The Engaged (Synodal) Church

DRAFT

Engagement is about the Why.  In a synodal Church the whole community is called together to pray, listen, analyse, dialogue, discern and offer advice on making pastoral decisions which correspond as closely as possible to God's will, where God’s will is the Why.

https://www.synod.va/en/the-synod-on-synodality/what-is-the-synod-about.html#

synod, (from Greek synodos, “assembly”), in the Christian church, a local or provincial assembly of bishops and other church officials meeting to resolve questions of discipline or administration. The earliest synods can be traced to meetings held by bishops from various regions in the middle of the 2nd century.


https://www.britannica.com/topic/synod



Pope Francis wants the synod in every parish. Here’s how to bring it to yours


https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/10/24/synod-synodality-parish-meetings-246361








The three dimensions of the theme of the Synod are communion, participation and mission, three interrelated pillars, which we cannot separate one from the other. God gathers us together in COMMUNION.








There have been 19 synods: nine ordinary, two extraordinary and eight special. The following is a list of all the synods held to date, and the documents stemming from them. 1. Revision of the Code of Canon Law (Sept.


https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/synods-since-vatican-ii-3961



Cardinal Grech called the Synod a formidable "listening workshop," emphasizing listening to both God and the world. Speaking during the press conference to present the “Instrumentum Laboris” for the upcoming October assembly, he noted that this process starts with listening to the voice of the Lord, continuing with attention to the "sense of faith of the people of God."

The goal, he explained, is to "seek what God wants to say to the Church at this moment in its journey."







Synod of Bishops, considered as an advisory body for the pope, is one of the ways in which the bishops render cooperative assistance to him in exercising his office.[1] It is described in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as "a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world."[2]

In addition, each patriarchal church and each major archiepiscopal church within the Catholic Church has its own synod of bishops. Unlike the body that normally assists the pope only by offering advice, these synods of bishops are competent, and exclusively so, to make laws for the entire sui iuris church that each governs

The papal Synod of Bishops is permanent, even when not in session.[6][7] Periodically, it holds assemblies, which are either general, if called to consider matters directly concerning the universal Church, or special, if called for problems of a particular geographical area.[8] The general assemblies are either ordinary (held at fixed intervals) or extraordinary (held to treat of some urgent matter).[9]

The papal Synod of Bishops also has a permanent secretariat[10] headquartered in Rome but not part of the Roman Curia.[11] Pope Francis greatly increased both the authority and influence of the Synod in September 2018

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synod_of_Bishops_in_the_Catholic_Church

The Holy See Press Office releases the 'Instrumentum Laboris', the text that will guide the work of the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod in October. Among the focuses of the document are the need for transparency and accountability, and the role of women in the Church.


https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2024/07/09/0560/01156.html#en