Lay Catholics devoted to realizing synodality at the parish, diocesan and national levels are urging the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) to provide more visible leadership on this ecclesiastical mandate.

Kevin Dallaire, a parishioner at St. Mary Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows Parish in Kitchener, Ont., emphasized that real progress depends on bishops addressing a “huge communication issue.” He believes the Synod on Synodality’s 67-page final document must be turned into a straightforward, actionable resource.

“That language, though simple to the bishop class who consume this stuff like the morning news, is totally inaccessible to most of us,” suggested Dallaire, who worked in the automotive manufacturing supply chain for 38 years. “Few of us are going to wade through any of the Church's teachings — synodal or otherwise — like wannabe PhD theology students.

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“Make the message simple. Punchy, inviting, quick hooks that lure us in and tell us to come to the breakfast table. It's time to eat. And talk or communicate in words and ideas understandable to a sixth grader.”

Christine Skinner, vice chair of Concerned Lay Catholics (CLC), argued that the call for better communication assumes there is already meaningful engagement, which she questions.

“I don't think the message is being communicated at all,” said Skinner, a pastoral minister at St. John Chrysostom in Newmarket, Ont. “If you go onto the CCCB website, which is our foundational communication with our bishops, it's really hard to see much about synodality.”

Franca Gallucci from All Saints Parish in Toronto is “captured by the light of hope cast by the synodal process’s potential” and would like to see the bishops exhibit similar hope-filled enthusiasm by marching forward with purpose.

“I would like them to embrace the possibility and to approach this almost like Pope Francis did,” said Gallucci. “He went ahead with it despite the controversies, despite people thinking ‘oh my God, this guy is going to try to water down our Church and take opinions from all over the world,' whereas he's the number one, he should be number one. He realized he needed to hear the opinions of the rest of the world.”

Tom Penney observed the leadership Pope Francis enacted during the 2023 and 2024 Synod of Bishops general assemblies and how it contrasted with previous gatherings where it seemed that participants “just rubber-stamped what the Pope had probably previously written before you even got there.” The longtime member of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Parish in Sydney, N.S., suggested that diocesan shepherds develop a resource to help churches during the 18-month implementation phase, which commenced in June 2025.  

“I hope that the CCCB or somebody will publish some sort of format that parishes could activate,” said Penney. “Because I think many priests, bishops and laity really have not had the experience of synodality at all.”

As for Ella Allen, who attends Holy Family Parish in Fredericton, N.B., her query for the Canadian Catholic Church leadership is philosophical in nature.

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“It seems like a lot of the interest in local parishes, dioceses and the country itself is ‘what are we going to do to maintain the institution?’ Some sort of self-preservation? So, the dilemma for me gets to be how does synodality emerge from a clerical Church, a patriarchal Church, a hierarchical Church?”

The Catholic Register presented the concerns of these synodally passionate lay Catholics to Valleyfield Bishop Alain Faubert, chair of the CCCB’s Ad hoc Committee on the Implementation of the Synod on Synodality. The 60-year-old recognizes why questions and concerns are mounting, admitting, “we haven’t been sharp with forming that committee.”

“It’s a bit late,” said Faubert. “When the Synod ends in October 2024, and we spend almost a year is something to be worried about, and I totally understand people from all over the country who might (ask), ‘okay, what is going on?' ”

Faubert emphasized that the committee “is not in charge of doing the implementation but providing support.” He also highlighted that discerning the bishops, priests and lay Catholic members of this group, who have met several times since last November, was “done in a synodal way.”

Regarding the communications issues raised, Faubert said the committee “is networking, listening, and we have in our work plan (a mission) to find ways of not only explaining, but deepening our understanding of synodality.”

Useful information has already been collected through this process, said Faubert. One notable finding, he said, is that some view that the word synodality “is loaded and has been demonized.” He said the work to be done is “not about justifying synodality,” it's “making it clear it is already here and part of our Church experience.”

A delegate at the Synod of Bishops in 2024 and at the Jubilee of Synod teams last October, Faubert suggested that “a main challenge is networking and visibility” and is difficult to tackle, given that he and his fellow committee members already have big demands on their time.

“As a bishop, I have a day job, so I'm not full-time doing this,” said Faubert. “I've not been taken from my diocese to run an office, for instance, and we don't have an actual office at the CCCB level. That might be a question: why don't we have one?”

The Register asked Faubert if he intends to make the case for a dedicated synodal office to his brother bishops.

“There are several cases on the press,” said Faubert. “One of these aspects you have to have, and in this context, that might sound bizarre, but we have to have boots on the ground. We need people who can devote the core energy of their time and days. We’re kind of missing that here in Canada.

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“They do have an office, for instance, in the United States, but the resources are there. It's a question of resources here. And of course, you might say, ‘well, why don't you devote resources there?’ We do have a budget, but it's a very limited one, and we're still wondering our way forward.”

As the CCCB’s committee on Synod implementation cultivates a network of synodal leaders across Canada, the goal is to empower these contributors to help create tools of communication, such as a dedicated website and a newsletter. He added that the CCCB’s Office for Evangelization and Catechesis is also at work developing resources.