Why is the USCCB still talking about synodality?

A post-mortem on the Meeting of Meetings

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops held its annual meeting this week. During one of the addresses, they discussed synodality—how the United States is continuing the legacy of Pope Francis and moving forward in the “synodal way.”

I haven’t heard the term “synodality” seriously invoked since halfway through the actual Synod on Synodality. Which ended this year. I think. I honestly forgot it happened.

That’s not a good sign for a multi-year global initiative.

And look, I was on board with the synod. I want you to know that up front. I worked at a parish at the time, so I hosted the listening sessions. We sent mail to every house in the area, which was very expensive. We did the whole thing.

I’m not trying to hop on the synodality hate-train. I think it was a good idea, and if the Church ever wants to do something like it again, I want it to work.

But the synod clearly failed. And understanding why it failed gives us three lessons about how to actually evangelize.

Failure #1: We Failed Our Allies

The communication about the Synod on Synodality was weak.

Listening has a purpose. You listen for something. In evangelization, you listen for problems people are facing so you can show them how Christ helps with those problems. But the synod became listening for its own sake.

What were we listening for? Nobody could quite say. A truly synodal Church would listen to the concrete person in front of you, understand their actual problems, and help solve them. But we never got that specific.

We were told listening was important. We were told how to have sessions where we listened. We were not quite sure what to listen for.

For many faithful Catholics, the graphics and meetings and buzzwords felt like a corporate initiative designed to waste time. If it wasn’t that, it wasn’t communicated clearly.

Failure #2: We Made Enemies Out of Friends

Because the communication was unclear, many faithful Catholics were apprehensive. They worried it was about changing doctrine. People joked about “Vatican III.” Many Protestants believed it actually was a third Vatican Council.

These Catholics weren’t enemies. They were allies with legitimate concerns. And instead of addressing those concerns, they were written off as “not getting with the program.”

And that contradicts the stated goal of the Synod!

The Synod invited questions about every major aspect of the Church, but not synodality itself.

The Church pushed away well-intentioned critics and lost support. As a Church, we need to stop cutting off our allies over minor differences. We’re all on the same team. Assume someone is a friend until they prove otherwise—and then love them anyway, because that’s what Christ told us to do.

Failure #3: We Asked People to Come to Us

But the first two failures pale in comparison to the third.

The Synod on Synodality was supposed to reach non-Catholics. We held “synodal listening sessions”—dedicated times where people could come to the church, and priests or bishops would ask questions and listen.

But think about that.

We’re saying, “We’ll listen to you, but on our terms. At our parish. At the chancery office.”

When we did these sessions, we sent mail to every house in our parish boundaries. Very few people showed up. Everyone who came was already from the church. Zero strangers.

Why would they come?

They don’t know why we want them at our church.

We weren’t meeting people where they were. We weren’t “walking with them.” We were asking them to walk to us.

What Actually Works

We spent four years in meetings talking about evangelization. We created listening sessions and mailed expensive flyers and held diocesan consultations. And the answer was always much simpler: talk to people at work. Ask them about their life. Invite them to church.

We overcomplicated it because we think evangelization is a bigger deal than it is. But most people aren’t hostile to the faith. They don’t think about it. And when someone friendly asks them about church, they’re open to it.

There’s a woman at our church who works at the Social Security office. When people are processing paperwork—especially people who just moved to town—she asks, “Have you found a church yet?”

A lot of them say, “Actually, no. But I am looking.”

She invites them to our parish. She’s brought in entire families this way.

It’s that simple.

You can’t control what happens at USCCB meetings. You can’t fix the Synod on Synodality retroactively. But you can control your own daily life and how you relate to non-Catholics.

1. Have a clear purpose

2. Don’t make enemies out of friends

3. Evangelize on their turf, not yours

You already know how to do this. You need to think of it as evangelization.

Here’s what that looks like:

• At work, when someone mentions they’re new to town: “Have you found a church yet?”

• At the gym, when conversation turns to weekend plans: “We’re going to Mass and then grabbing brunch, you should come sometime.”

• At your kid’s soccer game, when another parent mentions going through a hard time: “We have this great parish community. They really helped us when we were struggling.”

It doesn’t need to be complicated. Go where people are, instead of waiting for them to come to you.