Expanding the Table, Spreading a Tent
Field notes from Rome -- in a period of polarization, rage, and war, the synod process offers valuable lessons.
Field Notes from Rome. I returned from a 9 day shoot in Rome and the Vatican with heavy bags and a light heart. As anyone who does media production knows, it’s a slog. Especially because we are small documentary teams. Especially because we are working on precarious budgets and timelines. We’re not showing up to do one interview with a truck and a video village (I saw this done once for an Apple interview shoot with one person and was like what is going on, you guys do not need that). For us, it can’t be avoided to drag and lift and get creative and resourceful. In terms of this specific shoot, it was also the importance of discretion. This is our third production trip to Rome, and we have been different combinations of small trusted groups of filmmakers and journalists in the field working on this story. At some point in a long term project like this one, that makes the most sense. A core that gets locked in, and in terms of access to the story, those people remain dedicated even as others can come on and bring unique contributions over time. But that core remains vital. It’s more of an onion scenario than an army. Slowly layering, peeling back and adding again. When there’s confidence and clarity at the center, that is the groundwork. For a considered, longterm focus.
My best asset on this trip was a word I’ve been pondering deeply: stability. Tripod. Shoulder Rig. Makeshift monopod. Strong boots. Strong bonds. And Christine Delp! Producers make the dream work, and I so appreciate her stick-tuitiveness, followthrough, and the insight she embodies on the ground.
Confidence. On the subject of confidence, i.e. trust, I want to think about some words spoken during this event, and relay in a small part what I took away from this specific round during the Synod of Bishops - otherwise known as the Synod on Synodality.
“We can be confident that if our words are loving they will bud, flower in the lives of people who we do not know. As St Therese of Lisieux said, quoted recently by the Holy Father: “C’est la confiance et rien que la confiance qui doit nous conduire à l’Amour”. ‘It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love’” - Fr. Timothy Radcliffe gave some of the most beautiful homilies I’ve ever heard from the synod assembly floor. This one quotation sat with me ever since hearing it from the Press nest above the aula.
In a TLDR way, I’ll summarize this event as a 3-year-long consultation called by Pope Francis, taking place throughout the Catholic Church on local, diocesan, and global levels, resulting in several voting summits at the Vatican. During these Vatican assemblies, like the one we just witnessed in October 2023, comprehensive documentation, storytelling, prayer, and heated discussion are all a part of a month long circular process that allows all members on the floor to speak and be heard. For the purpose of our filming, which has followed facilitators of the synod in multiple sites around the world, we focus on the work of women being elevated, the question of women’s participation, ordination, and possible inclusion to formal ministry. And these issues are all on the table for the first time at any synod. Other questions of LGBTQ Catholics, polygamous marriage, and married priests have also all risen to discussion. Although the issues are not the heart of the synod discussions, the desire to listen and respond is. And what has been heard is a lot about a new, more inclusive hierarchy that involves lay people at every level. A final document of suggested resolutions for Pope Francis and the Vatican will be voted on in October 2024.
“Enlarge the space of your tent”: In 2022, there was a document of this name published which offered a hopeful view of the synod. For the first time, it would be attended and voted on by women and lay participants. These summits have never been open to anyone other than male bishops. They are usually very private, a consultative body to the Pope; the one authority who can make final decisions on doctrinal changes and Canon law. This time was also secretive, but did have for the very first time, roundtable discussions and an open clear discernment process. At the synod itself, the space was arranged in round tables and the Pope appeared many times among the assembly rather than presiding. Women sat at table with Bishops. Many days women exposited on biblical texts including the Gospels. From one of the bright and rowdy press conferences, this quote from Dr. Norah Nonterah, a delegate from Ghana, paints a holistic view on women’s leadership in the space: “A Synodal church must be willing to sit at the foot of women. Especially laywomen who are from the global south. To learn how to renew the church’s imagination. An imagination oriented to the Holy Spirit.”
In a room full of polarized questions and very divided notions on issues of gender and sexuality, the rules were no one would respond or interrupt, and no one would leave. Every time people spoke, several minutes of silence was requested. A soaking time. We all need to do this! Attending this event during a very volatile time in the world, with multiple nations at war and international laws being disregarded for swift yet devastating actions that pin civilians in the middle, provided a glimpse into the possibilities of diplomacy. It’s restraint. It’s listening. It’s not running away. It’s sitting in a circle. It’s sharing stories instead of opinions.
Conversations in the Spirit. As I said, we left with light hearts. For the Catholic Church, which is one of the oldest, largest, unmoved Christian religious institutions on earth, to continue having these conversations could be revolutionary. It also means that we as media witnesses are able to see a true process unfolding, and that will be a major part of our film. It has required a lot of patience on our part to gather all of these pieces, and it has not been easy. I am grateful for everyone’s contributions, commitment, and sacrifices.
In the current climate of polarization, rage, and war, the synodal process offers valuable lessons. And people may not agree with the idea that we should sit at a table with those who disagree with us. Some people are just done with that. I can’t say I don’t understand them. But I also think that there’s something amazing about the idea of having a conversation towards converting each other. Changing our hearts. A person in front of you who does not share your view but if you’re able to tell a story, can they at least integrate the idea of your very existence into the idea of theirs? Space for the conversations can lead to collective reflection where we have received. We have listened. We have confided. I think that that in itself is revolutionary, evolutionary, because I don’t see a lot of processes that are doing that right now. I think that it’s a peace process. I think that it’s a process of submission to one another, which is something that also is not a part of popular understanding.
