Synod on Synodality

melodygee
Oct 11, 2023
2 min read

Monday is the day to start the week, right?

However, Monday, October 9, 2023, is very different because it is the start of the Synod on Synodality where some 464 Catholic bishops, religious and lay representatives are gathered in Rome for the first session of the Synod on Synodality (it has been extended to two parts, set to conclude in October 2024).

85 members are women, and 40 of them are voting delegates. A FIRST! ANOTHER FIRST. This is the FIRST TIME in the history of the church where the people of God worldwide were asked what they thought was needed to be the Church in the third millennium based on the signs of the times. In the past few years, there have been Synods, one on Youth, the Family, and the Amazon.

WHAT IS SYNODALITY?

Seeking the Holy Spirit to open horizons of hope for the fulfillment of the Church’s mission.

In brief, Synodality is a way of being community which has been part of the Church since the very beginning ( Acts 15), the Council of Jerusalem, the first time the Church faced an intractable problem. We follow the disciples from disagreement to silence and storytelling, and then to discerning the Holy Spirit. Once the Spirit is discerned, the Church is compelled to action. There is much that we can learn from this example for the Church today. There are new skills to learn, unhealthy habits to break, dispositions to cultivate, and stepping away from our own agendas. The purpose of the synodal process “is not to produce documents, but to open horizons of hope for the fulfillment of the Church’s mission” (DCS, 6.)

LEARN

The Instrumentum Laboris was drafted on the basis of all the material gathered during the listening phase, and in particular the final documents of the Continental Assemblies and will be used for reflection and discussion in the immediate preparation for the synodal assembly and to assist the synod fathers in their interventions and exchange in the synod hall.