Rejuvenating a Church: Lessons from the Great Pumpkin
Lying on my stomach on the floor of my living room, my elbows are propped up and my head rests in my hands. Our annual viewing of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was about to begin. We watched it every year without fail during my childhood. Even at the age of eight, I tended to resonate with Linus the most. It was his earnest desire to find the most sincere pumpkin patch, to teach others about this amazing and generous omniscient being, and Linus’ resoluteness as he stayed in the pumpkin patch all night so as not to miss The Great Pumpkin going by with bountiful toys for all the children that appealed to me. As I recently rewatched this show, I had to smile at the interplay of all the Peanuts characters and its whimsical take on some greater truths.
I am finding that some of these truths connect with a visionary approach to Church renewal. By innovating the traditional synod, Pope Francis is making space in the global Church for present realities, concerns and hopes of the People of God. I have been following the Synod on Synodality. Because this is an awkward title for most Catholics, here I offer some helpful definitions.
Syn·od ⎹ \’si-nәd\ : an ecclesiastical [relating to a church] governing or advisory council such as an assembly of bishops in the Roman Catholic Church. (Synods have been part of the history of the Church since the first century and Pope Paul VI established the modern Synod of Bishops in 1965 in the spirit of Vatican II.)
Synodality: a way for the People of God to journey together and gather in assembly, summoned by the Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel. Synodality ought to be expressed in the Church’s ordinary way of living and working.
This unprecedented gathering of 364 participants during the month of October 2023 included Cardinals, Bishops, religious and lay people from every continent of the world. Remarkably, 54 women have also fully participated with the right to vote. Sitting at round tables, groups of 12 to 14 participants were encouraged to humbly listen and speak boldly in an atmosphere of parrhesia. According to www.synod.va, Parrhesia, a Greek word, refers to the boldness that the coming of the Holy Spirit brought about in the hearts of the apostles at Pentecost. It is the inner courage that sent them out to proclaim the Good News that Jesus is Lord without fear in the days of the Early Church. The Spirit offers us this same boldness to carry out the mission of the Church today.
At this month-long forum, three themes guided the sessions: communion, participation and mission. A few of the topics of discernment and discussion included co-responsibility (we all have a role to play in the life of the Church, ordained and lay people, men and women, etc.) and how to better bear witness to the Gospel (even those on the margins of our communities are called based on our shared baptism). Synodality is about teaching a way of being Church, of communicating, of responding to polarization on issues that concern the people of God. Yet, there are misunderstandings about the outcome of such a meeting. It’s not about making changes in the Church teachings. This phase has been an in-depth practice of synodality itself. And the catalyst and protagonist of this meeting has been the Holy Spirit.
As the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican ended its first of two monthly sessions as part of the Synod on Synodality, I couldn’t help but make connections with “walking together” as a global Church and how we are to relate to one another amidst diversity and differing opinions.
Below I reflect on the animated story of The Great Pumpkin and how poignantly it illustrates “walking together” as Church and its connections to the Holy Spirit.
Five lessons from The Great Pumpkin
1. Snoopy playfully blowing on a falling leaf and the role of the Holy Spirit. In the opening scene, Snoopy eyes a falling leaf swept up by the wind. He skillfully blows it skyward, each puff of air guiding it ever so slightly toward a leaf pile, where it rests. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (3:8).” This movement of the Spirit guides our Church, despite our attempts, like Snoopy’s, of guiding it to where we want it to go. We may desire that magisterial teachings go unchanged because that is where we find solace in our faith. Or we may want the teachings to change and to change now, but we might fail to see the greater picture of God’s will for the Church. Yet, as the revelation of Jesus Christ is understood over the centuries, we discover that we are still learning what this revelation means.
Fr. Ormond Rush, a leading expert on the Second Vatican Council, spoke to the Synod assembly of the “living tradition” of the Church. He shared that “the council taught that divine revelation is not something in the past, but rather an ongoing encounter in the present.” He went on to say, “The same God, in the same Jesus Christ, through the enlightenment and empowerment of the same Holy Spirit, is forever engaging and dialoguing with human beings in the ever-new here and now of history that relentlessly moves humanity into new perceptions, new questions and new insights, in diverse cultures and places, as the world-church courses through time into an unknown future until the eschaton [end of the world].”
In other words, we are still learning what God’s revelation means! We are not finished understanding what Jesus taught us over 2,000 years ago. The Spirit indeed needs the space to go where she will. Despite our puffs of air that attempt to move things in a certain direction, we realize that we see only partially in this life (see 1 Corinthians 13:12).
2. Charlie Brown’s agonizing dilemma about kicking the football and Pope Francis’ response to polarization in our world and our Church. Lucy seems to tempt Charlie Brown into running and kicking the football she swears she will hold for him. Naively trusting her, Charlie Brown runs as fast as he can only to land on his back. Thinking that Lucy was sincere, he ended up misunderstanding her intentions.
