Friday
of the Fifth Week of Easter
(Acts
15:22-31; John 15:12-17)
All the
attention being given to the new pope raises a question of the first
reading. Why didn’t Peter take upon
himself the decision to allow gentiles into the Church without circumcision? In other words, why was the letter to the
Church at Antioch written in the name of “the Apostles and presbyters” of
Jerusalem? After all, Jesús did name Peter
the rock upon which he would build his Church.
The reason
is not that difficult to discern. In the
beginning, the Church was small and egalitarian. The apostles held places of prominence, but
the whole community took part in deliberations.
As the Church grew, clarity and effectiveness demanded that the
successor of Peter make operational decisions for the whole Church. This did not take place, however, for about
one hundred years.
Pope
Francis tried to return some of the mutual decision-making to the whole Church
through synodality. Pope Leo XIV seems
poised to continue this process.
However, we should not think of synodality as a name for democracy. It promises to be more a sounding board where
the voices of Catholics from different backgrounds may be heard. Ideally, it will give the pope of the
universal Church and bishops of local churches a better sense of what the Holy
Spirit is doing among the faithful.
