Cardinal Cupich: Synodality is like dancing
Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich uses the traditional Croatian kolo dance as a metaphor to explain the Church’s synodal journey. He emphasizes that synodality requires moving from individual performance to collective harmony, guided by listening to the “divine melody.”. The reflection highlights key elements of synodality: shared listening, co‑responsibility, leadership as a safe space, and adaptability. Cupich illustrates how the rhythm of dance mirrors the rhythm of the Church, where every participant’s role is essential to the whole.
3 months ago
Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich likens the Church’s synodal journey to the traditional Croatian kolo dance, emphasizing collective harmony, attentive listening, and the integration of diverse gifts within a shared “divine melody.” He argues that synodality, like dance, requires both synchronic (present‑day) and diachronic (historical) awareness, fostering a dynamic yet rooted communal life for the Church. 1
Cupich recalls learning the kolo as a child, where dancers link hands in a circle, creating a social space that shapes community bonds. This early experience became the lens through which he later viewed synodality. 1
He explains that synodality derives from the Greek synodos (“walking together”) and, like a dance, begins with listening to the music—here, the Holy Spirit, Scripture, Tradition, and one another, especially the marginalized. Ignoring the rhythm leads to disconnection, just as a dancer out of sync loses the ensemble. 1
The kolo features distinct roles that move together without dominance; similarly, hierarchy, laity, religious, and theologians each bring unique charisms that weave into the synodal choreography. Mistakes are met with flexibility, allowing the community to pivot and continue the journey. 1
Dancers must respect the finite dance floor, inviting all participants and ensuring no one steps outside the bounds. Cupich parallels this with the Church’s call to expand the “tent,” welcoming those absent from the floor while honoring the boundaries set by Scripture, dogma, and historic councils. 1
He stresses that synodality must balance the present‑day (synchronic) with the voice of the saints and Church Fathers (diachronic). This tension prevents a “tyranny of the present” and keeps the Church rooted in its timeless choreography while allowing fresh expression. 1
Cupich notes that early Fathers described the Trinity with the term perichoresis (“dancing around”), linking the dance metaphor to the mystery of divine communion and suggesting that the Church’s synodal dance mirrors this Trinitarian reality. 1
Viewing synodality as dance reframes it from bureaucratic procedure to a joyful, incarnational practice. It calls the Church to listen, collaborate, respect historical foundations, and move together toward a shared witness, celebrating each step as a contribution to the divine melody. 1
Synodality embodies collective harmony, not individual performance
Synodality, in Catholic teaching as articulated in the Synod’s own reflections, is not primarily a matter of personal “voice” competing for attention, nor a stage for individual prominence. It is a work of the Holy Spirit who brings harmony—a communion that integrates different gifts into a single ecclesial mission.
A first reason synodality is “collective harmony” (not individual performance) is that the Church understands itself as fundamentally relational. The Synod document explains that the human person “is defined through interpersonal relations,” and that this relational communion matures personal identity rather than isolating it.
From there it follows that synodality is recognizable when the Church “flourish[es]” in interpersonal relationships rooted in the “mutual love” of Christ’s new commandment.
Most importantly, the Synod’s leadership repeatedly stresses that we are not the protagonists of the synodal journey; the Holy Spirit is. Pope Francis explicitly frames synodality as something that happens “if we leave room for the Holy Spirit,” warning that other approaches (human interests, ideologies) turn it into something like a parliamentary meeting rather than a Spirit-led journey.
So, the “collective” character is not merely sociological. It is theological: harmony is a gift of divine action, received by the whole People of God.
A second reason the “harmony, not performance” claim is apt is that synodality does not erase differences; it integrates them.
Both the Synod’s Final Document and Pope Francis use the image of the Church as an orchestra. The Synod document describes variety as necessary for “the beauty and harmony of music,” where each voice retains its distinctive features “at the service of the common mission.”
Pope Francis extends this directly into a lesson against self-centered performance: if one “listens only to himself,” or if an orchestra section plays “as if it were alone,” the symphony suffers—because the sound must contribute to the common design.
That is precisely the opposite of individual performance as such. In synodality, personal contribution is real, but it is mission-shaped and communion-shaped.
Pope Francis also clarifies that harmony is not “synthesis.” In his words: harmony is not producing an identical statement where “everybody [is] the same”; otherwise “the Spirit is not there.” Instead, harmony is “a bond of communion between dissimilar parts.”
Likewise, the Synod Final Document insists that unity is “not uniformity, but an organic blending of legitimate diversities,” and that recognizing plural expressions helps prevent reducing salvation to “a single understanding” of Church life.
So, the Church’s synodal vision rejects two extremes:
Harmony means both: real differences, held together by communion for mission.
A third reason synodality is “collective harmony” is that participation is grounded in the Spirit’s distribution of gifts to the Church.
The Synod Final Document teaches that the Spirit “constantly calls forth… a great variety of charisms and ministries,” and it quotes Scripture: the one Spirit distributes gifts “for the good of the Church according to his own riches and the needs of the ministries.”
This is important for your point. If charisms exist for “the good of the Church,” then participation cannot be reduced to individual self-presentation. Individual gifts matter—but they matter as services within a body, not as performances competing for attention.
The document also highlights that sadness arises when participation is lacking: it notes both “a lack of participation… was a source of sadness” and difficulties in living flourishing relationships between men and women, generations, and those with diverse cultural identities—especially for “those people made poor and those who are excluded.”
That social and ecclesial framing underscores the anti-performance character of synodality: the goal is not “audience satisfaction” but communion that includes the marginalized and heals relational breakdowns.
A fourth reason synodality is collective harmony (not individual performance) is procedural and pastoral.
Pope Francis insists: “We are not the protagonists of the Synod,” and if the Spirit is not the guide, it becomes “more of a parliamentary meeting.”
In the Closing Greeting of the XVI Assembly, Pope Francis describes the synodal style of Petrine ministry as exercised by “listening, convening, discerning, deciding and evaluating,” explicitly as a learning process that requires “pauses, silences and prayer,” and is “a process of conversion.”
This matters for the “not performance” theme: synodality is structured to discipline the impulse to display. It forms people to listen, discern, and decide in communion—so that contributions become intelligible within a shared discernment rather than within an individual agenda.
Finally, the Church links synodality to spiritual conversion. Pope Francis says synodal journey requires “a spiritual conversion” and “interior transformation,” otherwise lasting results cannot be achieved.
He then names “synodal virtues,” including:
This reinforces the point that synodality is not “performance” because it begins before speech—with the heart’s orientation toward God’s perspective rather than one’s own.
Your statement captures a central synodal logic found throughout the Church’s recent teaching: synodality is collective harmony because it is driven by the Holy Spirit, expressed through communion among real diversities, and ordered toward mission.
Harmony excludes both:
In synodality, the “voice” of each person is valuable precisely insofar as it is offered within the symphony for the common good.