Anthony FISHER, O.P.  Unity in Christ:  Bishops, Synodality, and Communion.  Washington, D.C.:  The Catholic University of America Press, 2023.  pp. 170.  $24.95 pb.  ISBN 978-0-8132-3731-2.  Reviewed by Stephen S. WILBRICHT, Stonehill College, Easton, MA  02357.

            The “Synod on Synodality,” begun by Pope Francis in 2021, is scheduled to conclude in late October 2024.  While many observers around the world have expressed disappointment in the lack of tangible change resulting from the synodal process, the greatest transformation may just be taking shape and indeed will need time to develop.  This change is precisely learning how to embrace what synodality demands and what it means to truly “walk together” and “listen” deeply to all voices in the Church.  Such attitudes are at the heart of synodality, and Francis believes that they are at the foundation of our unity in Christ Jesus.

            Anthony Fisher is a friar of the Order of Preachers, who for the last decade has led the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia, as its bishop.  He writes Unity in Christ as a means of caring for fellow bishops, calling them to seek the way of fraternity and friendship in the Lord.  While this text is directed to bishops, Fisher’s reflections are relevant to all members of the Church who share the responsibility of participating in and contributing to the synodal way.

            The book’s six chapters began as talks presented as part of the Special Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in June 2022.  In book form, Fisher organizes his reflections on episcopal unity according to two parts, each with three chapters.  In the part one, he examines the sources of synodality, from the unity that flowed from the teaching of Christ and was lived out among the Apostles (chapter one) through the patristic and medieval eras (chapter two) finally arriving at the recovery of collegiality and communio at the Second Vatican Council (chapter three).  In part two of the book, Fisher ruminates on his own experience of episcopal ministry in relationship to other bishops in terms of how this influences spirituality (chapter 4), friendship (chapter 5), and preaching (chapter 6).  The book ends with Fisher’s thoughts on the condition of episcopal unity in the United States in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

            As a college, Catholic bishops, particularly those of the United States, are often criticized for manifesting internal divisions and for their inability to work together to heal the wider community.  Although these same men may have heard Fisher’s words two years ago, bishops would do well to reflect on them again today.  As the author writes:  “Only with Christ in the center of our lives and thinking, only by praying together, listening together to God’s word, and helping each other will bishops and curial officials be more than strangers working for the same company or rivals for influence and personal advancement” (47).

However, such growth in humility is not just for bishops alone; it is an attitude for all Christians who believe that the Lord’s enduring presence among us calls for the befriending of one’s enemies and for the willingness to listen attentively to the voices of those different from ourselves.  Reading and reflecting on the topic of ecclesial collegiality will surely help Christians to better understand the trials and struggles of their shepherds, but it will also help them to envision ways in which to both support and challenge those tasked with guarding the Church.  We must all learn to live synodally.  Fisher writes:  “As a verb ‘synoding’ captures certain ways of being and acting as a church:  stopping, listening ‘with the ear of the heart,’ encountering, discussing, discerning, praying together; in the process, coming closer to each other, encountering Christ, evolving and handing on the tradition, and serving the People of God” (49).  Unity in Christ is a beautiful work written by a bishop who both loves the Church and believes that episcopal living has a particularly important role in embodying the way of journeying together.