Writing in the notorious National Catholic Reporter, the equally notorious Father Thomas Reese, SJ, laments that as things stand, the Synod on Synodality will not produce the radical doctrine changes that he wants. But he sees a way to change that outcome. And I suspect he’s not the only one who sees it.
The problem, as Father Reese sees it, is that the Synod on Synodality might confine itself to a discussion of synodality. “Talking only about synodality can lead to a level of theological abstraction that goes nowhere,” he remarks. On that point of course he’s right. Since nobody really knows what “synodality” means, the October session could easily degenerate into a discussion about how to have a discussion, a process of defining the process.
Actually some of us would be satisfied with that result. If the Synod meeting in October does nothing worse than waste the time of the participants, and produce another prolix discourse on “how to be Church”—in short if there are no more assaults on the perennial teachings of the Church—we will let loose a long sigh of relief. For three years we have worried about the likelihood of a more damaging result.
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