Of course we’re watching and waiting as journalists and as filmmakers to see. What will the final outcome be? And it really seems like from the information that we’ve gathered, the research that we’ve, the interviews we’ve been allowed to do -that the work of the synod has been to first form a community of people who don’t necessarily agree so that when they come back a year from now, they’ll be able to have a more real discussion around solutions to offer Pope Francis.
I don’t know enough about the Catholic theology that’s being boiled up right now, feeling threatened by this process. But I heard some of the pushback. And no one cut them back or silenced them. It was seeing some of the voices be vitriolic and angry, and then the leaders of the church responding quietly and unmoved.
I think that’s important to note that the hot button issues are not the centralized point of the synod. The centralized point is learning to speak and to listen to each other in the midst of a crisis time. A space of acknowledging that there’s not a consensus, we’re living in a time of polarization. But in the hope that one of the largest churches in the world that has so much to say about morality and gender — everyone can recognize that offering peace, moral clarity will help the world.
Will they work harder to find an ecumenical way away that doesn’t just say we have to have one way or another, but maybe says we need to be open to newer ways? If so, slowly consensus can be formed.
Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who rightly commented that the new center of the Catholic Church is the global south, noted the importance of the expanded synod - including non-Bishops. “I can’t see the problem,” he responded to a frustrated conservative journalist who wanted to point out that this couldn’t be a “true” synod of Bishops with lay people and women included. His peaceable responses were so natural and human. And I think this, too, is the genius of synod architect Nathalie Becquart, who created this global consultation. Progress does not diminish what we believe. Progress does not diminish or take away the value at the center. There can be both/and, an enlarging, expanding. If we expand our notions of what can be, we’re opening up an entire world to change. The onion’s layers grow.
As Fr Timothy Radcliffe said in one of his beautiful homilies to close the event: “The new is always an unexpected renewal of the old. This is why any opposition between tradition and progress is utterly alien to Catholicism."
As a former theology student and someone who is actively trying to respond to many social issues in the world and my own communities through art, the reflections on what it means to form spaces of consensus, to listen, to bend towards one another rather than drawing away in moments of polarization, to reflect deeply on the concerns of the unheard and decentralize the voice of power— it was all a radiance during a shadowed time in the world. Many thanks to our film protagonists for their consistent trust, to the Vatican press office, to the fellow journalist pilgrims, and to the rest of the synodal assembly for allowing us to witness to an important piece of this ongoing change. We think our role in documenting the process as outsiders is crucial. By capturing these conversations and the unfolding changes within the Church, we can contribute to a larger narrative of transformation, understanding, and humanity. Honored and grateful to play a small part in what’s becoming.
Musings
Reading & Observing:
Listening and quiet and questioning cannot lead us to apathy. Reflecting daily, constantly, on the toll on life and loss of confidence in humanity that is being caused by the Israel-Hamas conflict. Right now, especially the increased bombardment of Gaza by Israeli troops. The numbers of civilian casualties and loss of homeland. On the streets near our house, there are images of the Israeli citizen hostages being held by Hamas, heartbreaking. The increased antisemitic and anti muslim attacks in the US, the fighting in universities and among citizens - it’s all hideous. For this moment, I dream for peace and a home for the children of the region, especially for the refugee families and new generations of displaced people created by incessant war. May a ceasefire come. May there be songs of joy be sung again.
I am thinking very much of journalists in Gaza and reporting in crisis zones. Over 30 journalists have died during this conflict - which has not even lasted a month so far. Thinking of this young Palestinian journalist reporting daily from some of the worst areas: https://iwpr.net/global-voices/gaza-each-day-seems-darker-last
I’m also thinking daily of the aid groups trying to reach people. Time has an excellent round up of the aid groups trying to support especially children right now. Bringing aid safely into the region is one of the reasons to call for a humanitarian ceasefire.
Reading a lot obviously about the synod (nerd). Here are great journalists who really have the best, longterm journalistic pulse on what is happening in Rome.
Colleen Dulle & Other America Magazine folks
Observing Halloween and Dia de los Muertos with my children. We created a small altar and ofrenda for our ancestors and wrote them letters. Pía sang a song. It was very moving to see them think about our family and reflect on our departed loved ones from afar. To tell our stories.
Kudos
Congrats to the new DOCNYC 40 under 40 class, including Jonna McKone and Evan Mascagni. And to the brilliant New Leaders, including Kiyoko McCrae, Gerry Leonard, and Anjanette Levert. Excited to celebrate you all!
To teams behind Burden of Proof, Between Earth and Sky, The Disappearance of Shere Hite, The League, and many others — congratulations on your Critics Choice Award Nominations!
To Caitlin Burke on her premiere of Shaken at DOCNYC. Can’t wait !
To my dear friends Casey and Felipe, congratulations on your perfect baby boy, Oscar!
Stay wild & stay tender <3