Conversations by the Well

Reads the Fourth Gospel's account of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well as a paradigm for the Synod on Synodality's call to ecclesial healing. Drawing on Pope Francis's image of the Church admitting her own wounds and "unbelonging," the article argues that authentic synodality requires mutual, honest engagement: parties must risk truth-telling despite social distance, accept the pain that self-disclosure brings, and recognize that "meeting the other where they are" is reciprocal rather than one-directional. The Samaritan woman's movement from mockery to testimony becomes a model for how the Church and her members might walk together toward a renewed sense of belonging.