Colm Holmes of We Are Church in Ireland has alerted us to his exhaustive survey of the attention being paid to the ongoing Synodal process by the websites of the 26 Irish dioceses.

Opinions may vary on what conclusions can be drawn from this data, but a diocesan website, properly maintained, can go a long way towards resolving the communication and transparency deficit that plagues the Irish church.  Conversely, the six dioceses listed at the base of this table have websites that suggest that communication and synodality both have a low priority there – so far at least.

On the other hand, good synodality scores for websites fall a long way short of conclusive proof that synodality is thriving in the dioceses concerned. As a ‘shop window’ websites can be ‘glammed up’ easily enough, as proof-of-effort.

Nevertheless, full marks to Colm Holmes for this initiative.  There is no excuse for a blanking of the most important ongoing process in the church, and so far that seems to be what is happening in almost a quarter of Ireland’s dioceses.