Yesterday saw the beginning of the second week of the two week Synod on Family Life and evangelization. This is without doubt the most inclusive Synod of all time with tens of thousands of written submissions received and now presented in Rome. At the end of this week these first synodal reflections will conclude and participants will return to their homes around the globe, but the dialogues and discussions of these days will continue in preparation for the larger Synod on the same topic in October 2015. The formal process of the synod will conclude with the publication of a post-synodal exhortation sometime in 2016.

The video clip below is well worth the 15 minutes it will take you to watch. It gives a good summary of the tone and process of the synodal dialogue. You will hear that the responses to the world-wide survey provide the starting point. This synod has already accepted that the Church has struggled to communicate the beauty of divine life and too often the beauty of doctrine has been presented using language that is not heard as welcoming and life-giving.

Here is a taste of the tone and process of the synod: