SUMMARY OF THE CROATIAN CONFERENCE OF BISHOPS
For the Synod on Synodality, 2021–2024
Zagreb, May 15, 2024

 

 

With joy, dedicated effort and engaged prayer, we have continued to begin the path of our synodal journey together, responding to Pope Francis’ call to explore ways how our one, holy catholic and apostolic Church can at the same time be a synodal Church in mission, respecting all biblical Revelation, historical Tradition and Church magisterium. The synodal journey of the Church permeated our local Churches with varying intensity, and in some of them has continued at particular synods that were in progress. As the shepherds of our communities, the local bishops again encouraged priests, believers, Church movements and synodal commissions to actively continue to begin the synodal process. The purpose of this journey together was to see how to live one’s ecclesiality and how to respond to today’s challenges with our Christian identity.  Thus, according to Pope Francis’ wishes, the Synod took place as a common journey manifested in a special way in the organizational, practical and dialogue areas of the local Churches. Examples of the good practice of the synodal process in the Church among the Croats are synodal encounters of priests, theologians, religious, school principals, associations and spiritual movements, parish choirs and youth ministry. Synodal consultations are regularly published on the websites of the Catholic media. The Fourth Theological Colloquium, The Theology and Practice of Synodality in the Church, was held, as well as synodal consultations with pastoral theologians from the Catholic faculties of theology in Croatia. The Sixteenth Dies Theologicus was dedicated to the topic of Contemporary Perspective of the Office and Formation of Catechists. The Sixty-Fourth Pastoral Week was devoted to Contemporary Challenges of Pastoral Ministry and Catechesis for Adults. In light of the synodal encounters, the First Encounter of the Permanent Council of the Croatian Conference of Bishops was held together with bishops emeriti. The bishops who participated in the Synod shared their experiences at thematic forums and meetings of priests. An article by one of the participants in the Synod, The Synod of Bishops in the Service of the New Evangelization Momentum in the Synodal Key, is being prepared for publication. The synodal method of listening in the Spirit was practiced by conducting divine reading (lectio divina) at the diocesan levels, and was applied at thematic synodal meetings.

Reading the Summary Report, the local Churches recognized the most significant incentives for their situation and on this basis launched initiatives for the inclusion of the synodal journey of the Church. After collecting the contributions and summaries resulting from the synodal meetings and initiatives in the local Churches, we compiled this Summary, which includes some of the conclusions. In the following text, we present the main highlights of the synodal process in Croatia and the topics represented in the summaries received from the local Churches on our journey toward October 2024.

 

1. Some Aspects of the Relationship between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church

The Croatian Conference of Bishops includes the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Križevci, established in 1777. The faithful of the eparchy come from various Church unions, migrant believers and refugees in recent years, who brought with them their customs, traditions, languages and spiritual heritages, which distinguishes the Greek Catholics in Croatia with their wealth of uniqueness and unity in diversity.  Their presence, clergy and laity, is an important pastoral reality that makes possible the discovery of the spiritual wealth that expands the understanding of the expression and very activity of the Catholic Church. The proximity of Greek Catholic also enables the faithful of the Roman Rite to enter more easily into the world of ecumenical efforts with the Eastern Churches and bridge the distances that may be caused by the diversity of forms of ritual speech. In the life of the local Churches, this proximity facilitated the acceptance and understanding of the needs of migrants, the faithful of the Eastern tradition. The greatest contribution that the Greek Catholic faithful can make in the life of the Church is their testimony of the unity of faith, which is expressed in the    diversity of rites, traditions, church chants and liturgical languages. In this way, ordained ministers and laity of the Latin Rite discover and become acquainted with the wealth of the Greek Catholic spiritual heritage and tradition at various meetings of a pastoral nature. In pastoral work, the unique qualities of both ritual traditions should be preserved, recognizing the essential components of the teachings of the Christian faith and its various liturgical and other prayer expressions. Particular attention should be directed to the sacramental life, with attention to sensitivity in the upbringing and education of children, because the order of the celebration of initiation into the Eastern Rite is different from the order in the Roman Rite. Synodal consultations showed us the importance of organizing lectures, panel discussions and thematic discussions, as well as the preparation of appropriate materials that will help the faithful understand the same Catholic doctrine and the differences in ritual expression and speech. This has contributed to increasing the presence of Greek Catholic priests in the life of the local Churches.

