So far 220,000 Australians have answered the Plenary Council’s question, “What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?” In 2015, Australian Archbishop Mark Coleridge says he was asking himself something similar. There was a government-mandated investigation into sexual abuse in the church and Australian Catholics were leaving the faith. Read more
Pope Francis says the two-year process leading to the 2023 synod on synodality is not about “gathering opinions,” but “listening to the Holy Spirit.” He repeatedly stressed the Holy Spirit’s role in decision-making. The three-phase synod opens next month with a diocesan phase, which will run until April. A second, continental phase will take place Read more
In a first-ever appointment of its kind, a lay Catholic will represent the Church in Poland at the official opening of the synodal process next month. The two-year synodal process is a consultative phase involving Catholic dioceses around the world. Chosen by the Polish bishops’ conference president Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, Professor Aleksander Bańka is the Read more
The process for identifying issues to be discussed at the 2023 global Synod of bishops will stifle lay Catholic voices all over the world, a group of lay Catholics in the UK says. The group is speaking out as they organise an upcoming lay-led diocesan synod. The synod’s aim is to feed ideas to bishops Read more
A Synodal Church is not just another idea, it is ‘the’ idea, Thomas O’Loughlin, Professor Emeritus at the University of Nottingham told CathNews. “If we fail to embrace this challenge we shall have little to offer and shall become an irrelevant religious sect with massive museums and a complex back story.” Pope Francis has said Read more
“The path of synodality is the path that God expects from the Church of the third millennium,” Pope Francis has said. And so it is not surprising that in region after region Catholic bishops are embracing synodality. The Germans have embarked on a synodal path, the Australians a plenary council, the Irish a synod … Read more
A lay Venezuelan theologian says bishops at the upcoming synod on synodality need to realise lay people aren’t just called to implement but also to make Church decisions. Rafael Luciani is one of three Latin American theologians chosen as consultants on “synodality” for the Synod. He hopes he will be able to offer the synod Read more
Synods, seen by Pope Francis and many to be inclusive, have the possibility of becoming exclusive. The signs of hope that Synods hold for women and those within the Church who want to see change may deliver the opposite. The warning comes from involved and committed Catholic women in a conversation on Flashes of Insight. Read more
There are many ideas about what synodality means, says Pope Francis. “It’s not a walk in the park”. It is “an ecclesial journey that has a soul, which is the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no synodality,” he explains. Francis is promoting a synodal process that involves the whole church. It will Read more
Pope Francis’ decision to postpone and widen the planned 2022 synod is extraordinary and invites everyone to stop and take a deep breath. The planned subject — “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission” — remains the same but the new means adopted are now more intrinsically suited to such a topic. The Synod Read more