EDITIORIAL INTRODUCTION
INDIGENIZING SYNODALITY
In Luke’s Gospel, the Risen Lord meets two of his disciples on their way to the village of Emmaus. Jesus asks them, “What are you discussing as you walk along the way?” (cf. Luke 24:17) A similar question confronts us today: What issues affect us as followers of Christ? Are we consciously discussing them? This challenge faces us as we continue our collective journey as a Church.
At the heart of this academic year’s Budyong issue is a response to the Church’s call for synodality. While synodality may seem to be a new emphasis and thrust in the Catholic Church, it is a modus vivendi et operandi that has characterized the diverse history, faith traditions and expressions of our communities and cultures. With synodality being both old and new, we pose these pertinent questions: What does it mean to be a synodal church in our varied contexts? How can the universal church learn from the ‘contextual theologies’ of people on the ground, and deepen its understanding of what it means to journey closely and intimately with its people? Addressing these questions presents a challenge to “indigenize” synodality, which involves reinterpreting and rediscovering its meaning at the local and grassroots level.
Fr. Edilberto B. Cepe, C.Ss.R,SSL
Articles:
- Building Peace on the Margins: Rediscovering the Vocation of Br. Carlito ‘Karl’ M. Gaspar, CSsR, a Mindanawon Scholar and Peacebuilder – Noriel R. Rogon
- Toward a Decolonial Synodality: Karl Gaspar’s Transformative Spirituality and its Implications for a Synodal Church – Danilo S. Agustin Jr., STL
- Postcolonial Criticism: Approach to Comparative Theology and Biblical Interpretation – Abraham M. Borja, SVD, SSL
- Is It Not For You To Know Justice? YHWH’s Judgment Against Political, Economic, and Militaristic Injustice in Micah 3:1-8 – Fr. Elton L. Viagedor, OFM, SSL
- Compassionate Parenting as a Formative Tool in Amoris Laetitia – Maria Isabel S. Actub
- The Church’s Synodal Journey: The Invitation of Closeted Gay Priests Towards the Path of “Coming Out” – Lunar Tan Fayloga
- Ecospirituality: Musings of An Asian Heart – Crescencia C. Gabijan, Ph.D
- Exploring Collective Forgiveness Towards Reconciliation in Peacebuilding – Philip R. Santos