So yesterday I pointed out that it is actually an authentically good thing that we have just concluded the Synod on Synodality (its first Roman phase at least). I think it is actually good, in itself. No snark. A lot of very hard work done because it was asked of people by the bishop, and by the Pope. God likes that. Obedience.

Now let’s comb through things a little bit. Problems, I mean…

The biggest problem is with the idea itself of the Synod of Bishops, which is a project created by Paul VI – not exactly an ancient institution. There have been Roman synods before, centuries and centuries ago, but nothing like what is going on today where bishops from random countries arrive to discuss complicated matters for a few days, produce a document which may or may not have already been written ahead of time, and then the Holy Father puts out his own text based on the other one.

I think the idea is pretty fundamentally flawed. If the Holy Father wants concrete advice about the affairs of the global Church, that is what consistories of cardinals are for. It’s literally the entire point of the College of Cardinals. The College is smaller, stabler, and the status of the cardinalate often makes one privy to goings on that other bishops may not be aware of. It’s just a leaner and meaner machine. With the Synod, it seems hit or miss.

And then there is the fact that consultation about broader topics, like “youth,” as we saw a few years ago, is itself almost entirely pointless. As if “youth” faced the same issues in suburban New England as they do in the African bush.

So we now have the familiar style of Roman commentaries – “Some people face x. Other people long for y. It was observed that others have experience with z.” Ok. What good is that? This is why the norm has been local synods in past centuries. Focus on x, or y, or z – not all of them. It leads to incoherence and uselessness. I would wager that you could count on one hand the number of parish youth ministers who are willingly and organically still consulting the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on youth from 2018. If a document that took so long to produce – not to mention so much money – can become almost totally obsolete within FIVE YEARS, it raises the obvious question: “Is it worth it?”

Then there’s the branding. At this point, it is increasingly hard for me to conclude that whoever is responsible for graphic design and “marketing” at the Holy See is not consciously trying to repel masculine men – especially young ones – from having any interest in what’s going on. (This is to make no mention of the long delay in ceasing to use a certain disgraced former Jesuit’s artwork in promotional materials.) The “Crayon Synod” has really earned its name.

But enough with the higher-level critique. Tomorrow some observations on the content of the final document (penultimate document?)… I have some thoughts…

I know that once in a while guys at the Holy See reads these pages. Fathers – make the effort to get out of the Vatican Bubble. It has VERY thick walls.