It is at risk of falsely concluding that the unanimous sense of the faithful is in conflict with Church teaching especially in the areas of sexuality and ordination of women.
One of the main priests involved wrote this article as a preparatory document and published it in the Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2022/06/13/rite-and-reason-catholic-church-struggling-to-have-a-conversation-with-itself/
To stop the Irish Synod concluding that all the faithful support these changes this letter will be sent from young Catholics to the steering committee and the bishops. To add your name to this letter please sign at this link:
https://forms.gle/6hQ42zfQ1B6M1gzk6
Thanks for the heads up, Catherine. I signed but remain uncertain it counts because I'm in the U.S. But I voice my opinion because it is ultimately what I've learned through my intact Catholic faith.
I agree with Fr. O'Hanlon's astute assessment of the tensions caused by the synod itself, that it is a response to the God's people suffering from cynicism, skepticism and apathy, and a rather lame one at that. Church members have been sexually abused for years; they've been locked out of their own parishes and refused sacraments due to Covid; and now they are being lied to with false hopes of change in a questionable process of sharing called a synod that has no power to substantially alter the issues brought forward for discussion. It is the nature of Catholic faith that reversing essential teachings destroys it. What seems evident is that the synod is offered by beleaguered Church leaders who have failed to lead as a way of passing responsibility for their confusion and disarray onto the laity.
The world is seeing a similar diminution of the faithful in Germany: two million Catholics have left the Church over the past ten years, and the synod there is only making things worse. If anything needs changing, it is the synodal process itself.