As I noted in a recent article here, the reform of the Catholic Church envisaged by Pope Francis is faced with the challenge of translating the rhetoric and theology of synodality into institutional shape and the practical nuts and bolts of parish and diocesan life. As Francis himself put it in an address marking the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops (2015), synodality ‘… is an easy concept to put into words, but not so easy to put into practice’.