Reinterpretasi Kanon 536 §2 tentang Dewan Pastoral Paroki: Menuju Gereja Sinodal dan Kontekstualisasi bagi Keuskupan Agung Ende

Abstrak

This article examines the reinterpretation of the role of the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) according to Canon 536 §2 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law in light of the ecclesiology of communio and the spirituality of synodality. The study departs from the reality that, in pastoral practice, the PPC is still often understood in a legal-formal manner as an administrative body possessing only a consultative function, thereby hindering the optimal development of the participation of the faithful in the process of pastoral discernment. This situation reveals a tension between a still predominantly pastor-centric pastoral model and the post-Vatican II development of a synodal Church that emphasizes the participation of the entire People of God in the life and mission of the Church. This research employs a qualitative method with a normative-canonical and theological-hermeneutical approach through library research on the Code of Canon Law, the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the Church's magisterium, the jurisprudence of the Roman Rota, and various scholarly studies on synodality and the participation of the faithful in the Church. The findings demonstrate that the consultative nature of the PPC cannot be understood merely as a juridical limitation on the participation of the faithful, but rather as a form of balance between the hierarchical structure of the Church and the principle of pastoral co-responsibility of the entire People of God. Within the perspective of synodality, the PPC must be understood as a space for shared discernment between the pastor and the faithful in listening to the will of the Holy Spirit for the life of the local Church. The study also finds that the culture of deliberation (musyawarah) and communal solidarity of the Flores people possesses an intrinsic compatibility with the synodal spirituality of the Church, thus providing a strong anthropological and pastoral foundation for the development of a more participatory PPC within the Archdiocese of Ende. Consequently, the reinterpretation of Canon 536 §2 possesses not only theological and canonical relevance but also significant pastoral and contextual implications for the development of a more synodal, participatory, and missionary local Church