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PHOTO: J ABACA PRESS / ALAMY Pastoral Review Editorial Office Ashley Beck (Editor) ashley.beck@stmarys.ac.uk Natalie K. Watson (Publishing Editor) Tel. +44(0)77 6674 4011 pastoralreview9@gmail.com Stephen McKinney (Reviews Editor) stephen.mckinney@glasgow.ac.uk Amanda Davison-Young (Chief Executive Officer) Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 adyoung@thetablet.co.uk Malgorzata Chylinska Pequeno (Design and Production) mchylinska@thetablet.co.uk To subscribe or to manage your subscription Tel: +44(0)1858 438736 thetablet@subscription.co.uk One year: £27 (UK), £35 (Airmail) To advertise Lisa Smith (advertising manager) Tel: +44 (0)1903 534 041 lisa@ottwaymediasolutions.com Head Office 1 King Street Cloisters, Clifton Walk, London, W6 0GY, UK Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 publisher@thetablet.co.uk Editorial Board Ashley Beck, Amanda Davison-Young, Lynda Dearlove, Raymond Friel, Maureen Glackin, Dominic Howarth, David Albert Jones, John Lydon, Stephanie MacGillivray, Stephen McKinney, Tarcisius Mukuka, Káren North, Thomas O’Loughlin (Chair), Martin Poulsom, Peter Tyler, Natalie K. Watson © The Tablet Publishing Company Limited ISSN1748-362X www.thepastoralreview.org This issue of our journal appears as bishops and others assemble in Rome for the second ordinary session of the Synod on Synodality, and we are grateful to participants and others who have contributed to this issue – if you are a participant in the synod, please be assured of the prayers of the readers of this journal as you gather in Rome. One of the key theological concepts which has informed discussions and documents which have provided such a rich resource from all over the world is the notion of the person, created in the image and likeness of God, fundamental to Christian moral teaching. Catholic theology sees the human person as made for relationality , created for love and self-sacrifice; this contrasts sharply with the notion many have of the selfsufficient and unrelated individual. Moreover, the ways in which we try to show solidarity and care for one another in the Church and for wider humanity, are personal too: when we perform even small acts of kindness, we are acting personally, not as robots; we reveal who we are as persons made by God, with gifts he has given us but also with our f laws. Indeed, Catholic teaching sees leadership within the Church as personal too. In the Mass, every day we pray by name for the Pope and the local bishop – the name is important because it is personal. But at the same time this is more limited than we sometimes think. Consider church signs and noticeboards outside church buildings, common in English-speaking countries – there is a big difference between signs outside Catholic churches and those of other churches. Normally for Anglican and Protestant denominations the name of the Vicar is given, painted on the sign (perhaps with his or her degrees); this is never the case for Catholic signs. The theory seems to be that the priest is temporary and his name is not that important. And yet what the synodal pathway is perhaps showing is that the personality of the priest, or indeed of the bishop of a diocese, may be more important than this illustration might suggest; this is because issues to do with accountability, and the stress laid on the idea of dialogue in the synod documents, pose real challenges to the ways in which priests and bishops have exercised personal leadership. One of the main problems in
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Editorial Personhood and personality Ashley Beck RICHARDBAKERRELIGION / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO the life of the Church, identified in the synod documents and repeatedly in the teachings of Pope Francis, is clericalism – and one aspect of this is the way in which clergy personality cults mar the ways in which leadership is often exercised. This can be expressed both positively and negatively – often a priest who manages to do a reasonable job is put on a pedestal, which can boost his ‘ego’; in contrast a priest with problems is portrayed as the reason why his parish is failing. Another example: if you are appointed to a parish with no assistant in ordained ministry (or rather no priest, as so many people disregard deacons), you are likely to be told ‘You’re on your own’, a phrase which speaks volumes. The synodal pathway, 60 years after the Second Vatican Council, is an attempt to change this culture, to help all the baptised realise their gifts and their responsibilities. A problem is that it is difficult to address this without appearing to apportion blame – the priest for infantilizing ‘his’ people, the people for not putting themselves forward. Perhaps a key can be found in the vision of Pope Francis in Fratelli tutti. Among Christians, perhaps we simply need to rediscover the value and joy of friendship – among the whole people of God, lay and ordained. So many have found that friendships, in parish communities, in workplaces and so many other settings, have become harder to maintain and deepen because of the pandemic four years ago, coupled with polarisation and worsening divisions in so many western societies: friendship is surely the best way to advance the synodal path. Friendship is also a good way to value the person and break down the personality cult. October/November/December 2024 | Pastoral Review Vol. 20 Issue 4 | 5

