities. 1
Estrada said CELAM had already completed a listening process and assembly by November 2021, involving in-person participation and about 70,000 people through digital media. He described the process as extending participation to people on the peripheries and beyond Church boundaries, and said it helped the region enter the wider Synod on Synodality with prior experience in listening together. 1
Quebec Bishop Alain Faubert gave a shorter update on Canada’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Implementation of Synodality, which has been working since 2021. He said the Canadian effort was comparatively modest and identified another committee meeting, scheduled for Oct. 15, as a next step. Archbishop Donald J. Bolen of Regina observed that synodality had grown organically in Latin America and the Caribbean, whereas in Canada it felt more like an initiative arriving from outside. 1
Despite the different timelines, the presentations shared an emphasis on putting synodality into practice. Faubert said the goal was not synodality for its own sake, but its contribution to evangelization; Estrada similarly connected listening to recognizing Christ in the concrete lives and circumstances of people. 1
Estrada said synodal listening shifted the central question from what individuals think to what the Spirit is saying to the Church when people listen together. He also cautioned that the depth of concrete change would become clearer over time. 1
The bishops also discussed pastoral initiatives ahead of the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2031. Other agenda items included Indigenous relations, family life, ministry to migrants and refugees, and a Holy Hour with vespers for victims and survivors of sexual abuse. 1*
Synodality reshapes ecclesial authority through listening and shared discernment
Synodality reshapes the exercise and understanding of ecclesial authority, but it does not transfer the Church’s governing or teaching authority from bishops to a majority vote. It calls the whole Church to participate in discerning its mission, while preserving the distinct responsibility entrusted to ordained pastors.
Listening matters because the faithful are not merely an audience for decisions already made. Synodality recognizes their gifts and their participation in the Church’s life and mission; the International Theological Commission describes it as a way the whole People of God journeys and works together, with different ministries and roles. Bishops, in turn, are called to listen to the faithful as they discern what the Spirit is saying to the Church—not to treat consultation as a contest among competing interests, but as shared service to the Church’s mission.
Yet participation does not make the Church a democracy in which authority rests on majority preference. The faithful’s consultation and the pastors’ authority belong together, but they are not interchangeable. The ITC says that synodal bodies cannot decide without their legitimate pastors and distinguishes decision-making—the shared work of discernment, consultation and cooperation—from decision-taking, which in a diocese belongs to the bishop.
That distinction does not make consultation ceremonial. The 2024 Synod’s final document says that when Church law requires consultation, those in authority must listen and may not act as though it never occurred. Where consultation produces agreement, they should not depart from it without a compelling reason, which should be explained. Authority is therefore accountable to communion and truthful discernment, not an arbitrary imposition of will.
The phrase “reshapes ecclesial authority” is therefore sound if it means that authority is exercised more dialogically and as service: pastors listen, the faithful contribute, and the community discerns together. It would be misleading if it meant that synodality abolishes hierarchy, reduces teaching authority to popular approval, or makes the faithful’s and pastors’ roles identical. The Church’s own account holds both truths together: the participation of all and the specific authority of pastors, exercised for the building up of the whole Body.