Bishop Rob Mutsaerts wrote Pope Leo XIV an open letter with one question: is the Synod on Synodality actually saving souls?

Two clips out of Ireland and Spain this week show exactly why he's asking — and the letter is where the answer starts.

Joe walks through the auxiliary bishop of Hertogenbosch's open letter to the Holy Father, published in the Catholic Herald on August 14, 2026.

Mutsaerts writes in reverence for the Petrine office, not against it — his concern is the one Christ gave us the measure for: "By their fruits you shall know them." After years of consultations, reports and documents, are the churches fuller? Are there more vocations? Is confession being used? Has anyone been converted?

Then two clips from the last 48 hours. In Ireland, a laywoman delivering what was called a "homily" at Mass, after the Gospel. In Cantabria, Spain, a priest telling the faithful that the Assumption of Our Lady is not to be "taken literally" — that heaven is "a state of the soul," not a place. Both come days after the Feast of the Assumption. Both are what rebellion looks like when catechesis collapses.

So what do we do about it? Joe goes back to the design of the Church — a thing received, not a thing voted on — and back to basics: salvation. Salus animarum suprema lex. Mutsaerts' answer is not a new structure. It's the one the Church has always used.

The great Catholic reforms almost never began with committees; they began with saints. Benedict, Francis, Dominic, Catherine of Siena, Ignatius, Teresa of Ávila, John Bosco, Thérèse. Their program was simple: become holy. A parish with a holy pastor has a greater future than a diocese with twenty working groups. Not less listening — more holiness. Not less participation — more conversion. Not less dialogue — more proclamation. And that's the standing order for the rest of us. When bishops go quiet and priests go off the rails, the answer for the man in the pew is not despair and it is not leaving. It's the sacraments, the confessional, the rosary, a family that prays, and a faith you can actually explain to your grandchildren. Remain faithful. That's how the Church has survived every one of these before.

SCRIPTURE & SOURCES:

Luke 22:32 (DR) — "And thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren."

Matthew 7:16 (DR) — "By their fruits you shall know them."

Mark 1:15 (DR) — "Do penance, and believe the gospel."

Matthew 28:19 (DR) — "Going therefore, teach ye all nations."

Mark 16:15 (DR) — "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

John 6:69 (DR) — "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."

Luke 24:13–35 (DR) — The road to Emmaus.

Luke 10:2 (DR) — "The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few."

Bishop Rob Mutsaerts, "Open Letter to Leo XIV on synodality" — Catholic Herald, August 14, 2026

Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus (November 1, 1950) — the Assumption defined ex cathedra

Code of Canon Law, c. 1752 — salus animarum suprema lex esto

Code of Canon Law, c. 767 §1 — the homily is reserved to a priest or deacon

Redemptionis Sacramentum, 64–66 (2004)
Synod on Synodality implementation phase — Vatican roadmap published May 2026, ecclesial assembly Rome, October 2028

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