Synodality
Some weeks ago I visited the abbey church of Otterberg in the Palatinate. It is what remains of a Cistercian monastery founded in the 1160s. Now it serves as joint parish church for a Lutheran and a Catholic parish. The proportions are perfect with gracious aisles, ideal for the processions that were such an important part of the Order’s liturgical life. What chiefly impressed me, though, was this confessional with its metal sign: ‘All Sinners Welcome!’ The exclamation mark is eloquent. It calls out to sinners, ‘You’re one of us – you belong!’ – a sentiment that, if it is sincere, preserves the Christian community from tedious conceit. It struck me as a criterion for synodality. Genuine joint movement is possible from the moment in which I find my place within a body that, conscious of its flagrant imperfection, yet strives to be made perfect, confident that God’s grace does indeed carry and that, to it, nothing is impossible.
