Critics often used to say jokingly that the duty of the laity in the Church is to "Pay, Pray & Obey". Implying that they have no particular role in the governance or decision-making process of the church. In a sense, that's true. But in another sense, especially in the Parish level, parish committees have always a very important role in the decision-making processes in the Church. (The current reality of democracy is that in many democratic countries, in parliamentary discussions the ruling party is not even ready to listen to what the opposition have got to say.)

The Christian form of authority is a communitarian listening and discernment of the will of God, through listening and understanding the community. Unfortunately, this is not often the case. Even a hundred years ago, in 1925, many members of the Church rejected the social form of the lay-life of paying, praying and obeying. The laity have already realized that neither the bishops, priests, nor the religious are more knowledgeable, wise, or holy than they are. As time goes by, the idea that no one else is above anyone is becoming more prevalent in the world. We can see that such a vision is becoming more entrenched in the young generation growing up today. Therefore, by replacing the distortions of centralization of power and authoritarianism that have come to the Church in the meantime, more evangelical forms of listening, opinion seeking, and servant leadership and communitarian discernment of the will of God must take root in the Church.

Therefore, the thoughts and discussions on synodality initiated by the Holy Spirit must go on.