It is more than likely that the Catholic Church’s Synod in Rome – called by Pope Francis and set to take place in October – is going to end badly. It seems set to cause yet more division, more rancour and more bad press.
You only have to look at the document sent in by the Church in Ireland - a synthesis of 26 diocesan reports seeking “reforms” - to know that the Synod will not end well. What “the national synthesis” really demanded was to change the Church so that it looked more like what the directors of a box-ticking Netflix programme wanted than something which would suit the modern Church.
