On Monday 29 September 2025, Jens Van Rompaey (alumnus of the 2024 UCSIA Summer School) successfully defended his FWO-funded research project on synodality in the Catholic Church, thereby obtaining his PhD in Theology at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven. His doctoral research was supervised by Prof. Dr. Judith Gruber and Prof. Dr. Guido Vanheeswijck, both of whom have longstanding connections to UCSIA.
Jens’ dissertation explored how synodality – the idea that the Church, as a community of believers journeying together, discerns its path collectively – might help address the many challenges facing the Catholic Church today. Recent theological scholarship identifies a broad range of issues that some hope could be resolved through a more synodal approach. But is it really that straightforward? Is synodality truly the miracle solution some claim it to be? As Jens ultimately argued, reflecting on synodality reshapes our understanding of what the Church is, often adding layers of complexity rather than offering simple answers.
To navigate the wide range of questions surrounding synodality, Jens turned to the image of Penelope—a metaphor from Greek mythology also employed in the cultural philosophy of Guido Vanheeswijck. This image illustrates how deeply interconnected the Church’s many themes and challenges are. Meaningful change, Jens argued, requires patience and careful attention, much like reweaving a fabric thread by thread. Rather than attempting to cut the Gordian knot with a quick or simplistic solution, he follows Penelope’s approach: a slow, deliberate, and attentive process. This perspective led him to trace specific theological developments within the Church in order to understand them more fully and to subject them to critical reflection.
In addition to completing his doctorate, Jens recently co-authored an article in Political Theology titled Illuminating Histories: Cracking Open the Boundaries of the Church. The article grew directly out of a panel held several years ago at the European Academy of Religion and demonstrates how meaningful insights can emerge through scholarly collaboration. Co-written with Whitney Harper, Karen Papellero, and Taylor J. Ott – all of whom have worked at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at KU Leuven – the publication reflects a shared intellectual journey, even as the authors have since followed different academic paths.
In this contribution, the authors explore what it means for their respective fields that the Catholic Church can no longer be understood as the stable entity it was once presumed to be. Engaging themes such as synodality, gender, trauma, post-colonial suffering, and cultural memory, they examine how marginalized voices challenge and reshape Roman Catholic ecclesiology. Together, the four contributions argue that contemporary realities expose the limits of traditional notions of who is considered “inside” or “outside” the Church. Read the article here.
Jens Van Rompaey is currently a postdoctoral researcher at UCLouvain, where he collaborates with Prof. Dr. Arnaud Join-Lambert on a EcclessiaLab project examining the contemporary impact and implications of synodality within ecclesial communities.
The UCSIA Summer School warmly congratulates Jens Van Rompaey on the successful defense of his doctorate and on these important scholarly contributions.