(National Catholic Reporter. Michael Sean Winters).
The bishops are still in executive session this morning, but one issue has become a perennial and central part of all of their discussions: synodality. Of all the initiatives Pope Francis has begun, and which the U.S. bishops’ conference has ignored, synodality is the one that can’t be shunted aside. Laudato Si’ was passed off to outside groups and Amoris Laetitia received no real attention from the bishops’ conference, but the body has been required to engage in the synodal process and it permeates almost every discussion. So, while we wait for the public session this afternoon, I thought I would discuss the keynote address Cardinal Robert McElroy delivered Monday at the Catholic Health Association meeting in San Diego on the theme “The Synodal Challenge for Catholic Health Care in the United States.” McElroy began by outlining some of the general characteristics of the synodal process, along with specific reflections on his participation at the synod’s general assembly in Rome last October. He then sketched four fundamental questions about the synodal process for Catholic health care to ponder, and while this sketch dealt with health care, it also showed how this process can be applied to other ministries and areas of church life.