The SVD Australia Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass, has been appointed to take part in the Synod of Bishops in Rome in October, an opportunity he describes as both humbling and exciting.
Fr Rass was named as one of the expert facilitators from the Oceania region to attend the Synod, following his role as a facilitator of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) gathering in Fiji earlier this year.
“I nearly fell off my chair when I received the news,” he says.
“It will take a lot of preparation. This is not the type of Assembly where you just rock up. I’ll be preparing myself by reading very carefully through the Instrumentum Laboris (the Synod’s working document) a number of times. I’m planning to do that in a retreat setting so I can really take it onboard.
“I will also be reading very carefully the continental submissions from the seven assemblies of the world, because that’s where the context is coming from.”
Fr Rass has been asked to help facilitate the English-speaking small groups, a task he acknowledges will have its challenges.
“It will be tough trying to weave through the different ideologies and agendas,” he says.
“But I’m pleased that the proposed format for these discussions is the spiritual conversation method, using St Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual exercises, which was used both at Australia’s Plenary Council and the FCBCO gathering.
“Plus, I’m a spiritual director, trained by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, so it will also be about listening to spiritual movements and trying to facilitate that.
“I see myself in this role as not the seat of wisdom, but drawing out from God’s people their goodness and what the Holy Spirit is trying to say to the universal Church.”
Fr Rass says that what makes this Synod on Synodality unique and thought-provoking is that the 2021-23 continental and intercontinental consultations, the Instrumentum Laboris, the proposed agenda, the anticipated spirit of the Synod and the desired outcome are the same – towards a synodal Catholic Church focusing on participation, communion and mission.
“The biggest challenge, I believe, is a deep listening or being attentive to the Holy Spirit – the ‘soul of the Church’, ‘the main protagonist of the Synod’, as Pope Francis warns and ‘the principal agent of evangelisation’.
He says the Provincial retreats held during July and led by US theologian and missiologist Fr Steven Bevans SVD, have brought home for him again the true meaning of synodality.
“Steven has reminded us that synodality is about acknowledging the fundamental dignity of every baptised Christian and calling for the full participation of every child of God in the life of the Church,” he says.
“It’s very much also an SVD way of looking at it – very prophetic and dialoguing with everyone of all cultures, traditions, the marginalised people, those people who hold secular ideologies. And it’s also trinitarian, about the culture of encounter.
“This Synod will be a great platform as we look towards the SVD 19th General Chapter which will be looking at Creative Discipleship in a Wounded World.
“It has to be about enhancing the transformation of Catholics into missionary disciples, otherwise it could end up being an inward-looking assembly and it can’t be that. It must look outwards.
“So, it’s humbling and it’s a privilege to be a part of it and I’m excited and looking forward to the opportunity.”
PHOTO: Fr Asaeli Rass SVD facilitating the meeting of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania earlier this year. Fr Rass has now been appointed to help facilitate the upcoming Synod on Synodality in Rome.