I am hearing that some Catholics fear that Pope Francis is providing the setting for polarizations to increase in the Church; namely, that talking about issues “already settled” by Church teachings only causes rifts and disagreements. My understanding of the purpose of the synod, though, is to respond to the polarizations that already exist. People caught up in these matters that should be “already settled” are crying out for a way to connect with the Church, to be a member of the Body of Christ. Women, LGBTQ Catholics, divorced and remarried lay people long for a way to live out their own baptismal calls. Certain regions of the world with desperate shortages of priests seek a way for married men to serve as priests. Women believe in their baptismal call to the Diaconate.
Huge disagreements exist within the Church, and this gathering of the People of God is helping all involved to have a voice, an equal voice, to speak boldly and to listen to the cries of the marginalized members of our Church. I cannot say in which direction the Holy Spirit will lead us. Yet, if we are unified in our intention to uphold the Body of Christ throughout the world, to give everyone in the Church a voice, with the Bishops and in discernment of existing magisterial teachings, I believe we can learn to go all in like Charlie Brown running with full trust toward that football.
3. Hopes dashed with every attempt by Charlie Brown to collect candy and our own hopes for growth in our Church. Every time Charlie Brown went up to a house at Halloween and yelled, “Trick or Treat!” he was given a rock instead of candy. Funny and ironic. We’re left wondering why Charlie Brown was the one targeted. He hoped, every time, that he would collect candy like the rest of his group, but always he exclaimed, “I got a rock.”
As a woman in the Church, I am filled with a hope that I never allowed myself to feel before. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich stated, “The baptism of women is not inferior to the baptism of men.” He added, “All the baptized are called and have the right to participate in the mission of the church, all have an irreplaceable contribution to make.” Born with the same dignity of God, women in the Church are called to participation and leadership in ways never before considered. Will we see change? Other marginalized groups hope to receive, not a rock, but the consideration for fuller participation in Church life. Still, many hope they will be recognized for their gifts and desire to serve. Where rocks have been handed out in the past, the people of God cry out for the chance to be seen and welcomed, free to live out their baptismal call.
Of course, this current Assembly will not offer any changes, just a direction for the Church to focus over the next year before the second gathering in October of 2024. Patience and continued discernment are needed.
4. Linus’ search for the most sincere pumpkin patch and our own search for a space for communal discernment and sincere communities of faith. Linus was focused on finding the most sincere pumpkin patch so that The Great Pumpkin would choose his spot over every other. So earnest in his desire to provide an honest and true space, Linus missed out on the fun of trick-or-treating and a Halloween party. Except for convincing Sally to stay with him that night, Linus was alone in his quest, tunnel-visioned in his wish to encounter The Great Pumpkin instead of spending time with his friends.
Through communal discernment–a way of listening to God’s voice together and going forward as people of God–we are asked to be a part of this unconventional and potentially rejuvenating process in the Church. In our quest for sincere and truthful encounter and co-responsibility as a global church community, we need to step outside our ideal notion of what we think the Church should be. If we take a step back, paying attention to the reality of our 21st-century world and the needs of the faithful, we can see that we must do this together, even amidst our disagreements. No longer will the hierarchical model of top-down teachings from Bishops to the people of God serve the Church. Together, we can find a balance of co-responsibility among the laity and the ordained. This will take time, but this Synod on Synodality and the practice of synodality this past month at the assembly can guide us as we seek to follow the Spirit’s lead.
At the end of the night, Linus cries out, “Great Pumpkin, where are you?!” Maybe Linus needed to take a step back and realize that sincerity was all around him and not just in a confined place of his choosing. He wasn’t so alone, after all.
5. Sally’s tearful lament, “It’s over and I missed it!” and our own challenge to be awake to the movement of the Holy Spirit. We can all relate to Sally’s regretful cry. It may not be Halloween, specifically, but other things in life we feel we missed out on because of a decision we made. My hope is that we don’t miss the promptings of the Holy Spirit, even if future determinations do not reflect my personal desires for change in the Church. What will the outcome of this Synod on Synodality be for the People of God throughout the world? While I earnestly hope that I will see women deacons in my lifetime, I have to realize that this may not be what the Church needs to focus on at this time in history. If I desire to discern God’s will and if I believe we can all communally discern how our Church can address the needs of the people of God along with upholding the truths of our faith, then I need to stay open and to trust in the Holy Spirit’s lead.
Hot button issues, such as a women’s diaconate, married priests, LGBTQ inclusion, divorced and remarried inclusion, co-responsibility among the ordained and laity in parish and diocesan leadership, all can skew our focus. Let us all take a step back and see if the synodal way can become the ordinary way of being Church. God’s will be done!
And, maybe next Halloween, Linus will discover a way to both encounter The Great Pumpkin and trick-or-treat with his friends. As a child, that was always my hope.
Song for Contemplation: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, sung by the late Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. This song always gives me hope for a better world, a more just and loving world. I believe that this can be so for our Church as well.
