Pro-gay James Martin SJ to the fore in U.S. synodality lineup. Francis picked him. He’s F’s fair-haired boy, all in for DISCERNMENT, a wonderful vehicle and a demanding one . . .
. . . with long Jesuit history and nothing to pull out of a hat, ignoring its demands and history.
Fr. Martin, apostle to the same-sex-inclined, makes the cut:
“I’m honoured to be invited by the Holy Father to participate in the synod,” Fr Martin said following news of his appointment. “As a Jesuit, I’m committed to this kind of group discernment and look forward to what the Holy Spirit has in store for the synod, and for the church.”
Note trademark “discernment” here. It’s a personal process, Ignatian to its core, of deciding what virtuous step a Jesuit or anyone else might take, the better to act as God wants of him or her.
Pondering and noticing interior movements of attraction and heaviness are at the heart of Ignatian discernment. Discernment involves prayer and weighing facts and feelings about the several good choices which ultimately leads to a choice about what is the best fit for an individual.
Notice the “several good choices” part, matters about which there is no disagreement. Not, for instance about whether or not to be charitable and to forgive one’s enemies, but how best to pursue those goals.
Again, a very personal, intimate, interior process — “daydreaming,” Rev. Doug Leonhardt, S.J., calls it on a Marquette University “Mission and Ministry “site.
Both kinds depend on a perhaps subtle “feeling” that this or that is a good choice for the individual, assuming the options are good. Ignatius was aiming for “the greater glory of God,” was he not?
The individual discernment process, therefore, is “pondering and noticing interior movements” It “involves prayer and weighing facts and feelings about the several good choices” and “ultimately leads to a choice about what is the best fit for an individual.”
What are we to say about the group discernment of which Fr. Martin speaks?
One important aspect is that it’s 364 people who by definition are to ponder “interior movements” etc. on the way to discovering what’s best for the group, or rather for the holy Roman apostolic church. If they pull this off, it will be the quietest gathering of 364 people ever.
It’s “a subtle exercise,” says William J. Byron, SJ. at Ignatian Spirituality.com.
To discern or decide well, a person must be
ready to move in any direction that God wants, therefore radically free;
open to sharing all that God has given him or her, therefore radically generous;
willing to suffer if God’s will requires it, therefore radically patient;
questing for union with God in prayer, therefore radically spiritual.
Again, whence comes another such 364? Under the same roof no less.
Ready to move in any direction? Open to sharing? Willing to suffer? Questing for union with God? Radically free, generous, patient, spiritual? Where do you find people like that? And so many.
Fr. Byron gets specific. Each participant should ask, “How do I feel about the issue? What is the origin of that . . . feeling? Is it from God, or not from God?”
The “not from God” feelings can be from self (from ignorance, obstinacy, indigestion), from other persons (whose position on this particular issue may be “not from God”), or from diabolical sources.
Fr. B. has been around the block, by the way — past president of two universities among other appointments and achievements.
And while we’re at by the way stuff, the articulate and accomplished Fr. B. locates group discernment far earlier than Pope F SJ’s using it (sloppily?) as a catch-all for his new ideas, way back to Father Ignatius himself:
Each participant is also to disclose how he or she feels about each side of the issue. Is it good or bad? is very much a question of feeling. And this is where discernment, the sorting out of feelings, comes in. This is what the early Jesuits did as they were deciding how best to design the very organization that would define them as Jesuits.
Strategy the issue, not doctrine!