Originally published at National Catholic Register
Is there more than meets the eye in the framing of discussions about ecclesiastical governance and the relationship between the local Churches and the universal Church — the main topic of conversation at the Synod on Synodality for the past week?
One gets the impression that many synod participants view the subject as a kind of Trojan horse, a theme that may seem innocuous on the surface but one that can be deployed to sneak sidelined issues such as married priests and women deacons back on the main agenda.
The mere possibility that this is what’s really going on has put those who want to hold the line on the Church’s governance structure and moral teaching on high alert.
The theme in question relates to Part 3 of the synod assembly’s Instrumentum laboris, or working document, which “invites” the people of God “to overcome a static vision of places that orders them by successive levels or degrees according to a pyramidal model (i.e. parish, deanery, diocese, or eparchy; ecclesiastical province; episcopal conference or Eastern hierarchical structure; and universal Church).”
“This has never been our vision,” the document goes on to say. “The network of relationships and the exchange of gifts
