Thesis advisor: Jane Regan / At the intersection of theology and education, this dissertation investigates the distinctive character of the participation of Catholic colleges and universities in the mission of the Catholic Church. In 1967, less than two years after the final session of the Second Vatican Council, Catholic educators assembled in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin to discuss the nature and role of Catholic universities in the modern era. While representing a necessary and natural stage of development for Catholic higher education, the Land O’Lakes statement—and, particularly its assertion of “true autonomy”—lacked sufficient theological foundation. In response to perceived abuses stemming from an undue emphasis on institutional autonomy, Pope John Paul II published the apostolic constitution on Catholic universities, Ex corde Ecclesiae (1990). This document proposed an ecclesiology of communion as a more adequate theological foundation. Although communion ecclesiology represented a real advance on several fronts, ultimately, the inability of this theological foundation to resolve challenging issues regarding the distinctive mission of Catholic institutions became evident. Consequently, a more adequate ecclesiological foundation is required. This dissertation proposes that ecclesial synodality, as it has emerged in the papacy of Francis, provides a more constructive ecclesiological foundation for considering the relationship between Catholic higher education and the church. I propose that Catholic colleges and universities can serve as institutions to foster the practice of synodality in the church. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

[pt] trabalho apresenta a paróquia como lugar de encontro dos discípulosmissionários, onde a partir dos sacramentos se abre à missão. A sinodalidade da paróquia é a perspectiva atual de grande importância para a pastoral do mundo contemporâneo pois abre os paroquianos ao mundo e à vida em comunidade. A partir da eclesiologia pós-conciliar e do Papa Francisco se tem percebido a grande necessidade de se colocar os agentes de pastorais, assim como o pároco e os conselhos econômicos e de pastoral, no caminho da sinodalidade. Caminhar juntos é a motivação da Igreja atual no que concerne ao processo de escuta e diálogo tão necessários para se perceber a paróquia para o mundo. O primeiro capítulo do trabalho apresenta a paróquia, sua origem, etimologia e perspectivas atuais. No segundo mostra a questão da sinodalidade na vida da Igreja e sua teologia atual. Já no terceiro, aborda a sinodalidade na paróquia como uma perspectiva teológica de renovação missionaria na caminhada com o Ressuscitado. / [en] The current work will present the parish as a meeting place for missionary disciples, wich, starting from the sacraments, open itself to the mission. The synodality of the parish is a perspective of great importance for the pastoral care of the contemporary world, as it opens parishioners to the world and to community life. From post-conciliar ecclesiology and from Pope Francis, there has been a great need to place pastoral agents, as well as the parish priest and the economic and pastoral councils, on the path of synodality. Walking together is the motivation of the Church today regarding the process of listening and dialogue so necessary to perceive the parish for the world. The first chapter of the work will present the parish, its origin, etymology, and current perspectives. The second, shows the question of synodality in the life of the Church and its current theology. In the third, synodality in the parish is approached as a theological perspective of missionary renewal in the journey with the Risen One.

Thesis advisor: Theresa A. O'Keefe / Grassroots church communities demonstrate what it means to resist colonial ways of learning and of being church that have been internalized and reproduced in educational and ecclesial spaces. In their practices of communal discernment, they bear witness to a kind of religious education wherein all learn with one another. Learning from the practices of these communities, this dissertation is an exercise of reimagining a religious education that resists colonial ways of being and creates the possibility for all to learn with one another in the Spirit. Informed by a theology of synodality and the principles of critical pedagogy, I argue for a religious education that is a practice of creating space for an engagement with local theologies that are grounded in the everyday, for dialogue to emerge wherein all learn through diffraction, and for the voice of the Spirit to arise from a kind of dialogue that is not merely an exchange of ideas but a meeting and being with one another. Synodality, as seen in the synodal practices of basic ecclesial communities, creates space for a church that learns together. Synodal practices show how people can do theology together in a dialogical way, discerning how the Spirit is guiding the church in the context of the everyday. Critical pedagogy, on the other hand, centers silenced voices in the practices of learning and teaching. In doing so, critical pedagogy fosters a critical awareness of hegemonic epistemologies while creating space for capacitating silenced voices in dialogue. These two foundations inform the religious education I am arguing for in this dissertation. I propose that this religious education is seen most concretely in participatory action research (PAR) which creates spaces for people to learn with one another for transformation. PAR expands the pedagogical imagination as it involves the people as active agents of the process of knowledge production, decolonizing the research process and presents a way of learning with one another in a way that is just. Using PAR as a way to do a synodal and decolonial religious education, grassroots church communities can listen to the Spirit together, guiding the church into new ways of knowing and being. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Theology and Education.

La synodalité paraît être aujourd’hui un thème très actuel, tant pour le dialogue théologique bilatéral entre les Églises catholique et orthodoxe, qu’à l’intérieur de chaque Église. Le pontificat du pape François a mis l’accent sur la synodalité et l’Église orthodoxe vient de réaliser son Grand et Saint Concile (Crète, juin 2016). Le Concile Vatican II en 1964 a promulgué la doctrine de la collégialité épiscopale (les évêques constituent un collège qui succède au collège des Douze Apôtres), doctrine qui devait rapprocher les ecclésiologies catholique et orthodoxe. Cependant, les théologiens orthodoxes ne se sont pas retrouvés dans cette doctrine. Cinquante ans après sa promulgation, on remarque par ailleurs que la mise en œuvre de la collégialité épiscopale dans l’Église catholique est plutôt limitée. Cette étude a tenté de confronter les notions de collégialité épiscopale et de synodalité épiscopale, en vue d’une compréhension commune, entre catholiques et orthodoxes, de la place des évêques au sein de l’Église entière. Partant du constat que la synodalité épiscopale, comme l’entendent les orthodoxes, ne coïncide pas avec la doctrine de la collégialité épiscopale comme elle a été formulée au concile Vatican II, le présent travail s’est penché sur les fondements de cette dernière, afin de rechercher comment la tradition commune originelle des deux Églises conçoit la synodalité épiscopale. Le retour aux sources communes, à savoir bibliques, patristiques et dogmatiques, est proposé comme la base d’une entente sur les questions du ministère épiscopal et de la synodalité des évêques. Une telle entente s’avère indispensable afin d’aborder d’autres questions controversées, notamment celle de la primauté romaine. / Synodality seems to be a very current topic, both for the bilateral theological dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and for each individual Church. The pontificate of Pope Francis has emphasized synodality and the Orthodox Church has just convened its Great and Holy Council (Crete, June 2016). The Second Vatican Council in 1964 promulgated the doctrine of episcopal collegiality (the bishops are organized in a college which succeeds the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), a doctrine which was to bring closer Catholic and Orthodox ecclesiologies. However, the Orthodox theologians did not appreciate the value of this doctrine. Fifty years after its promulgation, it is also noted that the implementation of episcopal collegiality in the Catholic Church is rather restricted. This research attempts to compare the notions of episcopal collegiality and episcopal synodality, exploring a common understanding between Catholics and Orthodox of the place of the bishops within the whole Church. For Orthodox theologians, episcopal synodality does not coincide with the doctrine of episcopal collegiality, as it was formulated during the Second Vatican Council. This research focused on the common tradition of the two Churches regarding episcopal synodality. The study of common sources, namely biblical, patristic and dogmatic, is proposed as the basis for an agreement on the issue of episcopal ministry and the synodality of bishops. Such an agreement is essential to address other issues, especially that of the Roman primacy.