Church needs simpler, better ways to explain synodality, some bishops say
North American bishops, led by Archbishop Coakley, met at the Vatican to discuss simplifying synodality and improving formation for all Catholics. They highlighted the need for clearer explanations, better training and hands‑on experience to make synodality accessible beyond specialists. The meeting included continental leaders from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and North America and focused on progress in implementing the Synod’s final document worldwide. U.S. synod leaders hold monthly virtual meetings that strengthen diocesan relationships, provide consultation, feedback and set priorities. Some U.S. dioceses have adopted a conversational approach to encourage participation of laity, clergy and religious in discernment.
3 months ago
The recent meeting of continental synodal leaders highlighted the need for clearer, more accessible explanations of synodality, especially in North America, where bishops reported both promising practices and persistent obstacles such as complex terminology and resistance among the faithful. 1
Pope Leo XIV convened representatives from the six continental bodies—Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and North America—at the Vatican in late June 2026 to review progress on the Synod on Synodality’s final document released in October 2024. 1
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley (Oklahoma City) emphasized that synodality often appears “cumbersome and complicated” and warned that without simplification it could become the exclusive domain of specialists rather than a lived expression of faith for all Catholics. 1
The continental bodies will continue to support implementation through a four‑stage plan culminating in an ecclesial assembly with Pope Leo XIV in October 2028. The plan includes diocesan/eparchial evaluation assemblies (first half 2027), national/regional assemblies (second half 2027), continental reports (early 2028), and the final gathering. 1
Overall, bishops stress that simplifying language, expanding formation, and providing hands‑on experiences are essential to making synodality a lived reality that deepens communion, combats clericalism, and enhances evangelization worldwide. 1
Examine Catholic doctrine on synodality and lay participation
Catholic doctrine presents synodality not as a political method or a substitute for Church authority, but as a constitutive “way of living and acting” of the Church—rooted in communion, centered on the Eucharist, and ordered to mission. Within that synodal life, the lay faithful have essential participation by virtue of Baptism: they bring real ecclesial experience, charisms, and a genuine capacity for discernment, while the ordained hierarchy retains a distinct, Spirit-given role of leadership in hierarchical communion.
Synodality belongs to the Church’s very identity as communion. The International Theological Commission (ITC) describes synodality as the Church’s “specific modus vivendi et operandi,” revealed when “all her members journey together, gather in assembly and take an active part” in the Church’s evangelizing mission.
This communion is not vague togetherness. It is sacramentally grounded: the ITC links synodality to the Eucharistic synaxis as the Church’s “source and summit,” describing the Church as union with the Trinity and unity among persons made real by the Holy Spirit in Christ.
Pope Francis similarly frames synodality as a path God expects for the Church of the third millennium: “synodality ‘is an essential dimension of the Church’,” and the Church is asked to “leave behind ways of acting separately, on parallel tracks that never meet,” so that clergy and laity walk together as one people directed to mission.
A key Catholic point is that synodality expresses communion across different levels and subject-roles—without eliminating hierarchy.
The ITC teaches a reciprocal relationship between:
Moreover, synodality is said to be broader than collegiality because it includes “participation of all in the Church and that of all the Churches.” In the strict sense, collegiality refers to the communion expressed in the college of bishops “cum Petro et sub Petro,” and the ITC adds that synodality and collegiality “implies collegiality and vice versa,” supporting and authenticating each other.
The ITC also gives a helpful articulation of synodal communion in terms of “all, some and one”:
So, lay participation is not an “add-on” to a clerical decision process; it is part of how the Church’s communion operates on the plane of discernment and lived faith—while unity and leadership remain anchored in the hierarchical structure willed by Christ.
Synodality is participation and co-responsibility, but Catholic doctrine insists that this does not mean authority is simply delegated from “the people” to bishops—or that bishops lose their distinct spiritual function.
The ITC states: “A synodal Church is a Church of participation and co-responsibility.” It teaches that the Church gives expression to participation of all “according to each one’s calling,” grounded in the fact that all faithful are “qualified and called to serve each other through the gifts they have all received from the Holy Spirit.”
Critically, it clarifies the nature of pastoral authority:
“The authority of Pastors is a specific gift of the Spirit of Christ the Head… not a delegated and representative function of the people.”
This preserves a Catholic distinction between:
The ITC makes lay participation “essential,” noting that lay faithful are “the immense majority of the People of God” and that there is “much to be learnt” from their participation in the life and mission of ecclesial communities, including popular piety and competence in cultural and social life. Consulting them is “thus indispensable” to initiate processes of discernment in synodal structures.
It also identifies concrete obstacles that Catholic synodality must overcome—especially “lack of formation” and “recognised spaces” for the laity to express themselves and act, and a “clerical mindset” that keeps them “on the edges of ecclesial life.”
The Synod of Bishops’ Final Document of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly (2024) explicitly calls for:
It further mentions:
Synodality relies on a theology of the lay faithful as baptized members who genuinely act in the Church. Vatican II’s teaching (as quoted and applied in synodal texts) underlines that all the baptized share common dignity and mission and participate in Christ’s priestly, prophetic, and kingly functions. The 2021 synodal framing document states that all the Baptized, participants in those functions, are active subjects of evangelization.
This is consistent with the liturgical teaching that lay participation is not “mere presence” or passivity. In Redemptionis Sacramentum, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments teaches that lay participation “cannot be equated with mere presence, and still less with a passive one,” but is a true exercise of faith and of baptismal dignity.
John Paul II connects lay ecclesial success to holiness and union with Christ. He teaches that bishops “were not meant by Christ to shoulder alone the entire saving mission,” and that the laity have a distinctive role and contribution—but that contribution “depends on their living the mystery of the Church.” He adds that the Council sees the success of lay apostolate as depending “upon the laity’s living union with Christ.”
Thus, lay participation in synodality is not primarily a sociological balancing act; it is participation in Christ’s mission through Baptism.
Catholic doctrine also distinguishes lay “ministeriality” from ordained ministry. Pope Francis highlights two foundational roots of ministeriality in the Church:
He stresses that lay ministeriality is not reducible to instituted ministries; instead, Church tradition allows pastors to entrust “supplementary functions” to laypeople (temporarily, for pastoral needs), even without resorting to formal institution—within the horizon of the Church’s mission.
This matters for synodality because it supports the idea that lay co-responsibility can take real forms in ecclesial life, while remaining properly ordered to the sacramental and hierarchical nature of the Church.
Pope Francis insists that synodality is not a parliament and is not primarily a mechanism for exchanging opinions. In his opening remarks for the Synod on Synodality, he emphasizes that the Holy Spirit is the protagonist; if the Spirit is present, the synod is good, but if other interests dominate, it becomes “more of a parliamentary meeting.”
He also ties synodality to spiritual conversion. Without interior transformation, lasting results cannot be achieved, and synodality is meant to become a “shared ‘ecclesial style’” permeating hearts of pastors and faithful alike.
Finally, he proposes synodal virtues (and thus an “attitude” doctrine relevant to lay participation): thinking as God thinks, overcoming exclusiveness, and cultivating humility—directly opposing prideful “closed circles” that would treat the Church as a club rather than a communion.
Catholic doctrine on synodality teaches that the Church is concretely a communion that walks together—rooted in Eucharistic unity, expressed through a reciprocal relationship among the communion of the faithful, bishops, and Churches, and articulated through “all, some and one.” Lay participation is therefore not peripheral: it is indispensable for synodal discernment and mission, founded on Baptism, expressed through genuine co-responsibility and charisms, and shaped by formation and recognized spaces—while remaining compatible with the distinct Spirit-given authority of pastors who lead in hierarchical communion.