John Allen does some reporting on the Synod. Nothing much new, but he brings it all together:

The synod took a break from the daily round of six-minute speeches on Wednesday morning in order to meet for the first time in the 12 small groups that will eventually help produce the propositions to be presented to the pope. According to participants, discussions in these groups ranged widely across all the topics that have been mentioned so far, from the priest shortage and celibacy to the placement of the tabernacle in churches.

At least one of the Spanish groups, according to synod sources, took up the discussion about divorced and remarried Catholics launched by Dew. Though no consensus was reached, one source said that several participants expressed a preference for a “pastoral” rather than “legalistic” response.

Other themes that seem to be emerging in synod discussions, according to sources, include:

• The need for effective catechesis
• Norms regulating celebration of the Eucharist
• The link between the Eucharist and social justice
• The link between the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist
• The “right” to the Eucharist enjoyed by the faithful