2. Some Aspects of the Person and Office of the Bishop

In our ecclesiastical reality and during the synodal process, a need was confirmed that had also appeared earlier in all the segments of the life of the local Churches, their institutions and communities. Namely, bishops in the exercise of their paternal authority should know how to initiate and animate processes and make final decisions based on joint reflection, wise judgment in the choice among various styles and ways of management, and decisiveness in action. It turned out that the forms of everyone’s participation provided for by the valid general Church legislation have not been realized in all the dioceses in a satisfactory manner.  Therefore, this document highlights the need for greater engagement by the laity, members of institutions of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life in bodies of participation and co-decision making. However, a problem that was more apparent in some of the dioceses was the weakening of the bishop’s authority and, therefore, indecision and a complete absence of appropriate management decisions. Where the bishop loses authority and willingness to make the necessary decisions and take responsibility for them, the synodal processes lose their purpose and become counterproductive. The style in which a bishop exercises authority is crucial for the participation of priests and deacons, laymen and laywomen, consecrated men and women, whereby the choice between less or more synodality in the manner of governance cannot be imposed by the norms themselves but rather room should be left for judgment as to what one or another possibility would mean in relation to the concrete needs and problems of the local Churches and Church realities in their areas.

It is precisely in the area of the protection of minors in the Church in Croatia that the bishops have demonstrated the necessary willingness for coordinated action according to valid Church norms. However, a problem in some cases that reveals the inadequacy of the current manner by which a bishop exercises judicial authority in this area is the harmonization of the role of a father and the role of a judge. Therefore, the initiative of entrusting the judicial task to another body, eventual special courts, which would be canonically determined and approved by the Holy See, is welcomed and encouraged.

The role of papal representatives in the missionary synodal perspective is summarized in a report from the First Session of the Sixteenth Regular Assembly of the Synod, Item 19, which is devoted to the grouping of Churches within the communion of the whole Church.  Institutionally and from the perspective of joint pastoral care for the faithful of particular Churches of the same ethnicity, bishops’ conferences have a significant practical role, which needs to be strengthened by greater decentralization in the sense of broader powers to make  general decisions with legal force, aligned with the circumstances of the local Churches (cf. Can. 455), as well as the authority to conduct certain procedures such as administrative processes, hierarchical appeals, ratum non consumatum, privilegio in favore della fede, as well as those for the proclamation of blesseds and saints.

3. The Role of Papal Representatives in the Missionary Synodal Perspective

Apostolic nuncios can significantly contribute to the strengthening of unity, participation and mission within the Church. In the following, we present several suggestions for their service to be in the synodal spirit.

First of all, apostolic representatives are called to be bridges of unity and communion between the Holy See and the local Churches. Their service should ensure that the voice of every believer is heard and respected in the common journey of the Church. In the spirit of synodality, they should listen actively to the needs, concerns and joys of the local Churches. They are called to promote dialogue and cooperation, both within the Church and between the Church and the general society, always searching for common paths toward the betterment of all.

Moreover, their support of local initiatives that promote synodality through the involvement of the laity, recognition and evaluation of various charisms, and ensuring that all levels of the Church actively participate in the life of the community would be significant.

Furthermore, they should be promoters of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, encouraging cooperation and joint initiatives that contribute to unity among Christians and mutual understanding with other religions.

In the spirit of synodality, they should work to build trust and transparency within the Church. Their service must be characterized by openness, sincerity and responsibility toward all members of the Church and society. As representatives of the Holy See, they are called to promote community, dialogue and cooperation, ensuring that the Church remains faithful to its mission of proclaiming the gospel and serving the world.

 

4. Revision of the Documents that Govern the Relations among Bishops, Consecrated Life and Church Associations from a Synodal and Missionary Perspective

The conclusions of the local synods highlight the importance of bishops’ pastoral visits, not only to parishes but also to those communities of consecrated life and church associations that serve in the pastoral ministry of individual dioceses. Pastoral visits are important not only for strengthening religious life but also for the growth in the ecclesiality of all who are involved in the evangelization mission of the Church. A need was noted for institutions of consecrated life, despite their autonomy, to be more open and trusting toward the pastors of the local Churches. Furthermore, the documents of the recent synods of particular Churches recommend that persons of consecrated life and members of Church organizations cooperate with local pastors. In order for this cooperation to be as fruitful as possible, it is necessary to increase mutual sensitivity and pastoral activity.  Relations between dioceses and religious communities should be regulated by legal acts but in the spirit of ecclesiality and joyful dedication to one’s own mission. The goal toward which it is necessary to move in relations among hierarchical Church structures, communities of consecrated life and Church associations is to build a complementary relationship in which everyone contributes in accordance with their own vocation and charisms. Cooperation, community and openness to diversity should continue to be the leading values, which first of all should mutually witness the hierarchical and charismatic structures of the Church in such a way that they go to the “peripheries” of society together. Bishops are encouraged to organize spiritual-formative meetings at the diocesan level at least once a year for persons of consecrated life, members of religious societies and Church movements so that everyone can become acquainted with each other and grow in their common calling and mission.

