Synod unlikely to bring ordination of women or Communion for remarried

“This has been called the greatest consultation process in history,” says Fr Hurley – but it wouldn’t be accurate to say that everything is on the table. It would also be inaccurate to compare it with Vatican II.

“It’s similar but different to Vatican II: that was a meeting of all the bishops of the world. The synod in Rome is just a meeting of just a representative bishop for each country, but what is different is that all the faithful – every member of the church – has an opportunity for input. “This hasn’t happened before.”

Big changes, such as allowing those in second marriages to receive Communion, or allowing the ordination of women priests are not what it is fundamentally about.

“Pope Francis has said ‘the synodal process is, first and foremost, a spiritual process. It is not a mechanical data-gathering exercise or a series of meetings and debates. Synodal listening is oriented towards discernment: we listen to each other to our faith tradition, and to the signs of the times in order to discern what God is saying to all of us’,” says Fr Hurley.

“I think this is the key thing: this is about discerning what God is saying to us, what is God asking of the church at this time.

“It’s not a democratic process whereby we all get to vote on something. That’s not what it is: the church was never like that.

“It’s not about different agendas, or trying to sway a majority opinion. It’s nothing like that: it’s a serious spiritual question, asking us what is God asking of us and the church at this time.”

Fr Hurley admits it’s been a bit of a struggle to generate awareness of the synod, and also to explain the purpose of it. Misunderstandings mean there is fear on the part of some people that it may bring too much change, while others fear it won’t bring enough.

“Pope Francis is very clear about what this is: this is what the church should always be doing; we should always be asking ourselves, what is God asking of us at this time.”

On the other hand, there is a cohort looking forward to this, and some of the priests are animated about it, he has found.

“I think the online thing is very, very strong now, so there are lots of discussions online about it. Some people online would see this unnecessary and dangerous, in that it could lead to people being disaffected by the church, but look: I think we have to be brave. We have to ask what is God asking of the church at this time in our history. We shouldn’t be afraid.”

Bishops

While this year, the process is focused on the universal synod, attention will turn after that to the Irish bishops’ synod taking place in 2025.

“We are hoping that this is the beginning; that we are ‘putting our toe in the water’ here,” says Fr Hurley.

“We are hoping that it will generate interest and we’d be able to harvest the momentum from this experiences this year, and bring that forward then to ask the more specific question about what is God asking of the church in Ireland at this time.”