Section B1 of the Instrumentum Laboris, Rowlands said, “invites us to grow in communion by reflecting with humility with those who are vulnerable, suffering, or weak, on the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of the Church.”
“We ask with courage how we might be closer to the poorest, more able to accompany all the baptized in a variety of human situations, disposed of false power, closer to our fellow Christians, and more engaged with our particular cultures,” the theologian added.
Radcliffe, who also led a three-day retreat for synod participants before the assembly’s opening Oct. 4, gave a spiritual reflection on the topic of love Oct. 9.
“We should be formed for deeply personal encounters with each other, in which we transcend easy labels. Love is personal and hatred is abstract,” the English priest said.
“So many people feel excluded or marginalized in our Church because we have slapped abstract labels on them: divorced and remarried, gay people, polygamous people, refugees, Africans, Jesuits!” he said. (His joke about Jesuits being marginalized was met with laughter).
“A friend said to me the other day: ‘I hate labels. I hate putting people in boxes. I cannot abide these conservatives,’” Radcliffe continued, to another small outburst of laughter.
“If you really meet someone, you may become angry, but hatred cannot be sustained in a truly personal encounter. If you glimpse their humanity, you will see the one who created them and sustains them in being whose name is I AM,” he said.
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