Asked to participate in a little symposium on Giuseppe Ruggieri’s book Chiesa sinodale, I wrote this essay, which has just been published in Cristianesimo nella Storia. The introduction by Silvia Scatena is in Italian, but my piece is in English. What I mean by “performative ecclesiology” will be clear, I hope, from this little essay. Briefly it means that ecclesiology should never forget that the Church is not a “thing,” but is en-acted in and as the subjectivity and inter-subjectivity of its members. Comments, questions, disagreements are all welcome.