The artwork of the synod: Philadelphia art series depicts the dream of church of many Catholics

(RNS) – A motley group stands in entrance of an imposing church: A youth wears a T-shirt with the phrases “Pride” in rainbow letters. A priestess carrying a purple stole — the liturgical shade of Pentecost, the competition that Christian perception celebrates the Holy Spirit’s function in revelation.

“We are the youth of the future and the future is now!” reads a banner streaming up from the group.

This imaginary scene depicts the goals of many Catholics: a church that welcomes LGBTQ individuals, ordains girls and provides younger Catholics a platform for his or her concepts.

The scene seems in a series of digital artworks created by Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as half of the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality, a Church-wide train initiated by Pope Francis and demonstrating the Catholic hierarchy’s dedication to the laity — significantly for younger individuals – goals to empower marginalized individuals round the world.

The digital artwork was created from an initiative referred to as Synodality in Catholic Higher Education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which carried out 48 listening classes at 14 faculties and different Catholic campus organizations in the Philadelphia space this previous spring and summer season, together with Villanova, La Salle, and St. Joseph’s Universities .

This imaginary scene depicts the goals of many Catholics: a church that welcomes LGBTQ individuals, ordains girls and provides younger Catholics a platform for his or her concepts.

The classes have been attended by practically 400 college students and led by a 40-strong management group whose aim, in keeping with the SCHEAP 2022 Summary Report, was “to share with students the joys and obstacles of the Church journey and their hopes for their future elicit.”

Art played a central role in this work. Becky “Bex” McIntyre, a St. Joseph’s School graduate and muralist who grew up in Philadelphia (“the mural capital of the world,” according to some), served as the “Synod Animator” for the student listening sessions. Their “visual notes” helped participants clarify and catalog their ideas.

“Visual note-taking is a new dimension of listening where people listen and differentiate from one another,” McIntyre told Religion News Service. “Words are one thing, but it’s important for people to see what they’re sharing in images to visualize the church we’re talking about.”

During a cross-campus listening session with more than 50 students from all 14 institutions, attended by Archbishop of Philadelphia Nelson Perez, McIntyre helped the students put together an interactive art installation about their journeys with the Catholic faith.

McIntyre’s artwork represents many of the students’ dreams, concerns, concerns, and hopes for the church: women’s ordination, LGBTQ inclusion, a commitment to religious and ideological diversity, the pursuit of racial justice, and a collective response to ecological crises.

“All words and all images in the report are directly from students,” McIntyre said. “Many students shared how they felt about this tug of war.”

“All words and all images in the report are taken directly from students.”

SCHEAP’s emphasis on the arts, as well as the scope and comprehensiveness of its listening sessions, was recognized in the synthesis report sent to the Vatican by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, summarizing the findings across all US dioceses.

Maureen O’Connell, professor of Christian ethics at La Salle University, said the SCHEAP coalition was “dedicated to asking, ‘How do we invite students into their role as protagonists in this church?'” O’Connell, author of a 2012 book, If These Walls Could Talk: Community Muralism and the Beauty of Justice, said that artistic responses to a question create a “productive ambiguity” that helps differentiate.

“Art prevents us from making God too small and comfortable and familiar, which in a way denies the mystery and greatness of God, and at the same time art gives us an emotional, embodied, sensual connection and experience of the divine,” said O ‘Connell.

But when the Vatican Synod released some of the artwork culled from the SCHEAP sessions, traditionalists pounced on Twitter critics. “Delete this and repent,” said one commenter, who accused the creators of “giving a wink and a nod to bestiality.” Others posted traditional paintings of biblical scenes as examples of genuine Catholic art.

When the Vatican Synod released some of the artwork that came out of the SCHEAP sessions, traditionalists pounced on critics on Twitter.

McIntyre defended the panels, saying they could not be properly understood outside of the written report. “That was related to what the students were saying,” she stated, “and what I was hoping and praying for was that the people who were against it would listen, lean into the synod process and just listen to each other . That is required.”

Synods at the moment are related to a gathering of bishops, however they’ve an extended historical past as a time for Christian leaders to hearken to the devoted. In Francis’ imaginative and prescient, the synod for synodality will hear particularly to communities that do not typically get a voice in the church. Critics and supporters alike have dubbed the synod “Vatican III” and characterized it as a vehicle for revolutionary change, comparing it to Vatican II in the mid-1960s or Vatican II.

Rev. Stephen DeLacy, vicar for Faith Formation with Youth and Young Adults in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said the synod could teach American Catholics the value of cooperation and dialogue in the country’s polarized culture.

“The division in our tradition will not be of God,” DeLacy said. “I consider that these in the church could be a highly effective catalyst to shift the tradition from a extremely aggressive, divisive, polarized tradition to 1 that results in genuine dialogue and group,” DeLacy said.

Proponents of the synod stress that while it aims to uncover the heart issues of Catholics worldwide, the synod itself hardly represents a reversal of the top-down structure of the Church as mandated by the Pope. Listening to the wishes of the laity is an end in itself; Changes resulting from this are also decided by the hierarchy.

Listening to the wishes of the laity is an end in itself; Changes resulting from this are also decided by the hierarchy.

“We are a church that believes in divine revelation, and by having the world synod, we are literally responding to the hierarchical course of the church, which we consider lives the revealed fact of Christ,” DeLacy said.

The results of the Philadelphia Archdiocese listening sessions reflect much of what has been compiled in syntheses from other dioceses in the US and elsewhere. The issue of the role of women in the Catholic Church, long regarded as a concern primarily in the West, has emerged in the reports of national bishops’ conferences from every continent, along with the loss of trust in church leaders due to clerical sexual abuse. Even where homosexuality is still criminalized, local bishops’ syntheses showed support for LGBTQ Catholics.

As the synod moves into the “continental” phase, in which representatives on six continents will gather to study findings from around the world, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Vatican synod office, said that while the issues raised were controversial, he however, profess faith in the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the worldwide church. “There is a few resistance, but it surely’s OK. Come ahead! Let’s go collectively,” Grech said.

In Philadelphia, O’Connell said the archdiocese’s response to the artwork was evidence of the need for the synod. “The invitation is to search out out: How can we maintain onto our goals, however not so tight that they deny the hopes and goals of others, and that is the vital subsequent step in the synod,” O’Connell stated.