As the Amazon Synod continues in Rome, you get the impression it’s different than previous synods. More grassroots reports, more listening, more searching to understand the church in the context of the”the Signs of the Times.”

The Amazon region, the size of the United States, faces environmental challenges. It’s an area that’s crucial to our planet, but it’s also home to indigenous people who have rights to a way of life and the gift of the gospel. They need to be heard.

Some are claiming a change in church discipline, clerical celibacy especially, is the point of the synod, but It’s goal is much bigger than that. Just read the preliminary working paper and see the scope of the synod.

It seems Pope Francis is offering a way of pastoral planning that is good everywhere in the church. We could use it here in the USA.