Collaboration and Compassion — On the role of the bishop in a synodal Church

Becoming a more synodal Church is a pastoral necessity for us to remain in communion with the Church of the Apostles, whose Lord is the master of accompaniment, seeking out those who are lost.”

Bishop W. Shawn McKnight

It is true that opening these conversations can be a little intimidating. Yet, in the intimate, exposed moments of conversation that synodality invites, it can be breathtaking to see the Holy Spirit working among God’s people.”

Bishop W. Shawn McKnight

The following was written for and published in America magazine and online media (October 2024) and is republished here with permission:

By Bishop W. Shawn McKnight

Last June, I invited some young adult Catholics to my residence one evening for a discussion about the future of our parishes, our diocese and our Church.

They were in their 20s and 30s. Some were married, some still single. A few had young children at their homes here in Jefferson City, where they belong to our Cathedral Parish.

At the time, we were beginning a small-group discernment process created by our chancery staff.

The process was designed to work across four sessions, guiding the faithful of our diocese to explore how the structures of our Church can support their parishes as they seek to become thriving centers of charity and mercy — as revealed by Jesus in his teaching on the Beatitudes. 

The group gathered at my home was a sort of test; I wanted to see for myself how these discussions might go before we rolled out this project across our diocese.

My initial impression sitting among these young Catholics was one of feeling grounded as a bishop (while at the same time feeling older than I’ve ever felt!).

As I listened to their thoughts, it was clear to me that there are many talented, capable and energetic young adults among us who are eager to use their gifts to help in the mission of their parishes. 

Dishearteningly, however, these young people gathered with me said that they struggle to find entry into our parish cultures, which are often dominated by long-serving leaders — the trusted volunteers whom we often see as the backbone of our parishes.

After discussion, they shared with me a simple proposal: Perhaps parishes could institute term limits for ministry leadership, not for mere replacement but to integrate better the old and the new.

They believed this would create a structure that would bring fresh blood into these roles, allowing young adults to be more visible in their parishes.

The goal was not to take over the parish; they just want to be recognized and to be able to use their God-given talents in service to our parish councils and other ministerial leadership positions.

Term limits would increase the opportunity for expansion and better integration of the wisdom of the elders with the creativity of the young. 

God of accompaniment

We all know how important the engagement of our youth and young adults is to the future of our Church. Everyone is concerned about the absence of the next generation of leaders. 

So how could it be that these young adults, yearning to be engaged with their parishes, don’t feel wanted by the rest of us? 

As we approach the second session of the Synod of Bishops, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission,” my experience with this group of young Catholics has been on my mind.

I continue to see the synodal process face criticisms about its nature, scope and purpose. Some question the orthodoxy of such a practice, others question the methods used, and still others fear the outcomes it may produce or harbor disappointment over the changes that will not be made. 

However, my time with the young adults from my diocese — and numerous other powerful experiences during my 30 years as a priest and bishop — made it even more clear to me that a synodal process, which is pastoral by nature, is very much necessary for us to continue the renewal of the Church begun by the Second Vatican Council. 

And I will go even further: Becoming a more synodal Church is a pastoral necessity for us to remain in communion with the Church of the Apostles, whose Lord is the master of accompaniment, seeking out those who are lost. 

Being faithful to Christ includes following his pastoral style. The Church in her heart of hearts is synodal.

Her mission demands it. 

Confronting crisis

I became aware of my vocation near the end of my undergraduate studies in biochemistry at the University of Dallas.

During that discernment period, I felt a strong desire to serve the kind of laypeople I got to know in the community at the university chapel.

I felt at home there. These people helped me form a vision for what my life as a priest could be like.

After my ordination, the Lord blessed me with a variety of experiences that have continued to shape and form my ecclesial sense of ordained ministry.

I served as a parish priest and university chaplain. I was sent to Rome for doctoral studies in sacramental theology. I taught and served on the formation faculty at the Pontifical College Josephinum seminary in Columbus, Ohio.

I also had the opportunity to live in Washington, D.C., and work at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in the office for clergy, consecrated life and vocations. 

Then I was ordained the fourth bishop of Jefferson City on Feb. 6, 2018.

This was only a few months before the Theodore McCarrick scandal and the grand jury report from Pennsylvania on sexual abuse by clerics shocked the Church and the world.

