Synodal Pathway
So where are we in the Synodal Pathway?
If you want quick and dramatic… then you need a dictatorship.
Synodality, by its nature, is slow and steady trying to bring everyone along with you.
The process was launched in Sep 2021.
After due training and preparation, local assemblies were held in Feb / Mar 2022. These parish level reports were synthesised into a diocesan report.
All the diocesan reports were in turn synthesised into a national report, which was submitted to Rome in Aug 2022.
In Oct 2022 a world-wide synthesis was published, and, in true synodal fashion, this was sent back to all the dioceses to request their comments. 7 continental level review meetings were organised for Mar 2023. Now the comments from these review meetings have been sent back to Rome. This feedback will be digested and a revised world-wide synthesis will be published in June 2023. This will become the working document for the meeting of the bishops in Rome in October 2023.
All the documents have been published on the Synod websites together with multiple video recordings of the various sessions in progress.
So, if anyone here wants to check up on anything it is all publicly available (see next section below).
The meeting in Rome in October is clearly the critical next step. It is vital that we get it right. So placing it under Mary’s motherly care and protection is clearly a very appropriate thing to do (see further comments below)
Copies of the relevant documents
All the relevant documents have been published online and are available online. You can use the following hyperlinks give you direct access to the key documents …
Links to relevant websites
If you want to dig a bit deeper into any of this, please consult the following websites:
The Vatican Website for the Synod 2021 – 2024
Official Discussion and Resource Site for Universal Synod
Site of the European Synodal Continental Assembly in Prague Feb 2023
The Synodal Pathway of the Catholic Church in Ireland
The Synod section on the Dublin Diocese Website
Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word on 31 May 2023 in St Brigid’s
Today is the 31st of May which is both
the last day of Our Lady’s month
and the feast day of the Visitation.
Pope Francis has requested that this day be a special day of prayer in the universal church asking Our Lady to provide her guidance and protection to the work of the Synod in general and especially to the upcoming meeting of Bishops in Rome in October.
As you may remember from earlier discussions, the word synod comes from two Greek words: syn meaning “together” and hodos meaning “the way” So, synod means “on the way together” or “journeying together”.
One of the great examples of journeying together has to be Mary and Elizabeth. The Gospel of Luke tells their parallel stories of angels announcing that they are to have a child, the birth and presentation in the temple of the child and then their public ministry.
Mary, having just been told she is to become the mother of God could quite reasonably have been expected to coset and protect herself and her child. Instead, she undertakes an arduous journey to be together with her kinswoman. And she stayed with her for 3 months to listen and talk with her about what was happening to both of them.
And their meeting is the occasion for one of the greatest prayers in the bible, the Magnificat, which praises God and proclaims his care for the poor, the simple and those in need.
The reading from Zephania is one of the great prophecies of the Old Testament saying that a new king will come who will replace fear with love and joy.
We have modified our normal Liturgy of the Word to incorporate the suggested prayers to Our Lady seeking her intervention.