Positive parallels between the Commonwealth and the Church.
How do you hold together a large multinational association of highly diverse peoples in the modern world? That is a question with which many Catholic leaders are grappling at present, in various different ways. Consider the often furious debates around 2019’s Amazon synod. These debates focused on the limits of the “inculturation” of doctrine and liturgy – the extent to which particular cultures’ non-Catholic norms and traditions should be allowed to influence and form their practice of the faith. Alternatively, we might look at the ongoing tensions between the ageing, uncertain Churches of Europe – notably Germany, where the Synodal Way has exposed wide and deep dissent – and the vibrant, growing countries in the Global South.
