The regulation of secular theologians? Experts at the Synod want to aid in the birth of the Synod Church

A church led by “theological experts”? This phenomenon is well known from the time of the Second Vatican Council. There are no shortages of environments that would like to come back to this on the Synod of Synodality.

One associate in synod work in Rome is the celebrated Austrian theologian, Klara Csiszar of Linz. Csiszar late co-organized a synodal gathering of bishops and laymen from all over Europe, right in Linz. There was a call for the creation of a European Church Assembly – an organization that would form the Catholic religion throughout the continent. At the Synod in Rome, Csiszar seeks the top function of theologians in building synodality. As she said, theologians want to be “accusers of the Synod Church.”

A loud gathering at Linz Csiszar was held together with theologians from Germany and France, including 1 of the key promoters of the German Synodary Way prof. Thomas Söding. He was the patron of the Hungarian-Serbian bishop and cardinal-elect, Laszlo Nemet, a determined liberal and friend of German progressives.

Csiszar attended a press conference in the Vatican on Wednesday. As she said, theologians want to “help in the birth of the Synod Church.”

As part of the Synod on Synodality, in addition to average meetings, meetings of theological experts are besides held. These are the alleged 4 “theological-soul pastoral forums” that – unlike the participants of the synod themselves – discuss at the open door. Csiszar chaired Wednesday's deliberations that afraid the relation between the papal primacy and the Synod of Bishops.

At the same time, a second Theological Forum was held, where local Churches were discussed in turn. 2 another forums were held last week: dedicated to the People of God as a subject of the mission and the function and authority of the bishop in the Synod Church.

Csiszar stressed that the most crucial issue is to read the Church as the People of God; on this occasion all another matters are revealed.

According to synodal papers published since 2021, the knowing of the Church as the People of God is intended to lead to a thorough explanation of the relation between bishops, priests and laymen in the Church. Power in the Church would be shared under the sacrament of baptism and based on a fresh reading of the meaning of the universal priesthood of the faithful.

The primary function of theological experts is highlighted in peculiar by the German Synodal Way. In 1 of the key papers of this Way, it was proposed to extend the conventional list of alleged loci theologites, theological sites, or sources from which arguments in theology are drawn.

St. Thomas of Aquinas, followed by the conventional doctrine of the Church, pointed to 1 main locus theologicus, that is, Scripture. Furthermore, the authority of the Doctors and Fathers of the Church, understood as Tradition, was important. In 3rd place, Thomas pointed to philosophical and technological knowledge, which would only be supportive.

In the German Synod way, however, the following loci theologites should be referred to: Scripture, surviving Tradition, signs of the times, sense of religion of believers, the Magisterium, theology.

The relations between the individual loci in this proposal are not very specific, as the nonsubjective suggested by German progressives is to clearly appreciate specified loci theologites as the signs of time, the sense of religion of believers and theology.

The concept of the Church as the People of God is crucial in this matter, due to the fact that many theologians, starting with the aforementioned explanation of the relation of authority, request that the participation of the full People of God be regarded as indispensable in determining any doctrines or teachings in general.

In practice, this would affect any form of democratization of decision-making processes in the Church, possibly even in doctrinal and moral matters.

Since it is hard to anticipate from the average secular full competence in this area, here comes the space for secular theological experts who could become advocates for alleged non-bishops in the Church, and this is due to their roots in the laity on the 1 hand, and on the another hand to their professional cognition of theology.

In this sense, it is possible to read Klara Csiszar's postulate: theologians as those who convert the alleged signs of time and human experience into concrete doctrinal and moral proposals. With all these consequences, as we have seen already after the Second Vatican Council, when, under the dictates of scholars, many changes have been made resulting in a improvement of the Church which is yet profoundly separated from the needs and expectations of the people, even in liturgy.

Sources: kathpress.at, PCh24.pl

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