But that's not all. Even then you must stand inside a designated box, inside a small wooden fence. Curiously, synod participants year after year call for greater cooperation with the media. They want to use the media to enhance the church's evangelizing task - but it does not quite happen. Yesterday, Roger Francis Crispian Hollis, Bishop of Portsmouth, England, was the latest synod father to speak of the need for more openness to the media.
Synods are odd gatherings.
They are meant to help the Holy Father govern the church by giving him advice on significant matters, but their structures do not enhance the process of advice-given. There is little give and take. For most of the synod, participants one after another read prepared texts. There is no theme of the day. Discussions do not develop naturally.