Synod on Synodality: Bishops launch regional workshops ahead of October meeting in Rome

Around the world, bishops together with the Catholic faithful of their dioceses in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa are preparing for the second session of the Synod of Synodality (2021-2024) which will take place from October 2 to 27 in the Vatican.

The global process launched by Pope Francis for the Catholic Church focuses on the theological concept of “synodality” or “walking together” as the People of God. Synodality places special emphasis on renewing the call of each baptized person to actively participate in the mission that Jesus Christ entrusted to his Church.

As part of this global process of listening, dialogue and discernment, regional episcopal conferences – in collaboration with clergy, men and women religious and lay people – have led continental workshops to debate the key theological and pastoral considerations raised in the Instrument of Laborthe Vatican working document for the second and final global session of the Synod on Synodality, published on July 9.

Latin America

In South America, the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM) held a three-day congress in Bogotá, Colombia, attended by nearly 2,000 people.

Approximately 200 people attended the workshops in person, while another 1,200 participated online in the congress held from August 9 to 11 to discuss topics such as ecclesiastical structures, the role of women and the meaning of mission.

Referring to the 2023 synthesis report of the first session of the Synod of Synodality, the Archbishop of Caracas (Venezuela), Bishop Raúl Biord, said that “the poverty of the proposals (on the key theme of the Synod, mission) in the report is surprising” and therefore challenged participants to more deeply consider the relationship between synodality and mission, as outlined by the Vatican in the Instrument of Labor.

“Reducing the mission to a missionary pastoral, as proposed in many of our diocesan organization charts, is unfocused and impoverishing,” the prelate remarked at the congress.

“The true objective of synodality is the mission to which we are called (by the mandate of the Risen Lord), in which we are involved (from the Trinitarian dynamic) and committed (by baptism and the sacraments of Christian initiation)”, he emphasized.

Europa

This month, 42 representatives from local churches across Europe will break into small discussion groups at a conference August 29-31 in Linz, Austria, to debate the themes outlined in the Vatican’s working document for the second session of the Synod.

Members of the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE), including the presidents of the episcopal conferences of Italy, Austria and Switzerland, will attend the three-day meeting, along with European experts in theology and canon law, as well as representatives from the Vatican. .

Pastoral theologian Klara-Antonia Csiszar, who participated in the first session of the Synod of Synodality last year, will also be present at the Linz meeting. Csiszar noted that diversity at all levels within the Catholic Church will be a key focus area of ​​the CCEE-led meeting.

“We have given importance to how diversity is perceived in Europe,” Csiszar reported in an interview with Kathpress. “What message does this diversity have for the Church in Europe, what does it mean for our local churches, and what voice does the Church in Europe have in the symphony of the universal Church?” he asked.

Asia

In Asia, the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) held its regional workshop August 5-8 in Bangkok, Thailand, and identified the need for unity and harmony for the growth of the Catholic Church in a largely non-Christian region. The meeting was attended by 38 delegates from local churches from 17 countries.

“Asia has nurtured a diversity of cultures and religions, and by embracing harmony, mutual appreciation and respect for differences, we can help the universal Church better understand the experience of walking together in the midst of diversity,” declared the Cardinal Stephen Chow in the Sunday Examiner.

In coordination with its social communication office, the FABC has recently launched the website “Synodality Asia” so that the Catholic faithful commit to the synodal path of the continent.

Africa

Before the publication of Instrument of Laborthe Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), together with the African Synodal Initiative (ASI), convened a 2-day meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in the month of April.

A total of 50 delegates from local churches gathered to explore the ways and means of being “a synodal church on mission” and debated the unique experience and distinctive contribution of the people of Africa in the evangelization of the continent.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, president of SECAM and Archbishop of Kinshasa, said the meeting recognized the importance of strengthening Christian identity in the region.

Delegates agreed that Africa must adopt the experience of Small Christian Communities (PCC) and the wealthy, which emphasize the values ​​of family, fraternity and solidarity.

“These debates highlighted the need to integrate these different cultural and community forces into the broader mission of our Church,” Cardinal Ambongo stated in a press conference following the April 23-26 conference.

The meeting that will take place from October 2 to 27 in the Vatican with Pope Francis will close the discernment phase of the Synod of Synodality. The conclusions of the 2023 and 2024 world sessions, once accepted and approved by the Holy Father, are expected to be applied in all local churches in order to create a more attentive and participatory Catholic Church throughout the world.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.