Tired of the words “synod” and “synodality”? Where do the words actually come from?

If you were like me, you’re getting sick of the words synod and synodality. These words are being thrown around as the latest and most important terms for Catholics and the Catholic Church today.

But did you know “synod” is a word right out of the Bible? Yes, but let me first say…

…that in my mind, this current hoopla about synodality is simply a Trojan Horse for transporting heresy and modernistic teachings and practices into the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. The Vatican today — especially those prelates promoting this synod — is not our friend and we have to stay ever vigilant as faithful Catholics.

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(If you haven’t read Bishop Strickland‘s pastoral letter on the Synod on Synodality yet, I would recommend you do so here.)

The word “synod” is actually a Greek word used in the New Testament — in the Gospel of Luke 2:44. Joseph, Mary and Jesus have gone on their yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. It took about five days to trek south, up to Jerusalem. They did not go alone but with a group of people, a caravan, from Nazareth and Galilee.

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When Passover was over they regrouped and joined their caravan back from Jerusalem to Nazareth along the Jordan Valley. Unbeknownst the them, the 12-year-old Jesus stayed behind in the Temple. At the end of the first day’s journey his parents came together (since men and women traveled separately) and discovered Jesus was not in the caravan.

Yes, they were concerned, even panicked. “And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress”. (Luke 2:48)

Now for the word SYNOD.

When Mary and Joseph realized Jesus was missing … Luke 2:44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him they returned to Jerusalem.

Notice the word “group”. In Greek it is synodia (συνοδία). It means a caravan, a pilgrimage group, a procession of people traveling together. The pilgrims traveled together in a group from Nazareth to Jerusalem and back again. So the word really means “people who are on a pilgrimage together”.

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The current leadership in the Vatican have picked up on this word and seems to be suggesting that we leave our absolute truth, moral certainty and Sacred Tradition behind and “synod together” or travel together and decide what we should believe based on our common experiences.

So imagine I lead a pilgrimage through the Holy Land (which I do 7 times a year) and I say to the folks, “We don’t have any itinerary or schedule or rules for the trip. Once we all get to the airport we will just “journey together and decide what to do along the way.” It would end up a disastrous pilgrimage and so will the Synod on Synodality.

No thanks! I will stick with the 2,000 year old Sacred Tradition of the Church and the morals as taught by popes and councils and clearly expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.