As a new bishop in the wake of this crisis, I called the priests of our diocese together during the summer of 2018. I wanted to dialogue with them about what was happening in our Church and share my thoughts on how I was going to respond as the local chief shepherd.

They needed to know what they could do to help the people in their parishes deal with their anger, resentment and frustration over the constant stream of embarrassing news stories — as well as the heartbreaking accounts of bishops abusing their power and neglecting the welfare of their flocks. 

Part of my message to the priests was that something had to change in the way we were functioning as the Church. 

The patience of laypeople with the clergy, especially the bishops, in exercising good leadership had largely evaporated. Many left the Church because of it. Those who remained were at times despondent over the way things were.

We had to work quickly and diligently to get ahead of the waves of criticism rather than getting rolled under them. 

As part of our response, I realized that our faithful needed the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings about their faith, their hopes and fears for their Church, and especially their thoughts about the sacred trust held by the Church’s leadership. 

We, the clergy, needed to listen to them. But just as important, laypeople needed to listen to one another.

A series of listening sessions was set up in the fall of 2018 throughout our mostly rural diocese to give people multiple times and places to participate in a process together to rebuild trust in the Church.

It was important for me to hear directly from them, in person and without any barriers.

I wanted the priests to share that experience with me, to be co-listeners to our portion of the people of God. 

I heard expressions of anger and gut-wrenching stories of personal trauma from abuse.

Some claimed it was the first time they had stepped into a Catholic church since they were abused and were thankful for the opportunity to share their story.

Others said it was the first time they had ever been asked their opinion on an important matter facing the Church. 

It was a powerful experience for all involved, and it strongly formed how I saw our Church must operate going forward.

A natural course

Our next step was to begin a pastoral planning process that invited parishioners to share their thoughts with their parish leadership about how we can improve our ecclesial life in mid-Missouri — taking our inspiration from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel” (“Evangelii Gaudium”), his paradigmatic blueprint for the renewal of the Church.

This required parish communities to come together, share ideas and think concretely about the people and institutions in their territories and how they are responsible for the mission of the Church.

In many ways, we had been swiftly moving down the path of synodality — even if we were not yet using that term. 

But it wasn’t long before we would hear Pope Francis’s call for the whole people of God throughout the world to participate in the Synod of Bishops’ “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.” 

Teaching Church, learning Church

As we have experienced the synod, some have criticized this focus on listening as a useless exercise — or lamented the lack of sizable changes in our global Church.

We have also heard confusion about how this synodal posture aligns with our traditional sense of hierarchy. 

From my experiences, however, it is clear to me that a more synodal Church provides the opportunity for a more fruitful and Christian exercise of a bishop’s power and authority.

It allows the bishop to be a more effective leader in teaching, sanctifying and governing. 

People today do not respond very well to being governed in a dictatorial manner, nor should they. 

It is very important to understand that this is not a matter of whether we, as successors to the original College of Apostles cum Petro et sub Petro, have the power and authority to make certain decisions.

It also does not mean that we must give up our unique responsibility in the preservation of the Church’s apostolic communion in what we believe, how we pray and in how we live the Gospel of charity.

Bishops are distinct among the people of God in their responsibilities as guardians of our sacred tradition.

But it is a matter of recognizing the relationship between the ecclesia docens and the ecclesia discens — the teaching Church and the learning Church.

In addition, we must come to a greater appreciation of the role that the Holy Spirit’s presence in our communities of faith, the sensus fidei fidelium, has in the development of doctrine.

When decisions must be made that affect the lives of others, the human dimension of the Church and the examples from sacred Scripture (especially the gatherings of the whole Church recorded in the Acts of the Apostles) compel us to consult those who must live under the decisions we make for them. 

While contemplating the pastoral role of bishops in the Church, the fathers of Vatican II taught in the “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” (“Lumen Gentium”): [T]he laity should disclose their needs and desires with that liberty and confidence which befits children of God and brothers of Christ. By reason of the knowledge, competence or pre-eminence which they have the laity are empowered — indeed sometimes obliged — to manifest their opinion on those things which pertain to the good of the Church. [No. 37]

And again: 

The pastors, indeed, should recognize and promote the dignity and responsibility of the laity in the Church. They should willingly use their prudent advice and confidently assign duties to them in the service of the Church, leaving them freedom and scope for acting. [No. 37]

Let us also remember that this style of leadership follows the example of our Lord in his encounter with imperfect people of his time. 

