“It is clericalism that prevents the church today from being missionary,” Bishop Cipollini said. “I have great hope that the synod on synodality can make clericalism collapse—perhaps not entirely, but at least in its major strongholds.”

Yes, the synod on synodality is off to a sluggish start, especially in the United States. But if we are brutally honest about what is broken in the church, we can still have a successful dialogue.

When it comes to the “Synod on Synodality” initiated by Pope Francis, Bishop Daniel E. Garcia says we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Readers respond to the February 2022 editorial about how the listening phase of the 2023 Synod of Bishops should listen to the views of Catholics who have left the church.

As the three-year synodal process that will culminate in the 2023 World Synod of Bishops gets underway, John W. O'Malley, S.J., offers some historical context for what synodality is all about.

Is the church really interested in listening and learning from former Catholics? Or is it only “listening” to get them to come back to Catholicism?