The American Church has spoken. To put it another way, the local and diocesan responses in the US to the pope’s call for a global synod have been brought together and the findings published as a synthesis which will be submitted to the final stages of the synodal process. No fewer than 700,000 of the 66.8 million people who make up the US Catholic Church took part in the consultation. Summarising so many and such diverse opinions wasn’t easy.
The report observed that many Catholics initially regarded the whole exercise with “a combination of excitement, confusion and scepticism”, though many found the experience of listening to others, and being listened to, unexpectedly rewarding. Indeed “some noted how few opportunities are offered for true listening in a culture where we routinely speak past each other”. That’s true.
