Fr. Orobator says, “I am hopeful that the outcome of the synod will be a Church that is more discerning in its ways of proceeding – in other words, a prayerful, humble, and listening Church.”
“As conceived by Pope Francis, the theme of this synod, ‘synodality,’ implies a common space of listening, dialogue, and discernment about matters of greater moment in the Church,” the immediate former President of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM) adds.
The Jesuit Priest makes reference to the spirituality of his Society, saying, “There is something deeply Ignatian about this experience, because discernment and spiritual conversation presuppose that those who are involved take time to pray so that their inputs and interventions come from a place of contemplative recollection.”
“Time and again (Pope) Francis has reminded the synod members that the most important protagonist in this exercise of discernment is the Holy Spirit, just as the most important disposition is a prayerful and respectful openness to what the Spirit is saying to the Church as a global community of discernment,” Fr. Orobator recalls the emphasis of the Holy Father, also a Jesuit, to the close to 400 delegates.
He goes on to reflect about the uniqueness of the ongoing Synod on Synodality.
“Talking about a synod as a moment of prayer may seem surprising. For people who are familiar with the workings of a synod, the usual approach involves a marathon of speeches and protracted rounds of voting on predetermined texts prepared in advance or proposed during the meeting only by bishops,” Fr. Orobator says.
He continues, “Not so this time: participants carry out their work in small groups of mixed compositions, that is, laymen and laywomen, religious, priests, and bishops. They listen to one another in multiple rounds of spiritual conversation.”
The Jesuit Catholic Priest notes that “the layout of the members in roundtables creates an ambiance of prayer circles. This makes the atmosphere of the synod prayerful and conducive to interior attentiveness to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit. Speeches and reports are interspersed with moments of silence and interior recollection.”
“The morning liturgies led by the Camaldolese monks are diligently prepared, as are the reflections by the spiritual consultants,” Fr. Orobator says in his reflection shared with ACI Africa.
Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.
