The Synodal Process has been launched in the Irish Church. Though from what I have seen on the ground, nothing much is happening as yet. But it is early days.
I have listened to a number of people speaking on the Synod, from different points of view, including Bishop Leahy of Limerick, who seems to be the main person from the bishops side who is involved. He was on the radio, Leap of Faith, the other evening with Derek Scally and Ursula Halligan.
My native diocese, Clonfert, is being joined up with Galway, with one bishop in charge of both. We are told it is not an amalgamation, or that the smaller diocese is not being subsumed into the larger one. Instead, we are assured that both dioceses will retain their diocesan structures. I am not sure what exactly that means. Both cathedrals will retain their status, we are told, with all the structures that surround cathedrals, chapters, councils, etc.
Synods and synodality are very much in the news in Catholic Church circles at the moment. It seems to me that initiating a Synodal process in the Church is one of, if not the major, reform that Pope Francis is trying to establish during his papacy. In so far as I can understand it, fundamentally what this would mean is a whole new way of exercising authority and making decisions at all levels in the Church.
