Pentecost Sunday, which this year falls on Sunday 5 June, has been designated as a Day of Prayer in Thanksgiving for the diocesan phase of the Universal Synod.  Pentecost Sunday offers us all an opportunity to give thanks for the prayerful engagement and listening...

Theology student Emily Nelson attended ‘Exploring the Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission’, which took place in Birmingham over two days in March 2022. The event opened with comments from Fr. Michael Dolman reflecting on listening to our neighbours as...

Over 3 days in late March 2022 I was a participant in a symposium hosted by Campion Hall, Oxford, entitled The Road to a Synodal Church: Insights and Experiences. I’d like to share some reflections on the experience which may be of value for our own synodal pathway...

The Synod Pope Francis has convoked is a Church synod, Fr Sean McNulty emphasises. It is a forum for listening to everybody’s experience of discipleship with compassion and tenderness. I am hoping that the Synodal Pathway will provide the Church with an opportunity...

Launching the Far East’s new series on Synodality, Fr Tom O’Reilly explains how walking and discerning together and listening attentively to each other are at the heart of the synodal process. We are familiar with adversarial debate in our parliamentary systems....

Back in October 2021, Pope Francis opened preparations for the 2023 Synod of Bishop’s Gathering in Rome which will focus on the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission”. In simple terms, this Synod focuses on how we are operating and...

When consultations are launched there is inevitably some cynicism in the ether.  “The outcomes have already been pre-determined”, “Same old, same old”, “We’ve been here before”, “Nothing but a talking shop”.  And so it is with this Synod on Synodality.  No sooner...

The Irish Church’s new synodal pathway offers opportunity for transformation and renewal.  The initial phase of the synodal pathway for the Catholic Church in Ireland, announced by the Bishops’ Conference during its Spring General Meeting in March of this year, is...

Pope Francis speaks a lot about discernment, and it is clear that he regards it as a key feature of synodality. It is what distinguishes the way of proceeding of the Church from that of a parliament or even a citizens’ assembly- it is like these (Francis called the...