A Church that listens

POPE Francis has set in motion the process toward the gathering of bishops (and probably others) in a Synod on synodality in 2023. And of course, that concept will at first sound alien to most lay persons, perhaps even to some priests.

The Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, have had healthier experiences with synodality. The Orthodox Church, it will be remembered, does not have any character resembling the Pope in power and authority over the Western church. Patriarch Bartholomew may be recognized as primus inter pares - first among equals, first among brethren - but that does not make him superior over the Synod that makes major decisions and appointments for the Orthodox communion.