The Synodal Pathway – When Rhetoric meets Reality
We hear from editor Fr Eamonn Conway about the objectives of this book which include making the case for a synodal Church that is authentic and accountable.
Published by Columba Books
Edited by Eamonn Conway, Eugene Duffy and Mary McDaid
Paperback ISBN 9781782183938
Description
‘A highly timely book. Pope Francis wants the whole church to discern together the way God wants the Church to go. This book helps a lot for a sane discernment of the style of synodality that really matters.’
Christoph Card. Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna
Emanating from the Irish Church but with contributions from leading scholars in the UK, US, Venezuela, Germany, Italy, France, The Netherlands and Australia, this book of fifteen essays provides:
An introduction to the meaning of synodality and its rich foundations within the Catholic tradition
Makes the case for synodality as “that which God expects of the Church of the third millennium” (Pope Francis)
Argues that failure to embrace the synodal path is not an option if the Church is to have any meaningful role to play in the third millennium.
Introduction
…This book … sets out to achieve three objectives. The first objective is to provide a basic understanding of the meaning of synodality and its rich foundations within the Catholic tradition. The second objective is to make the case for synodality as precisely ‘that which God expects of the Church of the third millennium’ (Pope Francis, 17th October 2015). The third objective is to show why, having embarked the Church upon a synodal path nationally and globally, failure to arrive at the desired destination of sincere and meaningful Church reform may well leave the Catholic Church in a worse situation than if it had never embarked upon a synodal path in the first place. In other words, the third objective of this book is to make the point that the stakes are high and it is time to ‘get real’….
