The Second Vatican Council envisaged the Church as a pilgrim people, journeying through time under the guidance of the Holy Spirit towards the fulfilment of God’s kingdom. At the heart of this vision is the dignity and equality of the baptismal vocation that precedes any differentiation of ministry. In the intervening decades, one question has remained unsatisfactorily addressed: How do we make this vision a reality in the life of the Church? The answer is ‘synodality’. It’s a word and a concept that can be divisive. Some fear it means distorting the nature of the Church. Some worry that it will further burden parish priests. Some are anxious that it is a buzz-word and feel a ‘synodality fatigue’. And where does Pope Leo XIV stand on it?

Fr Eamonn Conway DD, appointed by Pope Francis as an expert at the Synod on Synodality (2021–2024), speaks to the fears and anxieties and the joys and hopes of those living through this change in the Church. In Changing to Be Faithful, he roots synodality in the theology of Vatican II and demonstrates how the Synod was an experience of synodality in practice, one that both witnessed to and modelled for all Catholics a way of holding together fidelity to the faith and responsiveness to the signs of the times. Drawing on the Synod’s Final Document, the ongoing work of the Synod’s study groups, and the leadership of Pope Leo XIV, Fr Conway explores decision-making, co-responsibility, and formation in a synodal style with a pragmatic focus on implications for the local Church. He turns the discussion around synodality on its head: We change so that we remain faithful. Synodality is what will hold us together, not drive us apart.