The General Secretariat of the Synod prepared 10 questions with answers concerning the Instrumentum Laboris [working document] for the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be held from October 2 to 27. The Sunday Examiner will publish a number of them each week through September.
How is it structured?
The Instrumentum Laboris [IL] consists of five sections. After the introduction, the IL opens with a section dedicated to the Fundamentals of the understanding of synodality, which re-proposes the awareness matured along the way and sanctioned by the First Session.
There follow three intimately intertwined parts, which illuminate the missionary synodal life of the Church from different perspectives: [I] the perspective of Relationships—with the Lord, among brethren and among Churches—which sustain the vitality of the Church much more radically than its structures; [II] the perspective of Pathways which concretely sustain and nourish the dynamism of relationships; [III] the perspective of Places which, against the temptation of an abstract universalism, speak of the concreteness of the contexts in which relationships are incarnated, with their variety, plurality and interconnectedness, and with their rootedness in the nascent foundation of the profession of faith.
Each of these Sections will be the subject of prayer, sharing and discernment in one of the modules that will mark the work of the Second Session. A summary of the IL is available at www.synod.va
This Instrumentum Laboris seems, in its structure, somewhat different from the previous one, which contained many sheets with many questions, why was this structure chosen?
The Assembly is an evolving reality and the Instrumentum Laboris is at the service of the Assembly and not the other way around. If in the First Session it was necessary to bring about convergences in the face of the many questions that arose from the broad consultation of the People of God at the local, national and continental levels, now it is necessary that from these convergences it be possible to arrive at a consensus. Whereas in the First Session the members were asked to choose the thematic area in which they wished to make their contribution, in the Second Session all members will address the same text and discuss the same proposals.
The Instrumentum Laboris is for the members of the XVI Assembly, but how can local synodal groups and, in general, the faithful who will not participate in the October Assembly use it? How can they contribute to the work in October?
The Instrumentum Laboris is addressed primarily to the members of the Second Session of the XVI General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. However, it is also a valuable tool for individual groups at diocesan and national levels who wish to continue their journey of reflection and discernment on how to journey together as Church; and to carry out ecclesial initiatives. For example, the IL can offer a special opportunity for an encounter—even virtual—between members of the Assembly and at least the national team in the preparation phase of the October meeting, also through the synodal method of Conversation in the Spirit.
In this way, the representative role of each of the members of the Assembly can become tangible. In any case, it is important that those who are interested in the synodal conversion of the Church in view of the mission continue their commitment so that the ecclesial dynamism initiated with the consultation of the People of God in 2021 does not fade away and that the exercise of co-responsibility in the mission of the Church continues to develop at the local level, as it is already doing.
In addition, the IL will certainly help to understand how important it is for the faithful to accompany the work of the Assembly with prayer, asking the Holy Spirit – the true protagonist of the work of Octobe—to sustain the great task entrusted to the members of the Assembly.
The Instrumentum Laboris mentions a theological subsidy. What is it?
To accompany the relatively concise Instrumentum Laboris, the General Secretariat of the Synod considered it appropriate to offer some theological and canonical insights on the themes contained in the IL, in order to help the members of the Assembly—without excluding a wider circle of recipients—to recognise and understand the roots and implications of what is contained in the IL.
“Deepening” from a theological point of view means: underlining the reference of individual themes to Sacred Scripture, to the Tradition of the Church, to the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, to the recent Magisterium of the Bishop of Rome of the world episcopates.
“Deepening” from the canonical point of view means: to show how discernment regarding individual issues can be translated into regulated and verified practices also through the normative instrument.
Rather than an organic text, the Grant will be presented as a series of “glosses” to the IL. In fact, an updated version of the IL will contain some references to the Grant in the margins of individual chapters.r a series of amendments, approved it and transmitted it to the Holy Father for final approval.
