Indigenous Pacific Theologians of the Moana and a Synodal Church

The invigorated attempt to engage and dialogue with Indigenous peoples within Catholicism at an institutional level is an encouraging step to the Church being truly universal and synodal. At the same time, the voice of lay Indigenous Catholic theologians from Moana Pasifika (or Oceania) remains largely missing in the global church. As a lay female, Pasifika Catholic early-career theologian who is a māmā and wife, I speak into the space of where many of my peers are grappling with binary discourse that to be Indigenous means to reject Christianity or being Christian is to reject Indigenous spiritualities. “Synodal life is not a strategy for organising the Church, but…being able to find a unity that embraces diversity without erasing it.” (IL, 2023, §49). The role of lay Indigenous theologians is important in the future of a synodal church and part of the living legacy of Vatican II.