Do Catholics Need Questions? No, Answers

The Wall Street Journal, 02 November 2023

A crisis of confidence and clarity comes into view at Pope Francis’ ‘synod on synodality.’

I came here 25 years ago to begin study for the priesthood. October 1998 was a heady time, the 20th anniversary of John Paul II’s papacy. Things were different this year, when the synod on synodality came to town. It was Pope Francis’ signature initiative: a sort of corporate retreat for several hundred bishops and ecclesiocrats to consider how to make the Catholic Church more relevant—to what wasn’t clear.

The meeting issued a 41-page report that advances no significant doctrinal changes but promises further study on such issues as female deacons and, strangely, what “synodality” actually means. Some of the senior cardinals directing the process spoke of building for the future, giving theological laggards time to catch up with the “pace” of the avant-garde. The point may be to keep the questions, consultations and discussions going, so that the bold promise of salvation yields to the bureaucratic process of synodality.

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