An exclusive conversation with Father James Martin, Gerard O’Connell, Colleen Dulle and Sebastian Gomes about the future of synodality in the U.S. church

There’s an old joke that a camel is what you get when a horse has been designed by a committee. The synod’s final document bears the camel-like appearance of committee drafting. Maybe that‘s a good thing.

At midday yesterday, the Vatican released Pope Francis’ latest encyclical, “Dilexit Nos,” in which he invites us, the faithful, to return to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and rediscover our own hearts.

Synod observers, especially those who feel like the document has not gone “forward” enough, would do well to learn from Vatican II and its rollout.

“There is no going back!” That is the message I am hearing from many delegates during the final week of the Synod on Synodality as they refine the proposals of the draft final document.

There has been an alarming lack of transparency around the work of the synod’s ‘Study Group 5,’ tasked with examining, among other things, the subject of women deacons.