Orthodoxy ‘is a given’: Priest explains what synodality looks like in Diocese of Phoenix

(LifeSiteNews) — The word “synodality” can signal for some Catholics concerns about a revolution in Church structure or an overturning of Catholic doctrine. In the Diocese of Phoenix, however, this is not the case, according to the priest charged with overseeing its synodal office.

In recent years, the term Synodality has generally referred to a consultative process by which the hierarchy of the Catholic Church listens to and considers the input of the laity and religious alike regarding Church matters. Even high-ranking clergy have suggested at times that the laity’s input does not constitute mere opinion but has authoritative weight in shaping the teachings of the Church, which is a totally novel concept and inconsistent with the magisterium of the Church.

While “synodality” as an idea and process can be abused — in the “Synodal Path” of Germany, for example — at its heart, it can be used to better outreach and evangelization, Father Charles Kieffer, the vicar for Synodality and Planning for the Diocese of Phoenix, told LifeSiteNews.

The diocese, led by Bishop John P. Dolan, launched the country’s first Office of Synodality in 2023. Fr. Kieffer said that its main aim is to permeate diocesan bodies and initiatives with a synodal listening process but stressed that the Church’s traditional decision-making authority is still strictly observed.

He described the recent Synod of Young Adults in the Phoenix Diocese, which operated under the umbrella of the Office of Synodality and Planning, as an example of how the synodal process works.

Young adults were first consulted in listening sessions and through an online survey about their hopes for family life, relationships, potentially rearing children, and more. These themes were drawn from the focus of the first phase of Bishop Dolan’s seven-year Pastoral Plan on Evangelization leading up to the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2031.

The raw data from these sessions were presented to an assembly of about 120 people representing different areas of the diocese, according to the format of a Canonical Synod. This assembly then made recommendations pertaining to pre-existing or new Church initiatives that went in turn to Diocesan Pastoral council and the presbyteral council.

These councils are now in the process of discerning an action plan to respond to the needs of the young adults, and will eventually present their recommendations to the bishop, who ultimately has the final say, said Kieffer.

Next on the agenda for the synodality office will be listening sessions of the general laity, focused in part on “personal understanding of value and efficacy of the sacraments,” and people’s “experience of being welcomed” or not as we approach the sacraments, according to Kieffer.

The priest affirmed that in the synodal process, including in the discussion of the sacraments, “the orthodoxy of Church teaching is a given.”

“We can’t really fool around with that,” he added.

Kieffer also clarified that the listening sessions intend to gain input for pastoral solutions and not doctrinal questions.

“Divinely revealed doctrine is unchangeable; We’re not going to be adding a Fourth Person of the Trinity or repudiating the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. There are certain things that are unchangeable, that aren’t under the purview of the Synod,” Kieffer said.

While Kieffer insists upon the orthodoxy of the synodal process, Dolan’s heterodox pro-LGBT history may raise questions for Catholics about his final judgments of the diocesan synod recommendations.