Complex sentence: At the synod, Radcliffe had made an appeal to O'Brien, saying that there was a crisis of authority going in the Church, but the answer could not be "more" emphasis on authority.
Split into simpler sentences: At the synod, Radcliffe had made an appeal to O'Brien. There is a crisis of authority going in the Church, Radcliffe stated, but the answer cannot be "more" emphasis on authority.