Enter As Guests; Depart as Friends
Margaret O’Donnell, Victoria
Volume 39 Issue 10, 11, & 12 | Posted: December 26, 2024
The Dutch Bakery on Fort Street is not far from the Cathedral. I popped in there for a cup of coffee after the Saturday morning launch of the newly created Diocesan Permanent Pastoral Synod in the context of Eucharist with Bishop Gary.
Teresa had not yet plunked herself down next to me. In fact, at that point, I didn’t even know about the existence of Teresa. I felt awake inside, though, as I read the plaque on the wall: ‘Enter as Guests; Depart as Friends.’ This reverberated with me and my recent lived experience with the Synod in Rome.
Then, an interruption. “My name’s Teresa” with Teresa’s out- stretched hand in mine. “And I’m Margaret!” I answered and before I knew quite a bit about Teresa. She was third generation Chinese, connected to family members, encircling with care her 98-year-old Mother. Teresa had bused into town, completed her Mother’s banking business, and according to her routine, stopped in to Dutch Bakery for the anticipated “Saturday morning treat”. Our conversation soon went deeper, as we shared from where we get our strength, where we worship, and the way prayer feeds us. One evangelical and one Catholic, guests of the Dutch Bakery, bid one another farewell, not guests, friends.
At the Synod on Synodality, people arrived as guests and departed as friends. I saw this with my own eyes. That’s because I watched the Synod on my computer, meaning I rose at 11:50pm each night throughout October, and for 20 minutes watched the Morning Prayer, went back to bed, then rose again for the 4:30 am Press Briefing, featuring numerous synod delegates, and their thoughts about the day’s doings.
Not only did the Vatican News Press Briefing make available a synthesis of the day’s procedure, not only was there an elaboration of key considerations on numerous topics by knowledgeable resource persons, but in addition – and above all – we were witnesses to moving testimonies by those living intimately with human need: with refugees hiding in the forests in Myanmar, with children trapped in the mayhem of Port au Prince streets, with Palestinians Catholics, living the Gaza war with 600 others in war-ravaged Holy Family Church. These impactful testimonies were life-altering.
Was the impact the sharing or the listening? Did Conversations in the Spirit awaken trust? Did trust enable readiness to risk listening to the ‘other side’ of the story? Did hearing result in change? Did change bring about communion and engender felt participation? Was the Synod on Synodality a ‘mission-oriented assembly’? Many questions! “Living through the synodal process, we have renewed our awareness that the salvation to be received and proclaimed is inherently relational. (154)”.
Today, Teresa and I entered the Dutch Bakery as guests and departed as friends. Guests arrived in Rome, 2023 and departed friends, 2024. Could friendship be the gift awaiting the Diocesan Permanent Pastoral Synod (DPPS) and await
Margaret O’Donnell, Victoria