Synodality - the next steps
Below are the directions, developed and approved by the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod, on the steps to be taken in the months between now and the Second Session of the Synodal Assembly (October 2024), enabling us to continue the journey initiated by the Holy Father on 9 October 2021: For a Synodal Church. Communion, participation, mission.
The local Churches and the groupings of Churches are invited to contribute by deepening aspects of the
First Session of the Synodal Assembly Synthesis Report that are fundamental to the Synod's theme.
These contributions are guided by the question:
“HOW can we be a synodal Church in mission?”
Starting from this guiding question, and using the Table of Contents from the Synodal Assembly Synthesis Report for structure, each local Church is invited to carry out a further consultation, determining for themselves what is possible in the time available and the best approach to take.
The aim is to keep alive that dynamism of listening and dialogue with everyone, especially with those who remain more on the margins of the life of the Church, which the first phase of the synodal process launched and which has produced significant fruits.
More information and direction can be found in ‘Towards October 2024’.
Please submit parish, group and individual contributions (maximum two pages) for inclusion in the Galloway Diocese synthesis by:
email:
celia.dearing@gallowaydiocese.org.uk or
by mail:
FAO Mrs C Dearing,
St Andrew’s and St Cuthbert’s RC Church,
High Street,
Kirkcudbright, DG6 4JW,
by Friday15th March.
In addition, each local Church that wishes to do so may send a brief testimony of the work carried out and the experiences lived (maximum two pages), sharing any good practice that it considers significant for the growth of a missionary synodal dynamism to
Rev Dr Gerard H Maguiness,
Secretary General,
Bishops’ Conference of Scotland,
gerard.maguiness@bcos.org.uk
Episcopal Conferences will be
responsible for sending these to the General Secretariat by 15 May 2024.
SYNOD PRAYER:
We stand before You, Holy Spirit,
as we gather together in Your name.
With You alone to guide us,
make Yourself at home in our hearts;
Teach us the way we must go
and how we are to pursue it.
We are weak and sinful;
do not let us promote disorder.
Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path
nor partiality influence our actions.
Let us find in You our unity
so that we may journey together to eternal life
and not stray from the way of truth and what is right.
All this we ask of You,
who are at work in every place and time,
in the communion of the Father and the Son,
forever and ever.
Amen.
