Synodal Pathway – May 2022
Pope Francis took a prophetic step last year when he postponed a meeting of bishops in Rome. It wasn’t because of the pandemic! It was because he wants the voices of more than bishops and cardinals to be heard.
So, this year’s meeting was put back to 2023 and he has asked each diocese to put in place a way for people to have a say in how the Catholic Church will fulfil its mission from the Lord in these times. The major change is to be a Church that ‘walks together and listens to one another’. This is what’s meant by being ‘synodal’.
Diocesan Synodal Process
During this month of May, the Diocese of Cork and Ross is opening up ways for people to have a say and to listen and have an input into next year’s Synod meeting in Rome which is called by Pope Francis.
Central to our journey is prayer, listening and relationship. Pope Francis tells us that “What the Lord is asking of us is already in some sense present in the very word ‘synod’. Journeying together”.
During May we will answer together the central question, ‘what is God asking of the faith community at this time?’
In Cork and Ross, there will be three ways to which people are invited to contribute:
- We are gathering representatives from a random sample of 24 parishes across the Diocese to pray, listen and discern at two facilitated Sunday afternoon meetings in May (these parishes will be notified separately).
- We are inviting everyone to respond to an online questionnaire which is anonymous and can be filled in from home, by individuals or by a family or a community. It is at corkandross.org
- There will also be focused discussions with small groups, e.g. womens’ groups, social action groups, young people etc.
The responses from these three pathways will be collated and a summary document will be submitted to the national gathering which takes place in June 2022 in which a national document will be prepared for submission to the Synod in Rome in 2023.
The easiest way to find out more and to have your say is to go to synod.corkandross.org where an online confidential questionnaire is available to be filled in. (It’ll take about 15 minutes.)
It’s open until May 24th. All the responses will be collated and added to the feedback from meetings being held across the diocese with randomly selected groups during May.
A summary document will be forwarded from our diocese at the end of May.
Prayer for the Synod
We stand before You, Holy Spirit,
as we gather together in Your name.
With You alone to guide us,
make Yourself at home in our hearts;
Teach us the way we must go
and how we are to pursue it.
We are weak and sinful;
do not let us promote disorder.
Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path
nor partiality influence our actions.
Let us find in You our unity
so that we may journey together to eternal life
and not stray from the way of truth
and what is right.
All this we ask of You,
who are at work in every place and time,
in the communion of the Father and the Son,
forever and ever.
Amen.