Fr. Aidan Nichols, O.P.: Surveying Synodality

It’s sometimes said that synodality has never been properly defined, perhaps because modern ecclesiastical texts are not written by Schoolmen. A suitable definition might run, ‘Synodality is a spirit of co-responsibility for the life and mission of the Church which finds expression in decision-making processes or events and is applicable in an analogous way at the local (meaning parochial or diocesan), regional (meaning provincial, national, or patriarchal), and universal (meaning global) level of the Church body’.

Synodality, so understood, is coming to you soon.

The Office of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops announced on 15 March, 2025 that, in preparation for an ‘Ecclesial Assembly’ in October 2028, there will be, starting in June of this year, a phase of implementation in local churches of the proposals contained in the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality insofar as these are currently compatible with existing Church law. That phase will run till December 2026, after which, in the first six months of 2027, there will be held ‘evaluative assemblies’ in every diocese to consider the results of the implementation so far achieved. …