Synod is a milestone in the reception of Vatican II

 My response: This process of consultation and conversation with the people of God is a major shift into post Vatican ll ecclesiology and a positive step forward and a sign of the Spirit moving in the global Church. However, the reality check is what practical steps will Pope Francis take to ensure that marginalized and excluded Catholic voices - such as Roman Catholic Women Priests - are heard in the coming year,  and are at the table in October. Francis keeps saying that all voices must be heard. Women Priests await an invitation! Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

Article:

“The rebalancing of Roman Catholic ecclesiology in the past 150 years, from the First Vatican Council's assertion of papal primacy and infallibility in Pastor Aeternusto the Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium, is now complete. Primacy gave way to collegiality and now to a synodality involving the entire people of God.

Cardinals and bishops join Pope Francis as he presides over Mass, marking the end of the first session of the assembly of the synod of on synodality at the Vatican Oct. 29. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

“It is almost inconceivable to think that a future synod would be convoked with only bishops present. The commitment to continue this kind of synodal dialogue comes through every page of the report.

It was always inconceivable, and remains so, to think the synod would overthrow the hierarchic structure of the church. Yes, everyone going into the synodal process must surrender to the Holy Spirit, but a bishop surrenders as a bishop and a layperson as a layperson. The hierarchic structure of the church was balanced at Vatican II, it wasn't tossed out. 

What happened this month, finally, was the implementation of the ecclesiology of Lumen Gentium. The variety of ecclesiological images of the church contained in that document were manifested in this monthlong, consultative meeting that was itself the culmination of a consultative process that might have been the largest and widest in the history of the world. 

One synod delegate emailed me after the document was passed:

The intensive experience of synodal dialogue allowed us to encounter our global fellow pilgrims in profoundly affective collegiality, calling us to focus on the core realities of our faith, to wrestle intensively and creatively with the profound human and ecclesial dilemmas that confront us, often coming to "both/and" pathways for "either/or" solutions, seeking to proceed from the marriage of love and truth in all of its wrenching difficulty.

I will red-flag a concern here. "The exercise of co-responsibility is essential for synodality and is necessary at all levels of the Church," states the final report. "Every Christian is a mission in the world." The synodal process needs to make sure it is not hijacked by professional Catholics, those with the time, training and interest to exercise co-responsibility — people like you, dear reader, and me. As a class, we can become insufferable. The B+ Catholics, even the D+ Catholics, need to be engaged on their terms if this synodal process is to be small "c" Catholic. 

We can hope additional reporting will clarify how the synodal conversations were framed, and what tensions emerged not along ideological lines but along cultural and geographic ones.“