A Synod Infection

A parable ...

A local news outlet did an in-depth three-minute report on hunger in a major metropolitan area. Other news outlets picked up on the report and did their own in-depth three-minute reports. Activists, Church leaders, City Council members, and County Legislators held press conferences to condemn the existence of hunger and to place blame.

At this point, the local Catholic diocese decided to address the issue. Diocesan officials met with representatives from the two diocese-based orders of women religious and they agreed that they needed to explore the situation and potential solutions, and that a "Hunger Synod" would be one way to do so.

To prepare for the Synod, they called for parish-level discussions about hunger. Reports from the discussions would then be submitted to a committee organizing the synod, who would then select synod topics.

Once the topics were selected, the synod committee contacted noted authors and speakers to come to the metropolitan area to lead the workshops and discussions. 

Among the proposed talks: Education and Hunger, Systemic Racism Inherent in the Supply Chain,  The Patriarchal Roots of Hunger, The Unbearable Emptiness of Spiritual Hunger, How Spirituality Affects Our Health and Nutrition. The Universal Christ-Man and Feeding Thousands, Rising to the Occasion: Participating in Charity Again in a Covid World.

The synod committee, tapping into unused diocesan funds, donations, and money raised through a special collection in parishes, hired the speakers and rented a conference center for the Synod. 

The day-long Synod drew hundreds of participants, and two-minute reports on all the local major media outlets. (The diocesan paper would later win an award for its coverage of the synod.) Some of the speakers were also interviewed about sex abuse, choice, and women priests by the local public radio station.

At the Synod, participants voted overwhelmingly to form a committee to monitor the issue and to support proposed initiatives to address hunger.

Meanwhile, not covered by the media or acknowledged by the synod organizers, weeks earlier when the initial reports had come out, the Missionaries of Charity, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, the Caritas Pregnancy Center, and some volunteers had opened a soup kitchen and had been feeding the hungry since.

Pax et bonum