Irish Catholic bishops have chosen a woman to head preparations for a national synod, due to be held in the next five years.
Nicola Brady is currently General Secretary of the Irish Council of Churches, and Joint Secretary of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting. She has been noted for facilitating relationship-building between the Christian churches in Ireland.
Dr Brady has previously worked in several peace-building roles, both nationally and internationally.
Following her appointment Brady said, “The Synodal Pathway is an important and hope-filled development in the life of the Catholic Church in Ireland and I am grateful for the opportunity to help guide and shape this work.”
A statement from the Catholic Communications Office said Brady “has particular expertise in the area of faith-based peace-building on the island of Ireland and internationally, including human rights advocacy, support to victims/survivors, facilitation of civic dialogue, community engagement with policing, and research across a broad range of issues relevant to reconciliation.”
Brady holds a BA in European Studies from Trinity College Dublin. Her PhD, also from Trinity, examined the response of the Catholic hierarchy to political violence in Northern Ireland (1921-1973) and to the Basque Country (1936-1975).
The Bishops met virtually for their summer 2021 plenary meeting. They announced on June 16 that Brady will head up a new synodal steering group to make preparations.
In their statement, Irish bishops said their work on the synodal pathway has been “assisted and greatly encouraged by Cardinal Mario Grech and Sister Natalie Becquart of the general secretariat for the Synod of Bishops in Rome.”
The bishops also announced they had received more than 550 public submissions as part of the initial phase of the synodal pathway.