Synod on Synodality: Work begins on Instrumentum laboris 2

About twenty of the 20 theologians have traveled to Rome to begin work on the An instrument of labor 2 or “working instrument” of the second and last session of the Synod of Synodality, which will be held in the Italian capital next October.

The General Secretariat of the Synod reported this June 5 in a statement that the document titled “Towards October 2024”, sent last December to all the bishops of the world, intended to delve into some aspects of the “Synthesis Report”, the document prepared as a result of the first session.

Likewise, he pointed out that, in recent months, the different local Churches have carried out their work by sending their contributions through the Episcopal Conferences, the Eastern Catholic Churches and the International Meetings of Episcopal Conferences.

Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the General Secretariat of the Synod, said he was “impressed” to see “the involvement of the entire ecclesial community in this long process of discernment.”

“In addition to the reflections arising from the work on the Synthesis Report From the first session, the material received often adds real testimonies about how particular churches not only understand synodality, but are already putting it into practice,” he pointed out.

For the cardinal, “the synodal Church is not a dream to be realized, but rather a living reality that generates creativity and new relational models within the same local community or between different churches or ecclesial groups.”

The General Secretariat of the Synod also received contributions and comments from international realities, university faculties, associations of faithful or individual and private communities.

Additionally, they highlighted the importance of the reports presented by the parish priests at the three-day work session of the recent meeting of “Parish Priests for the Synod”.

“We are not going to leave anything to chance”

Starting on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, the group of theologians and experts in various disciplines will analyze all this material.

“We are not going to leave anything to chance. Each document must be read carefully with the objective of proposing at the end of the process a text that reflects the work, the questions and the intuitions received from the bases,” said Cardinal Grech.

For his part, Father Giacomo Costa, Special Secretary of the XVI Assembly, specified that “it is not yet a question of drafting the An instrument of labor for the Second Session of the Synod of Synodality, but to carry out a first analysis of the reports and good practices implemented by local communities, and a common discernment, on theological questions and reflections, in order to prepare the path to the actual writing of the An instrument of labor”.

Next steps to follow

The work of this international team, which takes place behind closed doors, began with a half-day spiritual retreat and will continue until June 13.

The days will be marked by different moments of work (individual, in plenary session and in groups), with the daily celebration of the Eucharist and moments of personal prayer.

The writing process of the An instrument of labor It will continue with the following stages: once the structure of the future document has been identified through the articulation of the material received from the theologians, the Ordinary Council will carry out a first discernment of what has been written.

The drafting phases of the document itself and a system of extensive verification will continue until the Ordinary Council approves the document that will be presented to the Holy Father for final approval. The publication of the text is scheduled for the first days of July.