The Four Marks of the Synodal Church

As Rome embarks on a "Synodal Church" it is worthwhile giving thought to what we can expect. The church has been known since the Council of Nicaea as "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church." How does this new Synodal Church stack up?

Not a Holy Church: We use the word “holy” quite a bit, often without giving it much thought.  But it splits the world into things set aside for God, “the Holy”, from everything else.  So, a Holy Church is one which is different from everything else, it is set aside for God’s purposes. But in the Synodal Church we are just one “faith tradition” amongst many. In the Synodal church it is not "Outside the Church there is no salvation", it is "Outside the Church makes no difference." 

Not a Catholic Church: Catholic means universal, over all the world.  This differentiates the Church from the religion of other nations at the time of Nicaea.  That is why one reads about the "the god of the Amorites", "god of the Philistines", "gods of Rome", etc.  Each locale would have its own religious beliefs and practices.  Nicaea said, "no local gods, no local truth" for us. The synodal church is defined by local synods. Meetings of local people to discuss local inspiration and arrive at local conclusions about a local faiths.  

Not an Apostolic Church: The Council of Nicaea stated clearly that none in the council were creating truth, they were simply preserving and defending the truth revealed by the Apostles. Truth came through Jesus Christ to the Apostles. The bishops, as successors of the Apostles, were only passing that truth on. The Council of Nicaea was about treasuring, protecting and preserving the precious revelation which was given to the Apostles. The Synodal Church seeks to listen, oddly enough to listen to essentially random people; most with no training in the Apostolic teaching and many with no reverence to Apostolic teaching. Proverbs gives us this warning, "There is a way which seems just to a man: but the ends thereof lead to death." (Prov 14:12). The Synodal church is a church of human preferences rather than reverence to the Apostolic faith.

Not One Church: If the Synodal Church is not Holy, not Catholic and not Apostolic, it will not be one. Local gatherings or random people deciding what "the spirit" is saying to them.

Pope Francis was wrong when he speculated, "It cannot be ruled out that I will go down in history as the one who divided the Catholic Church." The Catholic Church is not being divided. It is the Synodal Church which may take over buildings and staff which were once set aside as "holy" to God. It has none of the marks of the Church. In God's mercy, the Catholic Church lives on in those who continue to cling to the revelation transmitted to us by the Apostles, exiled to gymnasiums, basements and private homes, as their predecessors did during earlier persecutions, fervently praying for those who have fallen away into the Synodal Church.