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[Woodstock Report, December 1997, No. 52]
This issue of the Woodstock Report features a forum we held looking forward to the Synod of Bishops for America called by the Holy Father and held in Rome from November 16 to December 12, 1997. The synod aims to address opportunities and challenges to the church in North America and South America. Given their experiences, our panelists were excellently positioned to help us focus on expectations for this first-ever meeting. Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb was elected to attend this meeting by his episcopal peers because of his experience in interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, a key agenda item for the synod. The Pope is concerned to develop a "new evangelization" which requires a good knowledge and genuine respect for the beliefs of all those with whom Catholics relate and collaborate. It is the "missiology" of Vatican II. Woodstock fellow Tom Reese, S.J., was asked by America magazine to cover the synod for them. Given all the research that went into his most recent book on the church, Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church, no one knows more about how synods work than Tom. Our third panelist is theologian Roberto Goizueta. As an American of Cuban extraction, he understands personally the crucial challenges the church faces in America, north and south. He devotes special attention here to the economy as seen from the perspective of work, "the key to the social question" (John Paul II, Laborem Exercens). It relates to levels of income, to immigration, to family and family values, and to the whole series of human relationships which build up the coming Kingdom of God.
For our moderator, this forum was a "homecoming." Margaret Crahan is a professor of Latin American History at Hunter College, New York. Meg was a Woodstock fellow from 1977-80 and a major force behind our very successful project on human rights in the Americas. At the forum Meg stimulated conversation by raising several searching questions: the impact of "neo-liberal" economic programs and policies, the synod document's treatment of "sects" or "new age" religions, and the absence of women at the synod.
As a postscript to this forum, I recommend Tom Reese's report of the synod in the December 13, 1997, issue of America magazine. Woodstock is very interested in the synod's treatment of these issues because as you know, we are already sponsoring major projects on some of them, especially the impact of the economy on people and culture. As we look at their complexity and, in some cases, seeming intractability, we are more than ever grateful for the power, light, and continuing guidance of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Spirit, of course, doesn't dispense us from hard work and serious analysis, but it sure gives hope!
Finally, you will find a letter on page 11 about our annual fund-raising appeal. All of us at Woodstock are extremely grateful for the support you have given us over the years. I know we can count on it for 1998.
Prayers for a joyous Christmas season,
James L. Connor, S.J.