Michael Higgins is of the belief the Synod on Synodality is “grounded in hope rather than in despair; in knowledge rather than ignorance.”

It's what the prominent Canadian Catholic intellectual and writer plans to share with an audience Sept. 12 at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ont., as he delivers the first in the university's 2024-25 Lectures in Catholic Experience series. 

If Higgins, a president and vice-chancellor emeritus of St. Jerome’s, successfully communicates his ideas, the 75-year-old believes those in attendance will embrace a hopeful outlook of the most significant reshaping of the Universal Church since the Second Vatican Council from 1962-65.

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This event will be hosted in St. Jerome’s Notre Dame Chapel starting at 7 p.m. EST. Higgins’ will also launch his new book, The Jesuit Disruptor: A Personal Portrait of Pope Francis.

Catholics from around the world have expressed sentiments of fear or skepticism toward the synodal process, which continues with the Second Session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops from Oct. 2-27 in Rome. Higgins, who observed the proceedings in 2023 and will do so again next month, shared that none of the dissenters in the room who voiced their reservations “were malevolent” in their line of questioning. They respectfully probed to attain comprehensive answers to their queries about the purpose of the gathering and the eventual calls to action.

During the Canadian National Online Gathering for Priests video conference on Aug. 14, approximately 90 participants agreed that questions about the Church’s credibility could prevent churchgoers from being enthused about actively participating in the synodal journey.

“It came out in the conversation among the priests that because of the abuse scandal, the history of residential schools, the public perception of the Church and perhaps people's personal negative experiences, we have a lot of work to do to rebuild credibility,” said Fr. Raymond Lafontaine, the Montreal priest who will serve as a table discussion moderator during the general assembly.

Higgins agreed the Church is indeed contending with several serious issues, the “most egregious being, of course, the sexual abuse crisis.”

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Though the Universal Church is afflicted with “bad news,” it is important to remember that there is “good news to be found in several other places within the life of people,” said Higgins.

“The frantic effort of the synod delegates and the spiritual directors, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe and his counterpart, Mother (Maria Ignazia Angelini), is to generate a certain spiritual energy and hope on the horizon,” continued Higgins. “Because you know when you live in a structure, whether the Canadian political, corporate life or education, and you see only the weakness, the flaws and apologies, then you get into a dark space. Christians are called by virtue of their baptism to be witnesses to the enduring overwhelming hope of encountering Christ.”

The prolific author and academic will observe if a hopeful spirit is indeed palpable during the second session of the synod's general assembly.

Higgins has reviewed the “Instrumentum laboris” working document to understand this summit’s grand design and what will occur. He is curious about how the “conversations in the spirit” between the 365 delegates (344 voting members) in the Paul VI Audience Hall will translate into something dynamic and tangible for the 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

“When people understand what it means, they'll be less fearful of it,” said Higgins. “And they will see it as an inspiring and hopeful direction to the Church in the future. But if they don't know what it means, or it's kind of opaque, inchoate or unclear, then that generates anxiety.”

As for his new book, Higgins, currently the Basilian Distinguished Fellow of Contemporary Catholic Thought at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto, told The Catholic Register that he branded Jorge Bergoglio as a disruptor because of the jolts this pontiff has administered to Church governance and the spirituality of Catholics worldwide.

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“He disrupted the protocol that was the mainstay of institutional life in the Vatican,” said Higgins. “He disrupted the way we see the Church working in the world. He has also changed the pattern of Church priorities by centring the believing community on and with the poor, which has always been essential to his ecclesiology and spirituality. Now, he has managed to do this because, in the end, he sets about to disrupt our own spiritual and intellectual complacency — our foreclosure, often through fear, of fresh ways of seeing the Gospel.”

Each of the St. Jerome’s University Lectures in Catholic Experience is accessible on YouTube shortly following the in-person event.