For the Catholic Church to thrive, it needs to reach out to the margins of society, walk alongside the people who live on those margins, and be more inclusive in its decision-making so that everyone feels they have a role in its future.
This was one of the main messages conveyed by Mauricio López Oropeza, one of the most influential lay leaders of the Church in Latin America, during a talk in Parramatta last week, as part of the “Bishop Vincent Presents” series of public lectures organized by the Diocese of Parramatta (Australia).
Mauricio explained that this message emerged from the Synod for the Pan-Amazon Region (Amazon Synod) in 2019, promoted by Pope Francis, which conducted an exhaustive listening process with nearly 90,000 people across the vast Amazon region spanning nine countries.
The conversation was moderated by Qwayne Guevara, lay leader in the Diocese of Parramatta and lead facilitator of the Diocesan Synod, in the Cloister Hall of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta, on Wednesday, July 23.
In addition to being one of the leaders of the Amazon Synod, Mauricio is the lay vice president of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon, responsible for implementing the synod’s outcomes. He was also a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the facilitation team for the Synod on Synodality, and the founding director of the Amazon University Program.
“Participate in our struggles”
Many people who participated in the Amazon Synod process said they rarely saw priests and relied on lay deacons or people who serve in that role—mostly women—to receive the sacraments, Mauricio explained. This was a reality they wanted the Church to recognize. The synod also heard from many Indigenous communities and other marginalized groups.
“We had the opportunity to go out and listen to communities that hadn’t had recent contact with the Church,” Mauricio said. “We cried when we heard people who have served the Church for decades say, ‘This is the first time in my life that I’ve been asked what my dream is for the Church of the future. I’ve never been heard or invited to express my feelings in this way.’”
The prevailing message was that the Amazonian people wanted the Church to “participate in our struggles, not just talk about them, but to be actively involved.”
This became even more urgent after Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, which criticized the destruction of the natural world and emphasized the interconnectedness of all living beings with the health of the planet. “Now they feel more a part of it and understand the importance of their role,” Mauricio said.
He also highlighted the importance of the Amazon for the health of the planet: 20% of the world’s drinking water comes from this region, which is also home to a third of the planet’s primary forests.
Therefore, the results of the Amazon Synod have global implications. “The future of the Amazon is connected to the future of the world,” he stated.
“The problem is that we have a finite planet and a development model based on the idea of infinite resources. We have to think of a different way of doing things, or, as Laudato Si’ says, we are jeopardizing the future of future generations.
“We’re seeing it here and now. But it’s also an ethical problem. Inequality, as Pope Francis mentioned, could be the biggest ecological problem.
“When 900 million people in the world go hungry every day, and we see how we waste a third of everything we produce, especially food, it’s an ethical issue that demands a transformation.”
“People of God on the way”
Mauricio noted that this synodal process, which began with the Amazon Synod and has continued with the Synod on Synodality and other regional synods such as the one in Parramatta, has allowed many more voices to be heard within the Church. But it has also been beneficial for the Church itself.
He said that Pope Francis wants the Church to “learn from those humble presences where we are small and limited in the midst of so much conflict, and our possibilities are so limited that we need to learn to listen, to truly listen.
“We need to relearn how to collaborate with others and, in doing so, recover the essential element of the Gospel: the possibility, as Jesus did, of encountering others on the margins and allowing ourselves to be transformed by them.”
The best way to maintain this over time, he said, is through ecclesial assemblies, with representation from the entire ecclesial community: bishops, clergy, religious men and women, and laity.
“I sincerely feel that these ecclesial assemblies will become crucial moments for experiencing what it means to be a People of God on the journey, where we can discern and, hopefully, make space for those on the peripheries to feel at home. I believe that is one of the greatest challenges we face.”
“Where the Church is Headed”
Thanking Mauricio for his talk, Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv., Bishop of Parramatta, said the 2021 post-Amazon Synod ecclesial assembly, where lay people had voting rights alongside clergy and consecrated persons, was “revolutionary” and laid the groundwork for future assemblies.
Some of the Amazon Synod’s decisions were also revolutionary, Bishop Vincent said, such as the decision that the Church should promote and confirm ministries for male and female disciples equally.
“It gives an idea of the direction the Church is heading, very aspirational, but in my opinion, profoundly transformative.
“What the Latin American Church has contributed to the universal Church, including Australia, is this sense of a Church of the poor, a Church that accompanies the people. And you [Mauricio] are the embodiment of that Latin American Church for us.”
An audience member, Dr. Leonard Pinto, an environmental consultant, considered Mauricio’s talk to be “excellent.”
“His presentation has profound meaning for us, and I believe that meaning lies in how we articulate the spiritual message of Christ in a secular society, in secular language we can understand. That’s a message we all need.”
Another attendee, Amy Smith, said Mauricio’s talk was highly relevant to Australia and the Australian Church, especially in how we address the impacts of the ecological crisis and the legacy of colonialism on Indigenous peoples.
“We’re also a very remote place, like the Amazon, so it really makes you think about those small communities and remote places that don’t have as much access to the sacraments. That’s something I hadn’t thought about before listening to these songs tonight.”
Por Antony Lawes.