to defend the Establishment.
CWR Dispatch:
What Is Synodality? by Bishop Robert Barron
In a synod, the point is discerning, not the will of the people, but the will of the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit in that context is sovereign, or in the language of Pope Francis, the “protagonist.”
"Whatever Pope Francis means by “synodality,” he quite clearly doesn’t mean a process of democratization, or putting doctrine up for a vote. He means, it seems to me, a structured conversation among all of the relevant ecclesial players—bishops, priests, and laity—for the sake of hearing the voice of the Spirit."
How is one to judge who is spiritually qualified among the laity to participate? And if it is not representational, or excludes those who should have authority among the laity, then of what use is it? What should a synod be discerning that they should not already be discerning individually, and if there is no heresy to reject, what sort of concerted action are they considering? Can ecclesial reform really be done by a snyod that mandates the creation of solutions but does not look to address internal problems that may have always been there?
