My prediction for the Synod.

Ok, everybody's hot button issue is, can a couple living in technical adultery (due to lack of an annulment for a first marriage) take communion?

Here is my analysis of what I think the synod CAN accomplish:

Canon Law is made up of dogma, doctrine, and discipline. Not taking communion when in a state of mortal sin, is dogma, and is not specific to marriage. Annulments in general are a Doctrine- they are a natural development of Christ's teaching that a man who marries again after divorce, is committing adultery. Proving that the original marriage wasn't a marriage is a way out of that, and that is why the doctrine developed, it isn't likely to change. The ONLY way for a Catholic in a second marriage to stop mortal sin is to get an annulment. But that leads us to discipline, which is how the Church uses doctrine to teach moral truth. The current discipline surrounding annulments is broken. They're expensive, they take a long time, they're horrendous to go through, and maybe worst of all, there is a sense that they're just rubber stamping the secular divorce for the rich. The process can and should be made better.

Synods in general can't change dogma or doctrine, but they can change discipline. For the sake of the wounded modern family, the Synod should change this.

And then it should go on to discuss all the other stuff in the working document.