TMST8126 · Theology and Ministry

Synodality and Reforms in the Church Today

Clough School of Theology and Ministry

This Course explores the theological and pastoral roots of synodality as a consequence of the process of reception and deepening of the Ecclesiology of the People of God in the Second Vatican Council. In this context, pastoral conversion and synodal conversion are key to understand today's ecclesial proposal of an inverted pyramid that overcomes clericalism and leads to a new way of proceeding in the Church that starts from below, from the sensus fidei fidelium, and then upwards. From this perspective, we are entering in a new phase in the reception of the Council and a renewed ecclesiology, an event that involves the reform of structures and processes. This demands a conversion in the ecclesial mentality, a revision of lifestyles, practices of communal discernment, and structural reform. Therefore, the course will present synodality as a constitutive and constituent note of the Church that embraces a major reform.