 

5. Revision of Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in the Synodal Perspective

Reflection on priestly upbringing and education in the context of the synodality of the Church occupies a special place in the mystery of the Church itself and the people of God. Strengthening systematic and continuous pastoral vocation as the synodal dynamism of the life of the entire people of God is recognized as the first and most important challenge to the Church in Croatia. Another important challenge is the issue of planning a high quality and suitable preparatory period that will facilitate a personal approach in the preparation of a candidate, which depends on many factors, such as the age, maturity and educational level of the individual, family and social contexts, religious background, Church life experience etc. Looking at priestly formation itself, the importance of mutual cooperation among all the formation houses, whether religious or diocesan, is increasingly recognized, analogous to the proposal for a supradiocesan association of seminaries of the current Ratio Fundamentalis. Some local Churches with a permanent diaconate emphasized the importance of preparing a Vademecum for permanent deacons in which the formative paths of permanent deacons can be connected with the formation of candidates for the priesthood, especially in the pastoral year. It is precisely in this strong and concrete connection that we recognize the newness of the life of the synodal Church. Therefore, it is necessary to combine spiritual and professional efforts in all the areas common to religious and diocesan candidates because this concerns the same human nature that is assumed for any vocation. The realization of this is seen through the joint organization of bodies of the bishops’ conference and the religious conference. In the spirit of the synodality of the Church, there is a need for the greater coordination of upbringing and education, i.e., the coordination of the program of formation houses and the study program. Such coordination would significantly contribute to the actualization of the unique, integral, communal and missionary character of formation, which is discussed in the introduction to the current Ratio Fundamentalis. Bearing in mind that the assumptions of a small seminary and the previous comprehensive human and Christian formation of a candidate are almost non-existent, the need to extend the current length of the formative stages as well as their names is recognized. Thus, instead of “stage of philosophical study,” greater emphasis could be placed on “stage of discipleship” and philosophical studies could be included in the formative contents. This would reinforce the position that completed philosophical-theological studies cannot be the sole criterion for a candidate’s suitability for priestly ordination.

 

6. Several Theological and Canonical Questions Related to Certain Forms of Ministry

In the reality of our Church, the importance of the parish as the basic unit of regular pastoral activity is recognized, as well as the need to coordinate the pastoral ministry of the parish with the provisions of recent Church documents and the requirements of contemporary pastoral activity. Parish pastoral ministry should primarily support and develop the regular forms of parish life. Pastors are called to fulfill their mission joyfully, to provide an example of personal prayer, to accompany the faithful in their growth in faith and through the testimony of their lives to be models and support. Greater emphasis is needed on the development of cooperative relations between ordained ministers and associates in the parish, with the aim of mutual concern for the promotion of Church unity and realization of pastoral programs. In the context of the parish community, the importance of the family as the foundation of every Christian community and missionary activity has been confirmed.  Therefore, it is necessary to promote Christian education in faith and practice in families and especially monitor young families in the community in accordance with the requirements of family life. Special importance should be focused on the missions of persons with disabilities, recognizing the experience of their suffering, marginalization and discrimination.

It is necessary for even greater promotion of the role of the lay faithful in the life and mission of the Church because they contribute to the realization of the Church as a community. The lay faithful should have greater recognition as active ministers in the Church communities through the organizing, leading and animating of various initiatives and projects, and participating in various parish and diocesan bodies. It is necessary to recognize and appreciate charisms in their diversity, avoiding the extremes or dualisms that diminish their lay character by performing duties intended for ordained ministers. It is necessary for the lay faithful to be included with more confidence in Church life and in the bodies of cooperation and co-responsibility, and therefore make use of their involvement, which often encounters obstacles from clerics.

