First Reports

First Reports Robert Royal’s Synod Report: Tuesday saw strong reactions to weaknesses in the Vatican's Working Document. We’ll see if these come to any fruition in the end. Yesterday, the Synod released the brief reports of the fourteen circoli minori, the small language groups that gather outside of the full meetings of almost 300 participants to work through various points. These provide the first substantial glimpse into proceedings that have largely been out of public sight until now.           The reports are intended to deal with only the first part of the synod’s Working Document, the sociological questions about the situation of young people in the contemporary world, which have been criticized by many as spiritually reductive and partly misleading. But not all of the small circles were able to limit themselves to the assigned material. Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay revealed during a briefing Tuesday that his English-speaking group (there are four, with members from all over the world) wanted to discuss the abuse crisis. So he put aside the programmed points.

          That may indicate some healthy impatience on the part of participants, which was not limited to his circle alone. It’s worth looking briefly through all the reports in the various language groups, because there are marked differences among them. On the one hand, English (4) and Italian (3), each of which tends to be a kind of lingua franca for people from various backgrounds in the Church; and on the other hand German (1), Portuguese (1), Spanish (2), French (3), though French is no longer as much an international language as it once was.

          To make things manageable, we’ll take a broad look at the four English and three French reports today, and the rest tomorrow.

Click here to read the rest of Dr. Royal’s dispatch from Rome . . .https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2018/10/10/first-reports/