There are great expectations for the forthcoming Synod on the Family – and how it addresses the rift between what is considered the teaching of the Church and the convictions and pastoral practice of many of the faithful. The synod must consider not merely the pastoral implications of the church teaching but the very reasons substantiating the teaching itself.Last week in the Diocese of Antwerp (Belgium), where I live, Bishop Johan Bonny published a letter entitled “Synod on the Family – Expectations of a Diocesan Bishop”. His essay is a kind of instrumentum laboris to offer his personal contribution to the deliberations during the synod. What immediately caught my eye – and the eyes of many more – is that Bishop Bonny wants to maintain a close link bet