Disappointed

As both the BBC and conservative Damian Thompson note, the hopes we liberals (well, me at least) had for the synod have been disappointed ... Catholic synod: Pope Francis suffers setback on gays (BBC) ... The Vatican cancels its earthquake. This is not Pope Francis’s finest hour (Thompson).

What had seemed so positive and hopeful to some in the earlier relatio has deteriorated to business as usual in the final document ...

Three sections on controversial issues did not receive the necessary two-thirds majority to pass: two paragraphs on Communion for the divorced and remarried and one on gay people. None was particularly revolutionary. The sections on divorced and remarried Catholics simply reported that some synod fathers favored finding a way to readmit such Catholics to Communion, and others wanted to maintain current practice. Likewise, the paragraph about gay people was rather tame. It referred to a 2003 document from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which hold that there are "absolutely not grounds" for calling same-sex unions "similar or even remotely analagous" to traditional marriage, and reemphasized the obvious truth that gay people should be treated with respect. - Synod day 14 presser the second: that's a wrap.

Some believe things might go better with the synod in 2015, but I have my doubts. As long as those in control of the church continue to profess that church teaching cannot change, the institution will become more and more irrelevant.