Synod 2021-2023
Introduction
“The whole Church is convoked in Synod” – with these simple but dramatic words, Pope Francis has issued an historic invitation to us all to participate in the most extensive consultation the Catholic Church has ever seen. We are asked to reflect prayerfully on our experience of the Church, both the joyful and the painful, and to discern where the Holy Spirit has been at work in our lives. Out of this exercise of prayer and discernment, we are asked to share our hopes and dreams for the future of the Church.
The word synod means ‘walking or journeying together’. We are a pilgrim people, always on life’s journey towards our God, just like the People of God led by Moses through the desert to the Promised Land. And, just like the Israelites, we sometimes take wrong turns and get lost, or are fed up with our lot, or prefer other gods and other priorities. But God’s guiding Spirit is always faithful and patiently awaits our return to the right path. The Synod called by Pope Francis is a one of those opportunities to return to our vocation – the call of God’s Spirit to build the Kingdom of God on earth, to be leaven and light for the world.
Each and every person in our parish is personally invited by the Pope to participate in this synod. You will hear a lot more about the synod in the coming weeks and our parish synod gatherings will take place in January 2022. These reflections will then feed into the diocese’s synod about which Archbishop Cushley wrote in his pastoral letter.
What are we being asked to do?
A Synod isn’t a townhall meeting where everyone debates and argues and shares their own point of view. A Synod asks us to do something very different, something that is characteristic of the Holy Spirit working in and through those who are baptised.
We are being asked to reflect prayerfully on our experience of the Church – both the good and the bad. Why do you call yourself a Catholic? Why is belonging to the community of the Catholic church important to you? What kind of Church do you understand God calling us to be?
From your prayerful reflection, you are then asked to share those experiences which you believe it would be helpful for others to hear at this moment in the life and development of the Church. This requires great care and judgement – it is about building up the Kingdom of God, the People of God, the community of the Church, not about advancing an agenda.
Sometimes, we need to hear hard things, just as Jesus’ listeners heard his so-called ‘hard sayings’ and many decided to leave him. In everything we share with one other, we should do from love of Christ and his Church and not from any other motive or need in ourselves.
The Synod Questions
To help get us thinking about our experience of the Church and our dreams and hopes for the future, the Secretariat of the Synod has suggested ten areas on which we might reflect (see below). Please read through these and choose the ones that mean most to you. Pray with them in preparation for the Synod meetings.
1 Journeying companions
As we journey together let us look around. Who are our companions in the Church and what persons or groups are marginalised?
2 Listening
How might our local Church better listen to lay people and especially young people, women, minorities and those who are not respected?
3 Speaking out
How can everybody be encouraged to communicate properly what is important to them?
4 Celebrating
How do the Mass and other liturgies help us in our Christian lives and how might we participate in them at a deeper level?
5 Co-responsibility in mission
How can each baptised person become a ‘missionary disciple’?
6 Dialogue in Church and society
How might we improve our conversations within our parish and diocesan family and beyond it?
7 Dialogue with other Christians
Are our relations with our brothers and sisters in other Christian denominations good and how might they be improved?
8 Authority and participation
How might we develop teamwork and a send of co-responsibility in our local Church?
9 Discerning and deciding
How might we improve the process of decision-making in our local Church so that we properly take account of what the Holy Spirit is saying through each one of us?
10 Forming ourselves in synodality
What formation is necessary within the local Church if we are to become better at listening to one another and sharing our insights with one another?
We thank the Diocese of Leeds for these focus questions based on the 10 Synod areas.
Our Parish Pathway
January 2022 was the month in which we focused on our parish’s contribution to the Synod. Just over one hundred people responded to the invitation of Pope Francis to share their experience of the church and to articulate their hopes for the future. In addition, over 170 people attended the online presentation from the Edinburgh Jesuit Centre. Others have since contributed their thoughts by email. This was a great response.
You can download our parish report here. This report was contributed to the diocese’s synod process.
Our Diocesan Pathway
The parishes of our deanery (the parishes of the city of Edinburgh known as the St Giles Deanery) gathered on 26 January for the Synod discussion at the Cathedral. We sent three delegates: Angela Campbell (Chair of the parish council), Andrew Cassidy (parish Pastoral Associate) and Wendy Da Silva (representing young adults).
You can download the diocese synod report here. This report was contributed to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland.
Edinburgh Jesuit Centre
Fr Adrian Porter sj led an online session on the Synod Pathway from the Edinburgh Jesuit Centre on 18 January. You can watch this presentation here.
Synod Website
The Secretariat which is preparing the worldwide Synod has a website here with more information about the Synod and preparations around the world.