Time for a Synod

"The first is that discernment and decision-making are the business of the whole body, not just of the few entrusted with governance. In his landmark October 2015 synod speech, Pope Francis quoted an ancient maxim: Quod omnes tangit, ab omnibus tractari et approbari debet (“what affects everyone should be discussed and approved by all”). And because, as St. Benedict notes in his seventh-century rule, God sometimes speaks through the youngest in the community, enabling participation means paying special attention to the timid edges, to the unlikely places, to those outside." 

So writes Austen Ivereigh (Commonweal, October 21, 2012) on the 'Synod on Synodality', which is happening right now in the universal church and will continue its process for two years to come.  

This is a time for everyone in the church, from Pope to laity in the street, to be heard on what they see as a vision and reality for church, focusing on the three themes - communion, participation mission.  It is time to gather, to share, to listen, to discern, to move forward together.  

This a truly Vatican II moment.  In the spirit of John XXIII, it is opening the windows of the church and letting the Spirit in.