At some point or another, any discussion about lay involvement in the Church ends up invoking John Henry Newman’s essay “On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine”.

At some point or another, any discussion about lay involvement in the Church ends up invoking John Henry Newman’s essay “On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine”. And so it turns out with the preparations for the synods in the local churches that the Pope has established, which will feed into a general synod of bishops in a couple of years’ time. The timing of the Pope’s inauguration of the process on 9 October, his feastday, implicitly invoked Newman, who placed great emphasis of the role of the laity in doctrinal matters. But I’m not sure that Newman can be considered the patron saint of the whole thing.

Certainly, he was quite clear that the laity were a crucial part of the workings of the Church. As he wrote: “‘In the preparation of a dogmatic definition, the faithful are consulted.’ Doubtless their advice, their opinion, their judgment on the question of definition is not asked; but the matter of fact, viz. their belief, is sought for, as a testimony to that apostolical tradition, on which alone any doctrine whatsoever can be defined.”

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