Knoxville woman appointed by Pope Francis to advise global synod on Catholic church

Pope Francis has appointed a group of consultors to advise on and help shape the future of the Catholic church, and one of them is from Knoxville.

Of the six consultors Pope Francis appointed in February, only Tricia Bruce of Knoxville is American, which means she isn't just representing Knoxville; she's representing the whole country.

Bruce will serve as a consultor to the General Secretariat of the Synod to aid the ongoing global synodal process.

The sociologist of religion and director of Springtide Research Institute was appointed in February when Pope Francis announced the the dates for the second session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly, planned for October 2024.

As a consultor, Bruce's role will be to manage the synodal process and advise, she said. Most recently, this included reviewing and providing feedback on the Instrumentum Laboris, a document that sets the landscape ahead of the October 2024 session.

"There’s a sense of surprise and excitement but also just, I’m so happy that there’s a place for sociology, for social science in this conversation," Bruce said.

What is a synod?

A synod is "a gathering of the faithful in order to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church and asking her to be and to do," according to the website for the current synod, the Synod on Synodality.

The Synod on Synodality began in 2021 as an "invitation at all levels to talk, think, ask questions, gather data on these key issues the church is facing," Bruce told Knox News. Its themes are communion, participation and mission.

This synod is unique because it began with a worldwide consultation encouraging Catholics everywhere to participate, part of a concerted effort to include all voices. Previous synods have relied on input from ordained leaders, whereas the current synod held listening sessions at the parish and diocese level.

The hope is that the process is wholly inclusive, Bruce said.

The first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops met in October 2023. Bruce will be available for support during and after the second session in October 2024.

The October 2024 gathering will look toward the end of the process, but some aspects - such as examining and documenting next steps - will continue into 2025, and Bruce will continue to have a role.

The synod is reflecting on how the church operates, who the church is, and where the church is going, Bruce said. This focus on self-reflection and process is very forward-looking, she added.

"Pope Francis is a leader who has put particular priority on self-understanding, the church’s self-understanding," Bruce said.

"It’s meant to be kind of meta," she said. "It can get messy."

Bruce's role as a consultor

For Bruce, the appointment really isn't about her. "I feel both honored, but also this sense of responsibility to step aside from it as me," she said. It's not Bruce's personal perspective she'll be sharing, but rather insights from her work as a sociologist.

"I don’t position myself as an activist. I don’t have an agenda … I’m not perfect, but I legitimately am just trying to share what I learn and what I hear," Bruce said.

The language of sociology means you're allowed to ask hard questions, and without the expectation of providing answers or solutions, Bruce said.

This process-oriented approach of both Bruce's sociology and the synod at large is important given the current landscape. "The Catholic Church globally, but I would say especially in the U.S., experiences a high level of polarization and partisanship," Bruce said.

As a sociologist, it's important to her that this be a time to set aside labels in order to have more honest, human conversations, she said.

"What I want to do is cut into that space and that noise to show just humanness a little bit and surface what’s beneath that in terms of the lived experience of the church and Catholics that are in it…”

"When you actually ask and dig in, sometimes it’s a lot more complicated," Bruce added.

Hayden Dunbar is the storyteller reporter. Email hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville woman appointed by Pope Francis to advise global synod on Catholic church