The Synod of Bishops meeting in Rome is in its final stages. It was announced by the late John Paul II and saw its inception under Benedict XVI who solemnly opened the proceedings on October 2 and dealt briefly with the Eucharist, chosen by his predecessor as the subject of this worldwide gathering of Roman Catholic bishops. The Synod of Bishops was created in 1965 by Pope Paul VI as a way of soliciting advice from the world's bishops about matters of universal concern.

Some 250 bishops selected either by bishops' conferences or by the Pope himself, together with some 100 other invited participants and observers, among them representatives of other Christian denominations, are attending the month-long gathering.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, president delegate on duty, introduced the first session with a short intervention during which he told the congregation: "We come to reflect on a topic that touches the heartbeat of the life of the Church. In fact, in the Most Holy Eucharist, as Vatican Council II says, 'is contained the entire spiritual wealth of the Church, namely Christ Himself, our Easter.' The Eucharist 'stands at the centre of the Church's life'."

He was followed by Cardinal Angelo Scola, Patriarch of Venice, the Rapporteur-General of the Synod, who read out the Relatio ante disceptationem (report before the discussion), a synthesis of comments from around the world sent in prior to the Synod, and summarised its main sections.

Underlining "the substantial communion of faith between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church on the theme of the Eucharist and the priesthood, communion that is destined to grow through greater and deeper reciprocal understanding of the Eucharistic celebration and divine liturgy," Cardinal Scola welcomed the new climate on the Eucharist in those ecclesial communities that came into being at the time of the Reformation. "Even these communities always underline the importance of the Eucharist as the key element in dialogue and in ecumenical practice."

Without identifying which bishops supported the measure, Cardinal Scola reported that some synod participants "guided by the principle of salus animarum suprema lex, advanced the request to ordain married faithful of proven faith and virtue, the so-called viri probati." In a way skirting the issue, he concluded that "the proposals made in this Synodal Assembly to identify the criteria for an adequate distribution of clergy in the world will be very useful. In this area, the journey still seems very long."

His reservations drew a quick response from the Philippines' Bishop Tagle who retorted: "In the absence of the priest, there is no Eucharist. We should face squarely the issue of the shortage of priests."

Cardinal Simonis of Holland held the view that "structural changes such as, for example, the admission of married men to the priesthood, do not seem a solution."

At the eighth session Bishop Browne of New Zealand stated: "It is important for us as a Church to remember that small communities of Catholic people have as much right to participate in the Eucharist as their brothers and sisters in large busy parishes. We, as Church, need to be continually open to finding ways in which the Eucharist can become easily available to all of our faithful people. 'Sir,' they said, 'give us that bread always.' We need to be sensitive to the questions that the faithful often ask us, for example: 'Why does it seem to be possible for former married priests of the Anglican Communion to be ordained and function as Catholic priests while former Catholic priests who have been dispensed from their vow of celibacy are unable to function in any pastoral way?'"

In this context of this discussion one recalls Pope Benedict XVI asking the bishops of New York State at their ad limina visit last June, "What do you people think about the restoration of the tradition of a married priesthood?"

The question struck them dumb. But he insisted: "I really would like to know what your people think of that issue." To which Bishop Michael Clarke of Rochester replied: "It is strange, Holiness, that you should ask this question, because we just had a synod in our diocese, where over 90 per cent of the laity voted in favour of a married priesthood." The other bishops said that a great majority of their faithful were of the same view.

Bishop Ladjar of Indonesia, declaring that "the priest may not be separated from the community," said that he had the impression that the Instrumentum laboris was too "priest-centred." It speaks of "liturgies awaiting a priest," and not as the listening to the voice of the Lord and answering Him in prayer. And he suggested that theologians should be encouraged "to study and formulate a new theology of priesthood in connection with the threefold munera of clerics in the ecclesial community, listening also to the praxis of apostolic times and the Eastern Churches."

Another topic raised at the Synod was the question of Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.

"Our Church would be enriched if we were able to invite dedicated Catholics, currently excluded from the Eucharist, to return to the Lord's Table," said Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of New Zealand. "There are those whose marriages ended in sadness; they have never abandoned the Church, but are currently excluded from the Eucharist." Others expressed varying opinions, some outright opposition.

To date a substantial number of bishops has participated in the general debate - a more apt description would be a presentation of ideas and comments on the central theme and its various ramifications.

Interventions on the Mass varied. There were those who advocated more openness that would be conducive to greater participation by the laity. Bishop Risi of South Africa stated: "We notice that the most sacred part of the liturgy, the Eucharistic prayer, is the least attractive part of the Sunday liturgy. Although it is the central part of the Eucharist, the climax, it has proved to be the anticlimax. The priest does it alone, and the laity move from active to passive participation." Some others were even for a return to old times, with one bishop suggesting the abolition of the laity receiving the sacred host on the hands.

Archbishop Maung of Myanmar spoke of the increasing practice (as is happening also in Malta) of perpetual Eucharistic adoration. "Over 2,500 parishes around the world now have perpetual Eucharistic adoration," he said. "If the perpetual adoration chapels were to be established in all the dioceses in the world and in all possible parishes, what a magnificent result that would be for the Eucharistic Year... The best, the surest and the most effective way of establishing everlasting peace on the face of the earth is through the great power of perpetual adoration of the blessed Sacrament."

Malta's Archbishop Mercieca spoke of Eucharistic cult and devotions which, although they do not replace the Mass which has a central place in divine worship, draw their inspiration from the Mass and form part of this fount of sanctity.

Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, pinpointed the crux of the current worldwide spiritual-temporal dichotomy when he said:

"Increasing secularisation, as well as the spread of religious indifference and of a 'strange forgetfulness of God', as Benedict XVI calls it, provoke among many baptised of our time a worrying deterioration, if not even loss, of their own Christian identity. In this situation one of the most urgent challenges that the Church must face is that of adequate post-Baptismal Christian initiation, capable of creating Christian communities that live faith deeply...

"The Eucharistic celebration is a privileged place in which to construct the full, mature and coherent Christian identity of the lay faithful. Because it is in the Eucharist that lay Christians fully realise their participation in the triple mission entrusted to them by Christ: priestly, prophetic and royal... As the Holy Father recalled in Cologne, the real revolution that changes the world starts with the Eucharist... In this way the Eucharist becomes not only the heartbeat of the Church, but also of the world. For this reason true lay spirituality can only be Eucharistic spirituality."

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