Black laywoman with Archdiocese of Newark roots will participate in Synod in Rome (Video)
Sister Carmel McEnroy in her groundbreaking publication “Guests in Their Own House” described the Women of Vatican II as guests who were unheard and unseen and delegated to the back of the room. This was the description of the experience of the 23 women from 14 different countries who were invited to be auditors at the Vatican II Council.
Sixty-plus years after Vatican II the Church of the 21st Century with great anticipation and excitement welcomes the upcoming Synod on Synodality. This Synod is inclusive of those most often on the margins of the American Church. Ten delegates from the United States of America will represent the North American region at the first general assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality. They will attend the month-long gathering at the Vatican. The church of Newark can take pride that one of the delegates has roots in our very own Archdiocese. Included in those selected by Pope Francis is a Black Catholic laywoman, Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. Dr. Bailey Manns’ name was presented to the Holy Father by Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese. Upon discernment and vetting of her various contributions and ministries of building up the church, the Holy Father gave his approval and selected her for participation as one of the voting delegates for the Synod.
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Dr. Baily Manns and Archbishop Hebda have a well-documented connection to our Archdiocese of Newark. Prior to his appointment by the Holy Father to the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, Archbishop Hebda served as the Coadjutor for the Archdiocese of Newark from 2013 until 2016. Dr. Bailey Manns was a former resident of West Orange, New Jersey, and a parishioner at St. Joseph’s Church. Dr. Bailey Manns, a certified spiritual director served as the Campus Ministry Spiritual Director for Seton Hall University between 2007 – 2011. She was also an adjunct faculty and coordinator of Spiritual Formation Certification Program for Seminarians at the Master of Divinity formation at Drew Theological School, in Madison, N.J. 2011 until 2014.
Dr. Bailey Manns is currently the Director of the Adult Learning Program at Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Community and adjunct faculty at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. She has served as professional faculty at St. Catherine University’s Theology Department and as an adjunct professor at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. Dr. Bailey Manns selection as a voting delegate is a historical monumental event in the life of the Church. Her presence will make history, as she will be taking part in the very first synod to have laymen and women and an African American serving as voting delegates along side cardinals, bishops, and priests. She is one of four laypeople chosen from the North American region.
Dr. Bailey Manns social location as a woman, laity, and Black is significant. Each of these parameters are often on the margins of the decision-making aspects of ministry and having voice and agency within the Church. Dr. Manns believes “The Holy Spirit is going to work through me and through others and how we work together.” Dr. Bailey Manns, in her ministry as a spiritual director, is accustomed to listening to the needs of another. She is able to hear by deep listening “the stories of how God is working in people’s lives”. Archbishop Hebda in a recent interview describes the characteristics of Dr. Bailey Manns that highlight her gifts and that will support her role as a voting delegate at the Synod.
Dr. Bailey Manns is a “superb listener and articulate dialogue partner, skills that will serve her well at the Synod,” he said, “I am grateful that her voice grounded in the lived experience of our local church will be heard at the Synod.”
Dr. Bailey Manns was actively involved and served as a leader at her Archdiocesan local synod. She was also an active participant in the 2022 Continental Phase of the Vatican’s Synod.
Enlarging the tent and the relationship of Communion, Participation, and Mission are core themes in the language and mission of the Synodality relationship of the Church. The North American Final Document for the Continental Stage of the 2021-2024 Synod For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission forms the basis of the Instrumentum Laboris which was released by the General Secretariat in June 2023.
The submission of Dr. Manns name for consideration as a delegate by Archbishop Hebda and the selection of Cynthia by Pope Francis is the evidence that some of the bishops and the Holy Father are listening to the broader church. The Holy Father has reminded us that the Synodality process is about being a listening church.
When I think about the implication of the impact of her involvement in the Synod on Synodality, this is what comes to mind for me as her colleague and sister in Christ
“Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns is some of the first fruits of the synodality coming from our local and national community.” Her key words of Hope and Patience speak volumes about the hopefulness of what is to come!
Dr. Bailey Manns’ commitment to enlarging the tent for the voices of those most marginalized is evidenced in her daily ministry at the local parish and on the national level. Her concern that Black Catholic voices and their narratives be a component of the shared story, evolved into a national dialogue with Black Catholic Laity. Over the past few years, I served as social media administrator for a group Raising Black Catholic Voices on the Synod on Synodality. It provided information, addressed questions, and promoted the involvement and support of Black Catholics for the Synod on Synodality. Dr. Manns raised the question of how could she incorporate an opportunity for her to be able to hear and gather the voices of the community?
Sept. 2, 2023, as the nation celebrated the long weekend National Holiday of Labor Day, Dr. Bailey Manns was hard at work on the listening in session (virtual) with 30 Black Catholics from around the Continental USA. Nate Tinner-Williams Co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger and I coordinated and facilitated the gathering. Each of the participants shared their experiences that they felt were vital to be a component of the Synod. The PEW report of 2022 survey showed that over 4 % of Black Americans say they were raised Catholic and no longer identify as such. There are over 3 million African Americans Catholics in the USA. 1% of Black adults are converts to Catholicism. Evangelization is the mission of the Church. Factors that impact the evangelization mission within the African American community must be a conversation and of concern to the Synod on Synodality if it wants to be true to the universal mission of enlarging the tent. The gathering of the 30 Black Catholic laity involved in a variety of ministries from the pulpit (there was one deacon) to the pew provided a substantive dialogue on how to sustain and grow the faith. Dr. Manns who is herself a convert to Catholicism was joined in the dialogue by her husband. It was her husband Michael Manns, who evangelized Dr. Bailey Manns into the faith. Another one of the ministries that she is involved with is the Discerning Deacons conversation in reference to inclusion of women into the Permanent Diaconate of the Church. This is also a conversation that the Synod on Synodality will be listening in on.
Dr. Bailey Manns will not be alone when she journeys to the Vatican to join the 120 delegates personally selected by Pope Francis. In total 364 people will be able to vote in 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. 54 of the voting delegates will be women. Unlike the experiences of the women of Vatican II, the women at the Synod for Synodality will have voice, action, and agency.
The month-long Synod takes place Oct. 4-29. Pope Francis has also appointed Cardinal Wilton Gregory Archbishop of Washington, D.C. Cardinal Gregory the only African American Cardinal of the American Church is also a convert to the Catholic faith. The historical legacy of their (Dr. Manns and Cardinal Gregory’s) mission and ministry to the Catholic faith is to be highlighted. In the language of Servant of God Sr. Thea Bowman, they are the evidence of Black Catholics as a gift to the Church. As a reminder of the evangelizing spirit that we are all called to embody, Dr. Bailey Manns will be wearing a lapel pin promoting the cause for sainthood for Servant of God Sr. The Bowman!
Let us pray for a successful and fruitful Synod!
Dr. Valerie D. Lewis-Mosley, RN, is a pastoral theologian – Lay Associate Order of Preachers Caldwell Dominicans; an adjunct professor at Caldwell University and Xavier University of Louisiana, Institute for Black Catholic Studies. She is an advisory board member on the African American African Caribbean, Apostolate Archdiocese of Newark.