In Christ, men and women are clothed with the same baptismal dignity and according to God’s measure receive diverse gifts of the Spirit in common co-responsibility. Their cooperation should be promoted at all levels of the Christian community. It is, therefore, necessary to value women’s contribution in the Church and society, especially that of young mothers in the context of protection on the labor market, but also to consider increasing the pastoral responsibility that should be entrusted to women in certain areas of the life and mission of the Church. With regard to the entry of women into the diaconate in our Church reality, it is noted that such a decision would be counterproductive and contrary to Church tradition, which knew of such service in rare circumstances that are not relevant today.

7. Theological Criteria and Synodal Methodologies for the Joint Discernment of Controversial Doctrinal, Pastoral and Moral Issues

The change of era that Pope Francis speaks about is evident through various cultural and value challenges supported by the development of technologies. Such a situation calls for new theological criteria for discerning and dealing with insufficiently clear doctrinal, pastoral and ethical issues related to the life of the society and the Church. A burning issue is how to preserve the intertwining of love and truth without the danger of pastoral thoughtlessness, evangelical inconsistency and the blind adaptation of Jesus’ teaching to contemporary trends that deny the theological and anthropological truths about man, created in the image of God. The Croatian context shows the sensitivity of the faithful to these challenges, and through various initiatives, workshops, centers and symposia have been organized that deal with these topics, including issues of gender identity, sexual abuse of minors, anti-natal mentality, the liberalistic view of life at conception, the situation of irregular marital and other unions etc. The spiritual and theological situation in various parishes shows significant fidelity to the evangelical requirements that emphasize the interdependence of truth and love, mercy and justice. Despite the permissive Western context, the faithful are looking for clarity and solid support in the Church, and warn of the dangers of relativism and situational ethics in different ways. Various sociological studies on the aforementioned challenges, as well as the pastoral and personal engagement of many experts and pastors of the Church, are contributing to establishing the truth about man and integrity in approaching ethical problems.  All these efforts help in forming the moral conscience of the faithful, discerning new situations and circumstances, and in reaffirming the essential elements of doctrinal and moral teaching, which always have the aim of the salvation of souls.

8. Hearing the Cry of the Poor

Pope Francis emphasizes the importance of commitment to the poor, pointing out that it is a theological category rather than a cultural or political one. God first shows his mercy to the poor and in serving the poor. The Church recognizes challenges such as material and moral poverty, homelessness, exile, migration and disease. The Church in Croatia responds to the cries of the poor through associations and religious communities but also initiatives by individual believers, thus demonstrating the manifestation of Christian love in practice. The results of such work are expressed through various charitable and social activities. As examples of concrete assistance, we mention soup kitchens, free stores, social exchanges and medical device exchanges, where citizens can donate or receive food, clothing, necessities, medicines and medical devices free of charge.

In the Church among the Croatian nation, we have priests who go out into the streets every day to feed the hungry and thirsty and to clothe the naked, as Christ commands us to do.  In addition to the aforementioned ways of caring for the poor, it is important to point out the activities of the parish branches of Caritas, which fulfill their missions by providing various types of care for the needy in the territories of the individual parishes. In addition to caring for the poor, there is increasing recognition of the need to care for the elderly and infirm, especially those who live alone, depending on the proximity and help from others in their everyday living situations. In working with the poor, it is necessary to recognize the specific needs of the individual, to act in a systematic and complementary manner with other organizations with the aim of providing complete support for the individual. In the territory of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, this is facilitated by the implementation of a contract with Caritas Croatia according to which the state supports the broadest possible forms of the social and charitable activities of the Church institutions, from parish branches of Caritas to religious communities and Church associations involving many lay people.

