Pope Francis officially launched the Synod on Synodality in October 2020. The two-year process will conclude with the meeting of bishops in Rome in October 2023. At roughly the halfway mark of the process, Heidi Schlumpf will summarize how the diocesan and episcopal conference phases are playing out in the U.S. and elsewhere. She will offer perspective: How are U.S. Catholics responding to the pope's call for a church that "walks together"? Is true listening and dialogue possible in a hierarchal church and our polarized country? What effects might the synodal process have on the church of the future?

Heidi Schlumpf is executive editor and vice president of the National Catholic Reporter. She has three decades of experience covering religion, spirituality, social justice and women's issues. A Notre Dame graduate with a master's of theological studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University, she is the author/ editor of three books, on Elizabeth Johnson, prayer, and adoption. Schlumpf lives in Chicago with her husband, Edmund, and their two children, and where she is a member of St. Gertrude Parish.