The Church has begun the greatest consultation process in its 2,000-year history. It is neither a managerial exercise nor an in-house conversation under the control of its leadership

The statistics concerning mental health, domestic violence, economic suffering and the plethora of medical concerns; the witness from practices of care among the most vulnerable; the often uneasy recognition of certain blessings for those of us who are better off, in terms of a changed relation to time, location and stillness – in all this, there are the signs that the Covid-19 pandemic has left us exhausted, grieving, bewildered and fragmented. We need to rest, heal and wonder about what can be learned for the future. And it is at precisely this moment that the call comes: get involved in an ecclesial process about a “synodal Church”. There are documents to read, there will be meetings to attend, there will, we suspect, be painful disagreements to be attended to …

This is the understandable way in which the call to participate in the “synodal process” is being met by some laity, priests and bishops. We are weary. Our patience has been tried by other consultation-type processes in the Church – most recently around the synods on marriage and family. There have been – to be frank – many failures to honour properly the heartfelt sharing of experiences through an open, common process of attentive reflection. I am reminded, in my darker moments, of that David Hayward cartoon in which three women are addressed by a larger group of men: “So ladies, thanks for being the first to witness and report the Resurrection and we’ll take it from here.” Many “ordinary” laypeople (often pretty extraordinary, in fact) fear this is precisely how our witness and sharing of what is in our hearts will be treated. Why would we risk further hurt and alienation, for ourselves and our often already disaffected family members, friends and colleagues?