Irish Jesuit theologian Fr Gerry O’Hanlon and former member of the Synod’s organising team said he left the Kilkenny Synodal Assembly on October 18th “strangely flat and disappointed,” noting that “the fire and elation of Athlone in 2022 were conspicuous by their absence.” He asks: “What had gone on? It is as if we were in a fog and had lost our way. We had talked a lot, been engaged in ‘holy huddles’ with good people, but the outcome seemed a bit woolly and diffuse, there seemed to be a lack of focus and sharpness.”
While praising the event’s careful preparation, he urges narrowing the Irish National Synod of 2026 to two priorities—co-responsibility and women—warning “Kilkenny has shown us that we can take nothing for granted” and calling the Church to “fan the flames again” and “launch out ‘into the deep’ again.”