It was not enough for Jesus to assert the truth to those in error. He loved people and wanted the conversion of their hearts and minds.

The accompaniment Jesus gave to Matthew the tax-collector, the woman at the well and the disciples on the road to Emmaus all resulted in a change of heart, not a change of teaching, except for the mere human conventions that were being treated by people at the time as divine law. 

“Be Not Afraid”

With the salvation of souls as our primary concern, fostering a change in culture in the Church to be centered on communion, participation and mission would only be helpful. 

A synodal Church provides the necessary space for true dialogue, and is a good antidote to those committed more to their own conceptualizations than to the Catholic faith itself.

If we have our minds already made up, then we are not capable of listening to the Holy Spirit and to true dialogue among the people of God, but only of asserting what we already think.

This mindset leaves little to no room for growth or development. 

Pope St. John Paul II preached frequently on the words of Jesus, “Be not afraid.”

To those who have high anxiety and fret over what might happen when the Church’s leadership starts to pay greater attention to the experiences of people beyond our ideological viewpoints, I say as well: “Be not afraid!”

It is true that opening these conversations can be a little intimidating. Yet, in the intimate, exposed moments of conversation that synodality invites, it can be breathtaking to see the Holy Spirit working among God’s people.

Out of awkward silence

Synodality is about listening to the Holy Spirit on our journey together.

During one of the local listening sessions held at a parish in our diocese, the evening began as usual with the customary introductions, laying down of the ground rules and with the proclamation of Scripture, communal silence and formal prayer. 

When the time for sharing began in small groups, parishioner after parishioner told stories of how wonderful their parish was, that they had been raised in the parish and were happy to have their own children being formed in such a wonderful environment.

People were nodding their heads and smiling. This was a delightful parish, they agreed, and they were grateful for all the Lord had accomplished in their community.

After more than 40 minutes of comments like these, an older gentleman cautiously spoke. He told those gathered that he moved into the parish 11 years ago to be closer to his family after the death of his wife.

He said he usually sat in the same pew at the same Mass time each Sunday, and sometimes at weekday Masses. 

But the mood sharply changed as he noted that over those 11 years, not once had anyone approached him, introduced themselves or invited him to participate in any of the parish activities or ministries. 

The gentleman stopped speaking. The silence seemed to last a long time. The rules for the gathering didn’t allow for rebuttals or argumentation. Everyone had to sit in silence to let the impact of the man’s experience move them in a different way. 

It remained with them weeks later, as they participated in leadership meetings of parish councils and organizations.

They now realized they needed to rethink how they had been doing things, and to revisit their way of extending hospitality, welcoming and inviting participation within their parish. 

The result of this listening session, from just that one speaker, was not a new document or even a new policy. No decrees were signed or doctrine changed.

But what did happen was a change of heart and mindset, as the Lord was once again at work in their community.

It was the beginning of a change in culture, the pastoral conversion of the parish sought by our Holy Father and very much desired by me.

“Missionary conversion”

One of the looming questions for some about the current synodal process is whether or not the authority of bishops can coexist in a synodal Church.

They would see hierarchy and synodality as oppositional terms.

But from my perspective, I don’t see any other way for bishops to be more effective leaders. It really is a matter of the very Catholic principle of “both/and” that describes so much of our faith: human and divine, transcendent and immanent, divine grace and human freedom.

 We face a reality where we must confront the abuse of power by some in the hierarchy, the growing polarization within both our society and our Church, and the precipitous decline in participation in the Church’s mission by the younger generations. 

The whole people of God needs to learn how to remove the sandals from our feet “before the sacred ground of the other” (“Evangelii Gaudium,” No. 169), and that disposition should begin with the Church’s bishops.

With this whole synodal process, I now feel better as a bishop about the prospects of our clergy and laity to respond more effectively to the various pastoral demands we face in keeping with the pastoral style of our Lord. 

My hope is strengthened for a Church more grounded in its mission because of our Holy Father’s pastoral efforts to convert the members of our Church to be more missionary oriented.

That means taking up our responsibility of being salt, light and leaven in a world in deep need of the life-giving power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We all stand in need of a missionary conversion. I know that I need this conversion as much as anyone else.