Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2025
Degree Name
Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL)
Director
Mary McGann
Abstract
This project proposes a synodal model of priest presider as a Discerning Gatherer. Central to the argument is the idea that any such model must emerge out of an ecclesiological vision; given the centrality of synodality for this model, this means that a model of priest presider must arise from and be in service to the ecclesial assembly. Furthermore, this model must be embedded within a particular ecclesial context, in this case, the US Church. Therefore, the argument begins by assessing the need for a renewed and reconfigured theology of ordained ministry, given the persistent specter of structural clericalism in the US Church. By elaborating the characteristics of structural clericalism, including the theologies of priesthood and church used for justification of such clericalism, Chapter 1 tills the soil for why synodal renewal is necessary. Chapter 2 proceeds by articulating what synodality is as a constitutive element of the Church and elucidates the ecclesiological and pneumatological foundations of synodality. In doing so, a renewed theology of ordained priesthood can emerge from the foundational identity of baptism that all of the baptized share and be put in the service of building up this foundational identity, attentive to the Spirit. Chapter 3 then unpacks the close link between synaxis (Eucharistic assembly) and synodos (synodal assembly) named in the Synod on Synodality’s Final Document, by highlighting the importance of the whole assembly as celebrant of the Eucharistic liturgy. A synodal model of priest presider, as a discerning gatherer, makes more sense once it is seen as embedded within these ecclesiological, pneumatological, and liturgical foundations. Following the elaboration of this model are implications first, for the ars celebrandi of the gathered assembly, and second, for the discernment of charisms within a community and the accountability for the priest presider. Finally, the project concludes by offering some orientations for how formation ought to change and adapt to synodality more generally and a synodal model of priest presiding more specifically.
Recommended Citation
Finucane, Daniel J., "The Discerning Gatherer: A Synodal Model of Priest Presider" (2025). Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations. 151.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/jst_dissertations/151
