In September 2021, the Catholic Church convened what has been termed “the largest consultative process in human history”: the Synod on Synodality. Over 1 billion Catholics worldwide were invited to join in a collective effort of listening, sharing, and discerning their hopes and dreams for the future of the church. Pope Francis himself has called the way of synodality “what God expects of the church in the third millennium,” stressing that “the synodal process should be not an occasional experience, but one of structural change, ‘where all can feel at home and participate.’”

The etymological root of the word synod comes from the Greek for with and path, suggesting a “journeying together.” Technically a synod is a kind of ecclesial assembly, a gathering of church officials centered on a particular topic. Francis has convened three synods so far during his papacy: on the family (2014), on youth (2018), and on the Amazonian region (2019). What is unique about the Synod on Synodality, however, is that it explicitly asks for the input of all the church’s members, not just its bishops and clergy. Furthermore, the Synod seeks to incorporate those voices that have been marginalized in the past, including women, LGBTQ+ individuals, lapsed or disaffiliated Catholics, young people, and other minoritized communities. Even those of different faith traditions—or no tradition at all—have been asked to participate in the service of strengthening the church’s self-understanding and sharpening its self-critique.

The theme of the Synod on Synodality, “Communion, Participation, and Mission,” as well as its practical and spiritual aims, were laid out in two documents issued at the start of the synodal journey: a “preparatory document” that introduced ten “thematic nuclei” for individuals and groups to reflect upon as they began their synodal conversations; and a vademecum, or handbook, that provided “practical support” to individual dioceses “to prepare and gather the People of God so that they can give voice to their experience in their local Church.”

From the fall of 2021 through August 2022, individual parishes, dioceses, lay movements, ecumenical and social justice groups, and other organizations around the world coordinated a series of “listening sessions” to solicit stories, experiences, opinions, and perspectives guided by the following prompt: “A synodal church, in announcing the Gospel, ‘journeys together.’ How is this ‘journeying together’ happening today in your local church? What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our ‘journeying together’?” These framing questions, along with the ten “thematic nuclei,” formed the basis for discussions about the past, present, and future of the church. 

This initial phase of the Synod was known as the “local” or “diocesan” phase. Facilitators of the listening sessions were instructed to allow participants to speak with courage and parrhesia—in freedom, truth, and charity. No topic was deemed off limits. In responding to questions and prompts, individuals were invited to both recall their experiences of the church and reread those experiences in greater depth with the help of the group. After the conversation around each question ended, there was a moment for reflection to discern places of consensus, common themes, and, most importantly, what paths forward were being suggested for the church. The goal, as Pope Francis reminded the faithful in his homily for the opening of the Synod in October 2021, was not to create “a study group or a political gathering, a parliament, but rather a grace-filled event, a process of healing guided by the Spirit.” The preparatory document echoed this sentiment: “The purpose of the synod is . . . to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create a bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands.”

At the conclusion of the listening sessions, facilitators “gathered the fruits” of the discussions into written summaries or synthesis reports. The vademecum made clear that “[t]he synthesis should pay special attention to the voices of those who are not often heard and integrate what we could call the ‘minority report.’” It continued: “The feedback should not only underline positive experiences but also bring to light challenging and negative experiences in order to reflect the reality of what has been listened to.” This was in line with the overarching aim of the Synod, which was to foster spaces where the skills of synodality—listening, dialogue, attentiveness to the movement of the Spirit—could be learned and practiced, rather than to advance one particular narrative or perspective over another.

Synthesis reports were forwarded to local dioceses and bishops’ conferences all over the world, and some were sent directly to the General Secretariat of the Synod at the Vatican. At these various levels they were reviewed by synodal teams who “synthesized the synthesis reports,” as it were, into cohesive documents. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), for instance, created its own national synthesis that incorporated the insights of nearly 300 reports across 178 dioceses and 112 Catholic organizations. These contributions represented over 22,000 reports from individual parishes and groups. An estimated 700,000 people in all participated in the diocesan phase throughout the United States.

The US national synthesis was one of 112 syntheses from bishops’ conferences submitted to the General Secretariat of the Synod. Additional syntheses were submitted by Eastern Catholic Churches, religious congregations, and other groups and individuals. From September 21 through October 2, 2022, fifty participants—men and women, religious and lay—from all over the world met in Frascati outside of Rome to review this international collection of synodal syntheses and “present,” as the journalist Austen Ivereigh explained it, “in a single document accessible to the whole church, the hopes and dreams of God’s people who had assembled in unprecedented numbers over many months across the globe for the first phase of the Synod on Synodality.”

Based on their twelve days of consultations, this group prepared “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” the working document for the second phase of the Synod, known as the “continental” phase. “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent” (the document takes its title from Isaiah 54:2) was returned to the People of God in each of the particular churches across seven geographical regions: Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Madagascar, Asia, Oceania, North America (US and Canada) and the Middle East. The continental phase encourages local groups to deepen the synodal process by reflecting on the continental document, formulating new questions, and praying on what insights need to be developed further. Groups such as CCRI have provided opportunities for laypeople to participate in this phase of the Synod, which will run through March 2023.

The third and final phase of the Synod, the “universal” phase, will begin in October 2023 with a general assembly of bishops in Rome. Seven final documents produced by the seven geographical regions during the continental phase will form the basis for this third stage of reflection. 

The Synod was originally set to conclude in 2023, but has been extended for another year under the direction of Pope Francis. The gathering of bishops will now be held across two distinct sessions: the original October 2023 session, and a second session in October 2024. The Vatican characterized this spacing of the sessions as a “journey within the journey” of the synodal process that will “foster more mature reflection for the greater good of the Church.” 

For laypeople who have long dreamed of a more participatory and inclusive Catholic Church, the Synod has come as a golden opportunity. It has provided a vision for a more decentralized, collaborative institution—one that fully incorporates the doctrine of the sensus fidei fidelium, or the “sense of the faith on the part of the faithful”—as well as practical materials to make this vision a reality. Further, it has sought to infuse the very life of the church with a culture of synodality—to allow, in the words of the vademecum, “an opportunity for the entire People of God to discern together how to move forward on the path towards being a more synodal church in the long-term.” If you would like to contribute, here are a few resources to help get you started:

Research and Background

• Reforms We Are Seeking: https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/reforms-we-are-seeking/
• Latest News: https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/category/media/ccri-news/
• Staying Involved in the Synodal Process: https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/category/staying-involved-in-synodal-process/
• Latest News: https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/category/media/ccri-news/

Ways to Participate

• Template Letter to Send to Your Bishop or Bishops’ Conference Immediately: https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/template-letter-to-send-to-your-bishop-or-bishops-conference-immediately/
• Participate in the Online Young Adult Seekers Small Christian Communities: https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/who-online-young-adult-seekers-small-christian-communities-are/ 

• Join a Reform Group: https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/reform-groups/
• Start a Synodal Gathering in Your Region: https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/start-a-synodal-gathering-in-your-region/
• Volunteer at CCRI: https://catholicchurchreformintl.org/01-become-more-involved-in-ccri/

It is vital that every Catholic, practicing or not, lends their experience to this synodal process. With your help, the church might fulfill the promise of Vatican II that affirmed the reality of all the baptized as participants in the saving mission of the church.

Michael Centore

CCRI Steering Committee Member