L’objectif de cette session est de réunir des chercheurs travaillant sur les synodes catholiques contemporains et la synodalité dans une perspective sociologique. Les contributions de ceux qui travaillent sur les questions de gouvernance religieuse, de changement institutionnel et de relations entre l’Église et la société, à tous les niveaux d'analyse, de la paroisse à la curie, sont les bienvenues.

Session Convener(s)

Alexis Artaud de La Ferriere - Royal Holloway, University of London

Session Abstract

In 2021, Pope Francis launched the “Synod on Synodality”, a three-year process of consultation and deliberation that will culminate when bishops from across the globe assemble to draft recommendations for “a new style of living out the communion, participation, and mission of the Roman Catholic Church”. Rooted in the practices of early Church bishops who corresponded and assembled to debate and resolve doctrinal differences and ecclesiastical policy, the current form of Synod within Roman Catholicism was established by Pope Paul VI in 1965 in the wake of the Second Vatican Council; it was later redefined and expanded by Pope Francis in 2018.

Whilst the notion of synodality has exercised much debate within theological circles, it also raises relevant questions for sociologists interested in governance and dynamics of institutional change within the Roman Catholic Church. What is the institutional function of the synod in the contemporary Church? How do synods function at different levels within the Church? How effectively do the consultative practices deployed in the current synod capture the voices of different groups of Catholics? How is the notion of synodality received and interpreted by different categories of Catholic actors, lay and clerical? How do local cultural and political differences affect how regional Churches and Catholic groups across the world engage with synodality?

The aim of this session is to bring together scholars working on contemporary Catholic synods and synodality from a sociological perspective. Contributions are welcome from those working on issues of religious governance, institutional change, and church-society relations, at all levels of analysis from the parish to the curia. In particular, contributors are encouraged to present studies which draw on original empirical data and/or archival materials pertaining to contemporary synods, whether local or universal. Contributions focusing on local case studies from different regions of the world are especially welcome. Additionally, contributions on methodology (e.g. how to collect data on local synodal processes), epistemology (e.g. how to interpret and engage with emic Catholic concepts such as sensus fidei and consensus fidelium), and positionality (of the research with regards to the object of study and the overarching social or political context) are also welcome.