Several times she arrived at church early on Sunday morning and was not able to attend Mass because the quota was filled so she began to attend the young people's Mass. Since few young people attended Mass the adults were helping liturgically and there were always vacant seats. In a church where thousands of believers belong, the 90 person limit at the youth Mass was filled with gray-haired believers, the young people were rapidly disappearing from the church in the pandemic.
Some young people are worried about participating in religious activities since they are not vaccinated and are concerned about infection. However, it is questionable whether all these young people have disappeared for that reason alone. Those she meets in the parish have expressed similar concerns. She is worried about the future of the church. Perhaps this is one of the urgent tasks for the church in the corona era.
She thinks the 16th World Bishop's Synod, which opened not long ago, is an invitation to share these concerns. The two-year journey with the theme, "For a synodal Church: communion, participation, and mission" is the first phase of the synod process and has begun at the parish level.
However, it may be only her parish but the church is not providing any guidance or explanation to the believers other than handing out synod prayers and holding the closing prayer after Mass, so the opening or progress of the synod is not experienced by the parishioners.
She didn't understand the meaning of the first words used for the synod 'walking along on the road to agreement' and when it was changed to the Latin word 'synodalitas' it seemed to her that it made the topic of synod more difficult for laypeople.
The biggest characteristic of this synod is not delivering the results of discussions to the Holy See or the bishops, but on the contrary, to first fully listen to the voices of the faithful and the world and find the path of evangelization together by carefully identifying the tasks of the church.
The goal is to restore the synod spirit of a 'going together church'. It is a 'church living the synod spirit' to accept that the operation and mission of the church is not only the responsibility of the clergy but the work of all of us who make up the church, to participate and practice it together.
One of the important highlights of the Synod is the 'Sensus fidei' (a sense of the faith on the part of the faithful). This is explained by the Pontifical International Theological Commission, as the 'feel of faith', the instinct for the truth of the Gospel given to the faithful by the Holy Spirit at baptism, "a continuous discernment of how the members of the Church, as individuals and communities, live, act and speak in fidelity to the Lord."
To this end, she thinks that the main task of this synod is to create a church structure that listens to the voices of the laypeople and to work together to develop a sense of faith for believers to discern and pursue the evangelical life. As Pope Francis said, he hopes that this synod will not end with being just an event but will be the beginning of a process of learning and experiencing the path of a church that walks together.