9. Our Mission in the Digital Environment

In today’s virtual world, which has become the main dwelling place for many people, various things such as education, friendship, love, entertainment and space for spiritual growth are sought. While various categories compete for users’ attention, the areas of spirituality and faith often remain underrepresented. Therefore, as the Church, we recognize the importance of engaging in the virtual space in order to provide spiritual support and education, and to be present where people are looking for meaning and spiritual growth. Namely, it is difficult to reduce the truth and depth of faith to short video clips of 15 to 30 seconds, that is, to content that would be acceptable to a person of today’s digital era, whose concentration on content often does not last longer than that. On the one hand, the Church is correct when it says that it does not consent to the banalization of the content of its faith and is not reaching for the tools and weapons of clickbait manipulation and sensationalism in headlines. On the other hand, as the Church, we need to find  ways to make the content we offer in the visual world attractive, interesting and accessible to today’s person, especially children and the young, for whom the virtual world is part of their daily lives in which they were born and are growing up. It is clear to everyone that pastoral ministry and evangelization must meet a person in the circumstances of his actual life and bring the message of the gospel because if we cannot recognize and respond to today’s challenges,  our message will lose its importance and attractiveness. Therefore, we need to be more involved in educating ourselves about digital culture and the tools that can help us convey content. Nevertheless, the disadvantages of the digital world and confinement within four walls should not be ignored.  Personal encounter must have priority in evangelization and virtual content should encourage the consecrated practice of religious and sacramental life, as well as the apostolate and activity in the physical world. A positive example is the Croatian Catholic Network, with all its components, as recently confirmed by a survey assessing Croatian citizens’ confidence in the media, with emphasis on religious topics. The trust achieved among the public is due to high quality content and a newsroom that is familiar with a broad range of social and religious topics, but also the cultivation of relationships and good cooperation with those who are able to provide factual, precise and relevant information at every moment.

 

10. Receiving the Fruits of the Ecumenical Path into Church Practices

Historical circumstances have shaped a particular sensitivity in our Church reality and emphasized the importance of ecumenical efforts and aspirations toward an ever-increasing degree of unity with the faithful of the Eastern Churches and the communities that emerged from the Reformation or the Reformation heritage. Regular ecumenical prayer meetings have already taken place, in addition to numerous meetings at the academic level as well as at the levels of various social and charitable initiatives. One of the ecumenical initiatives that gather numerous Christians every year from all the Churches is the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. Under the direction of the Council for Ecumenicism of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, materials are printed and distributed so that everyone can participate in the ecumenical prayer celebrations. Among important recent documents, the pastoral letter “Incentives and Guidelines for More Engaged Ecumenical Activity” from 2022 should be highlighted, in which the Croatian bishops wanted to encourage all the faithful to work even harder for unity and the revival of the ecumenical spirit. Numerous Catholic institutions educate the faithful for ecumenical values in accordance with Church teaching. It is nevertheless necessary to provide stronger impetus for ecumenical activity at the parish and diocesan levels. This has already been partially achieved through various ecumenical prayer and charitable initiatives in numerous parishes and dioceses, although it is necessary to coordinate and expand such initiatives. We should not lose sight of the fact that faithfulness in prayer remains the main tool in the direction of achieving greater and deeper unity. At the national level, it would be good to form an ecumenical synodal body that would manage ecumenical initiatives in the areas of the joint proclamation of the gospel, interconfessional prayer celebrations and concrete works of service to man and society.

Conclusion

The grace of the synodal journey of the Church among the Croats was an opportunity to reflect on the fundamental segments that make the Church a living and caring Mother. In this sense, the privileged care for the poor found its place again in discussions and brought to mind the Church that goes out into the “periphery.” However, this is always under the threat of rapid technological development that creates a digital atmosphere in which the individual rules at the expense of the community and in which technological solutions to fundamental human problems are sought. On the one hand, the Word of God remains the key source for connecting people, especially through ordained ministers, whose education should be strengthened in view of the new digital circumstances. On the other hand, the tradition of the Church emphasizing the equal baptismal dignity of all the faithful and ordained ministers values the diversity of charisms through which everyone’s co-responsibility for everything is manifested, as well as the consistent living of the baptismal mission. Such a missionary spirit cannot be brought to life without the cooperation of all the members of the Church, with greater room for the involvement of the lay faithful, the declericalization and decentralization of certain services that are not sacramentally conditioned by their nature. Deepening cooperation and the strengthening joint pastoral initiatives of the bishops and other communities, such as communities of consecrated life and lay associations, make up an important segment of synodality and for the active and prophetic presence of the Church in the world. The ecclesiastical reality in Croatia emphasizes the importance of ecumenical efforts and aspirations toward unity with the faithful of the Eastern Churches and the communities that resulted from the Reformation. Through regular ecumenical meetings, prayer celebrations and charitable initiatives, the increasing involvement of the faithful in the realization of the ecumenical spirit is encouraged. The wealth of liturgical rites facilitates the integration of migrants from other Christian Churches and communities. In addition to these intra-church dynamics, the Synod has helped to increase awareness of how much the spirit of the world affects certain parts of the body that have become “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and thereby inflict irreparable wounds on others. These wounds on the body of the Church have further strengthened awareness of the need for reconnecting the truth and love, despite the permissive mentality that denies the fundamental Christian anthropology of man’s creation in the image of God.