Epilogue: Listening and the Moral Life

The Synod on Synodality placed the concept of “listening” at its core. Throughout the four-year process of the synod, people have agonized over who was listening to whom, on what terms, and to what end. The aim of this epilogue is to reflect on the moral implications of listening. I argue that we have the capacity to engage in listening at various levels of depth—that is, the degree to which the listener is decentered from him or herself, entering into a relationship with the other, and ultimately with Christ. I describe three gradually deepening levels of listening: intentional listening, which constitutes a simple act of acknowledging and curiously learning about the other; recognitive listening, wherein understanding of the other occurs; and caritative listening, a practice of free self-giving in a kenotic move which transforms listening into an authentically Christian practice.