I have followed the process of Pope Francis’ Synodal movement from the beginning. I regard it as an extremely interesting development in our Church, certainly the most interesting since the Second Vatican Council.
I find myself quite excited by the potential of synodality, though I am well aware that there are many challenges facing the process, and no certainty that it will succeed in the way Francis hopes and wishes.
The Redemptorist Congregation has elected a new Superior General. He is a Brazilian, about whom I know little or nothing, so I won’t have any expectations, one was or another, about him.
The man who has completed two terms, a total of twelve years, as Superior General, Michael Brehl, is the person who oversaw all the years of my dealing with the Vatican Congregation, the CDF. In all truth, the only thing I can say is that I do not lament his going.
It has recently been announced by our Redemptorist superiors that Reality Magazine will cease publication at the end of the year, after over seventy years as a monthly magazine of the Redemptorists. It is no surprise. All aspects of print media are finding life difficult, and this is especially so for religious magazines.
But for me there is a certain sadness in this announcement. I was a regular columnist for the magazine for many years.