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ABACA PRESS / ALAMY

Pastoral Review Editorial Office Ashley Beck (Editor) ashley.beck@stmarys.ac.uk Natalie K. Watson (Publishing Editor) Tel. +44(0)77 6674 4011 pastoralreview9@gmail.com Stephen McKinney (Reviews Editor) stephen.mckinney@glasgow.ac.uk Amanda Davison-Young (Chief Executive Officer) Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 adyoung@thetablet.co.uk Malgorzata Chylinska Pequeno (Design and Production) mchylinska@thetablet.co.uk

To subscribe or to manage your subscription Tel: +44(0)1858 438736 thetablet@subscription.co.uk One year: £27 (UK), £35 (Airmail) To advertise Lisa Smith (advertising manager) Tel: +44 (0)1903 534 041 lisa@ottwaymediasolutions.com Head Office 1 King Street Cloisters, Clifton Walk, London, W6 0GY, UK Tel: +44(0)20 8748 8484 publisher@thetablet.co.uk Editorial Board Ashley Beck, Amanda Davison-Young, Lynda Dearlove, Raymond Friel, Maureen Glackin, Dominic Howarth, David Albert Jones, John Lydon, Stephanie MacGillivray, Stephen McKinney, Tarcisius Mukuka, Káren North, Thomas O’Loughlin (Chair), Martin Poulsom, Peter Tyler, Natalie K. Watson © The Tablet Publishing Company Limited ISSN1748-362X www.thepastoralreview.org

This issue of our journal appears as bishops and others assemble in Rome for the second ordinary session of the Synod on Synodality, and we are grateful to participants and others who have contributed to this issue – if you are a participant in the synod, please be assured of the prayers of the readers of this journal as you gather in Rome.

One of the key theological concepts which has informed discussions and documents which have provided such a rich resource from all over the world is the notion of the person, created in the image and likeness of God, fundamental to Christian moral teaching. Catholic theology sees the human person as made for relationality , created for love and self-sacrifice; this contrasts sharply with the notion many have of the selfsufficient and unrelated individual. Moreover, the ways in which we try to show solidarity and care for one another in the Church and for wider humanity, are personal too: when we perform even small acts of kindness, we are acting personally, not as robots; we reveal who we are as persons made by God, with gifts he has given us but also with our f laws.

Indeed, Catholic teaching sees leadership within the Church as personal too. In the Mass, every day we pray by name for the Pope and the local bishop – the name is important because it is personal. But at the same time this is more limited than we sometimes think. Consider church signs and noticeboards outside church buildings, common in English-speaking countries – there is a big difference between signs outside Catholic churches and those of other churches. Normally for Anglican and Protestant denominations the name of the Vicar is given, painted on the sign (perhaps with his or her degrees); this is never the case for Catholic signs. The theory seems to be that the priest is temporary and his name is not that important.

And yet what the synodal pathway is perhaps showing is that the personality of the priest, or indeed of the bishop of a diocese, may be more important than this illustration might suggest; this is because issues to do with accountability, and the stress laid on the idea of dialogue in the synod documents, pose real challenges to the ways in which priests and bishops have exercised personal leadership. One of the main problems in

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