October 23, 2015 Vol

Palliative care conference Health Ministry offering Nov. 13 conference on palliative care, page 10. Serving the Church in Central and Southern Indiana Since 1960 CriterionOnline.com October 23, 2015 Vol. LVI, No. 4 75¢ Pope calls for ‘synodal’ Church where all listen, ‘A forever friendship’ learn, share mission VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Marking the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis outlined his vision for a Church that is “synodal” at every level, with everyone listening to one another, learning from one another and taking responsibility for proclaiming the Gospel. “The journey of synodality is the journey that God wants from his Pope Francis Church in the third millennium,” the pope said on Oct. 17. “A synodal Church is a listening Church, aware that listening is more than hearing. It is a reciprocal listening in which each one has something to learn.” Pope Francis, members of the Synod of When Cynthia Kanko, left, needed a friend to help her through the challenges of a cancer diagnosis, she unexpectedly found one in a stranger, Bishops on the family, theologians and other Georgia Frey. They are pictured inside St. Paul Catholic Center in Bloomington, their home parish. (Photo by John Shaughnessy) guests dedicated a morning to marking the anniversary of Blessed Paul VI’s institution in 1965 of the synod as a forum for sharing Unexpected meeting lead two strangers to the faith and concerns of the world’s Catholics, reflecting together and offering counsel to the pope. form special bond during cancer challenge Referring to the Greek roots of the word “synod,” Pope Francis said, “walking By John Shaughnessy who she felt she could lean on, or who Georgia Frey begins, a friendship that has together—laity, pastors, the bishop of could help with the pain. led both women to believe there are no Rome—is an easy concept to express in BLOOMINGTON—The usual flow of A native of the African country of coincidences with God. words, but is not so easy to put into practice.” a friendship begins with a connection at Ghana, she had moved to Bloomington less In fact, before Pope Francis spoke, school, on a team, in a neighborhood, at than two years earlier to pursue a doctoral The beginning of the blessings five cardinals, an archbishop and the work or during a shared interest. degree at Indiana University. A single Kanko and Frey first met on patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church If we’re blessed, the bond deepens mother, she worried more about her then July 1, 2013—a day when both women spoke about the blessings and challenges through time, connecting us with 10-year-old daughter while she also longed unexpectedly changed their plans. of the synod process over the past 50 years. someone who not only shares the joy and for the comfort of her mom, who was in Ever since she had been diagnosed They agreed that while the synod’s the fun in life, but also the tough times Ghana. And while she was known, involved with cancer three months earlier, Kanko methodology has improved over the past five and the heartbreaking moments. and appreciated at St. Paul Catholic Center hadn’t been able to attend Mass at decades, there still is work to do. It was exactly that kind of friendship in Bloomington, she didn’t want to burden St. Paul Catholic Center because of “We must continue on this path,” that Cynthia Kanko needed when she anyone there. her weakness from the side effects of Pope Francis told them. “The world in received the devastating news in 2013 Then one seemingly chance chemotherapy. Still, she made a point which we live and which we are called to that she had the worst stage of breast encounter changed everything—not each week to visit the center’s chapel love and serve, even with its contradictions, cancer. The diagnosis left her reeling: just for Kanko but for a woman she had for an hour, realizing “how the presence requires from the Church the strengthening of “My world came crashing down. I never met. of the Lord” brought her “a lot of inner synergies in all areas of its mission.” lost every hope.” That’s where the story of the remarkable peace, joy, comfort and strength.” Using the synod on the family as an Yet there was no one in Kanko’s life friendship of Cynthia Kanko and See BLESSING, page 8 example, the pope said it would have been See SYNOD, page 2 Canonizing four saints, Pope Francis urges people to serve others with joy VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Pope Francis called on people to replace their thirst for power with the joy of quiet and humble service, as he proclaimed four new saints, including the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. All of Christ’s disciples, especially its pastors, are called to model themselves after Jesus and “suppress our instinctive desire to exercise power over others, and instead exercise the virtue of humility.” The pope said the new saints—a Spanish religious woman, an Italian priest and the first married couple with children to be canonized together—“unfailingly served their brothers and sisters with outstanding Workers prepare a banner of Louis and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin, the parents of humility and charity in imitation of the divine master.” St. Thérèse of Lisieux, on the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Oct. 16 in On World Mission Sunday on Oct. 18 in St. Peter’s advance of a canonization. On Oct. 18, Pope Francis canonized the Martins, Italian Father Square, during the Synod of Bishops on the family, the Vincenzo Grossi, founder of the Institute of the Daughters of the Oratory, and Spanish pope canonized the following new saints: Sister Maria of the Immaculate Conception, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters See SAINTS, page 8 of the Company of the Cross. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) Page 2 The Criterion Friday, October 23, 2015 Synod not manipulated; how it is be “the servant of the servants of God.” SYNOD “We must never forget: for the continued from page 1 disciples of Jesus—yesterday, today depicted is distorted, says cardinal and forever—the only authority is the impossible for the 270 bishops and authority of service; the only power is the VATICAN CITY (CNS)—The Synod appointed drafting committee, told America, priests who are voting members of the power of the cross,” he said. of Bishops on the family is not being “I don’t see how you can manipulate assembly to speak to real needs and The world needs the Catholic Church manipulated, rather the distortion rests in all of those groups and all of the people concerns without listening to and trying to witness to that Christian vision of how it is being depicted leading them.” to learn from Catholic families. community, participation, solidarity and or seen by a number of In fact, the creation of a larger drafting “It was that conviction that led me joint responsibility, he said. In too many people, said Cardinal committee was an improvement on a previous when I asked that the people of God be countries, power is in the hands of just a Donald W. Wuerl of process that was not “working very well.” consulted” before the synod, the pope few people, the dignity of many is denied Washington. During last year’s extraordinary synod, “there said. “How would it have been possible and authority is abused. “I don’t think the was this great outcry” that the first interim to speak of the family without calling Pope Francis told the gathering that synod itself has been report drafted by two top-ranking members upon families, listening to their joys “the pope does not stand alone above the tainted, but the lens of the synod wasn’t done well, so the pope and their hopes, their pains and their Church,” but he is “within it as a baptized through which it is being added more bishops to the process. suffering?” person among the baptized and in the seen by many, many “I don’t see any of that as manipulative. The need for everyone in the episcopal collage as a bishop among Cardinal people has been tainted, I see it as widening the participation of the Church—from the pope on down—to bishops, called at the same time—as the Donald W. Wuerl and so I suspect that bishops,” he said. listen and to learn from others is based successor of the Apostle Peter—to guide that will have some “Now there are some bishops whose on the conviction, clearly explained by the Church of Rome, which presides in impact,” he said in an interview on Oct. 18 position is that we shouldn’t be discussing the Second Vatican Council, that through love over all the churches.” with the Jesuit magazine America. any of this anyway. They were the ones at the baptism and confirmation all members A synodal spirit must be at work “It’s not going to be a long-term impact last synod that were giving interviews, and of the Church have been anointed by the in dioceses as well as in the universal because you can only paint something in denouncing and claiming there were intrigues Holy Spirit, and that the entire Christian Church, Pope Francis said. Priests’ false tones and have it remain understood and manipulation,” he told the magazine. community is infallible when its councils, pastoral councils and other incorrectly for so long, after a while the Such accusations, he said, do not have “a members discern together and speak with consultative bodies in a diocese must Church wins out,” he said, adding that “the foundation in reality.

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