Listening practices: Hope for grassroots theology
We’ve asked some participants in the Listening Practices in Global Catholicism Conference in March 2024 to share their reflections from the discussions. This blog from Annemie Dillen, Professor in Pastoral and Empirical Theology at KU Leuven and member of the project steering group, shares her reflections.
A conference, or a meeting in general, mostly stimulates the own thinking. Some of these own reflections stay with me, as insights gained during three very interesting days.
I learned that in many countries it is not easy for empirical theologians and other scholars to have a genuine dialogue with Church leaders. The opening of the synodal process to experiences and views of Catholics is a very important step. However, this does not always mean that the experiences and views are gathered in a systematic or scientific way. Why the dialogue between empirical scholars and church leaders is sometimes difficult, is not clear to me. Initiatives to stimulate mutual trust, as this conference, are therefore very valuable.
In my own teaching and research, I try to communicate that the main question is not whether someone is a believer or not, or to which religion someone belongs, but how this person experiences religion/faith and to discover the diversity, even within one specific religion. This conference gave me a variety of empirical and theoretical models and typologies, that might help people to get a nuanced view on religion and experiences of faith. One could for instance notice the differences between believers in the way they experience their relationship to God (as cultic or inspired) on the one hand, and in the way they implement their faith (more as devotion or more as altruism) on the other hand (see de presentation of Yann Raison du Cleuziou). Every person can be situated on a point on these two axes. There are however much more typologies possible as well. I discovered similarities with the PhD research in my own institution (KU Leuven) of Brendan Reed (https://theo.kuleuven.be/apps/press/ecsi/files/2019/04/8.-Reed-Searching-for-Parish-Engagement-Scale-new-scan.pdf).
I wrestled myself with the question how the church can listen to experiences and views of persons and at the same time take the variety of positions really seriously. Listening is not easy, as many people have different opinions. This is not only true for the synodal process, but it is also true in class room practices and in policy making processes. In the end, one has to find a compromise, or to take a decision, and there power will be often at stake. Or, in other terms, whose interests and views are heard and really taken into account. These questions about power and conflicting views have stayed with me during the whole conference, and have influence my own thinking after the conference as well. Especially in a context where we try to do justice to everyone – and to avoid all forms of ‘epistemic injustice’ (influenced by postcolonial theology), this is a real challenge. I consider it as my own task to point time over again on this ‘ongoing struggle’ where at least seeing possible conflict and avoiding harmonious views is a way to make sure that more voices are heard. In a recent chapter, my colleague Cas Wepener and I spoke about the ‘pebble in the shoe’, as an image for the fact that decolonial reflection does not give us rest, but continues to function as a ‘pebble’ that irritates, that makes us asking critical questions about ‘whose interests are taken into account’ (Dillen, Annemie; Wepener, Cas; 2024. Pebbles in (Post)Colonial Shoes The Precarious Knowledge of Public Ritual Performances in South Africa and Belgium., in K. Merle et al. (ed.), Precarious Knowledge. Practical Theology and Post/Colonialism; Evangelische Verlagsanstalt; Leipzig; pp. 391 – 404).
One of the complex questions or insights I got due to the conversations is related to the distinctiveness of Catholicism, especially in relation to sexual ethics. It seems that many Catholics all over the world left Catholicism because of its (distinctive) sexual ethics. On the other hand, research shows that people feel attracted to Catholicism because it is ‘different’ and gives them an identity. This seems paradoxical, but I interpret it as a sign of how different groups find different aspects important. The challenge is to offer people an identity and to help them feel at home within Catholicism without having to exclude others or to take positions that are harming others and make them suffer. There is still a way to go on this road.
- The conference in Rome confirmed my hope that ‘grassroots theology’ can be taken seriously within the Catholic church. Although some would discuss about the question whether the faith and the religious practices of persons participating in various ways within the Catholic church can really be called ‘theology’, I do not have any doubts about this. It is of course another ‘voice’ within the large field of theology than the ‘normative’ or ‘formal’ theology (by the magisterium or academic theologians), but nevertheless an expression of theology. This ‘grassroots theology’ is considered as inspiring for normative and formal theologies. To see this in an interdisciplinary context, where only a few practical theologians as me (who usually focus strongly on what is happening in daily life) were present, was very inspiring.
Most of all, I am very thankful to be inspired by discussions, small talk during breaks and by meetings with colleagues I knew for a long time, and by others I met for the first time in Rome.