SPEAKING of Religion: the Upstaging of Good News

By David M. O'Brien
Bennington Banner
November 30, 2018

https://www.benningtonbanner.com/stories/speaking-of-religion-the-upstaging-of-good-news,557834

It is a common human experience that bad news upstages good news, that conflict and tragedy overshadow stories of cooperation and initiation. Well, this certainly has been the case for the Catholic Church lately. With the reports and re-reports of the sexual abuse scandal and its unbelievable cover-up on the part of some bishops, the unintended consequence has been that all the good news happening in the Church has been push into the background or not mentioned at all.

One of those under-reported happenings, here in the Diocese of Burlington, has been the statewide Diocesan Synod that was called to order by Bishop Christopher Coyne. The process, started over a year ago, has as its purpose: "to establish a pastoral plan for the immediate future in the Catholic Church in Vermont and to establish laws and policies to do so." Now, I understand from my friends on the Interfaith Council that synods are not that uncommon in some of the Protestant faith communities. But, it is uncommon in our Catholic tradition, with the last diocesan-wide synod happening way back in 1962.

After Bishop Coyne selected a steering committee to shepherd the process, delegates were solicited from each parish in Vermont as well as representatives from the priests, deacons and religious communities. Though the synod started officially this fall, there were three preparatory meetings throughout this past year, plus summer work committees, that helped winnow down the concerns and direction. From the beginning, Bishop Coyne asked to hear from his flock. He queried each parish with three questions: what was our Church doing well, what we were not and what we could do to improve. And he got what he asked for.

With reports from each parish and hundreds of pages of individual comments, the steering committee consolidated and honed down the input and presented it to the 100 or so Synod delegates for their feedback and affirmation. When it was all done, three main areas of focus came to the top: evangelization; building vibrant parishes and communication. Bishop Coyne called the first official Synod meeting to order on the morning of October 13th in Burlington. The three scheduled Synod meetings took up these topics one by one. The Bishop and the steering committee had identified four to six overarching goals for each of these priority areas and the delegates weighed in with their comments and feedback.

I was honored to have been asked to be one of the delegates representing the ordained deacons in Vermont. Except for the summer sub-committees, I was able to attend every meeting. And, I can tell you that, despite the terrible and inexcusable abuse scandal and its tragic consequences, there is an over-riding excitement and hopefulness that has shown through with this Synod process. Despite the chronic shortage of priests, the closing of

smaller parishes and the reduction of Vermont Catholics actively practicing their faith, the dedication and commitment of those involved in this Synod process bodes well for the future of our faith community in this state.

The proof of this only will come as the Synod goals are distilled into action plans, as action plans are refined into doable steps, and change and innovation result. Richard Rohr said in his book Everything Belongs: "We do not think ourselves into new ways of thinking. We live ourselves into new ways of thinking." The Diocesan Synod is off to a good start as it drafts a template for the future vibrancy of the Catholic community in

Vermont, but it will be up to the parishes and those in the pews to "live' these plans into action. Towards the end of Chapter 12 in his Gospel, St. Luke captures a great summary of Jesus' thoughts on being faithful servants. He concludes with Jesus saying: "Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more."

Most of us belonging to the Catholic community in Vermont have been entrusted with much. As the priorities and suggestions come down to each of our community parishes from this very timely Synod gathering, it will be demanded that we roll up our sleeves and live these plans into action. Maybe then the Good News will carry the day!

David O'Brien is a retired addiction therapist and mental health administrator who was ordained a deacon in the Catholic Church in 2003 and serves at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in North Bennington.