Last week, Christopher M. Bellitto argued for a middle way between tradition and progress ahead of the next Synod on the Family in October. But this is neither possible nor desirable, says a distinguished Irish theologian At the Extraordinary Synod on the Family last October, it quickly became evident that there are two completely opposed mindsets in the Church, which confronted each other at the synod just as they had done at the Second Vatican Council 50 years earlier. Pope Francis encouraged the participants at the synod, and indeed the entire people of God, to speak without fear of any punitive consequences. This was an implicit recognition that fear of being accused of infidelity, or even heresy, sometimes prevents Catholics from expressing their opinions freely and openly. Why? Lar