Pope Francis launched a 2-year worldwide Synod process on 10th October 2021 entitled: For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.
He has invited everyone to take part in a dialogue of listening and speaking under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This begins at the local level in our parishes and diocese. Between now and 28th February we are inviting as many people as possible to engage with this process. The feedback will be submitted to the Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales on Palm Sunday and this will then contribute to a national report.
Pope Francis wants to hear from the whole Church about what is happening in local parishes. He and the bishops would like to know what individuals think we should all be doing to help make our parishes better. The way he has proposed doing this is a synodal process. Synod means “journeying together” and it involves listening to the Holy Spirit and to each other in order to discern the path we are called to walk together.
The synod “is intended to inspire people to dream about the Church we are called to be, to make people’s hopes flourish, to stimulate trust, to bind up wounds, to weave new and deeper relationships, to learn from one another, to build bridges, to enlighten minds, warm hearts, and restore strength to our hands for our common mission.”
Eventually this, in turn, will contribute to reports which will be sent to the Vatican in 2023. The Pope and Bishops of the world will then meet in Synod to discuss their findings. This whole process is teaching us how to be a ‘synodal’ Church, a Church which discerns the Holy Spirit’s voice in and through the People of God.
As part of the Synodal journey we are asking that you engage with the parents, teachers, and pupils of your school to discuss the 10 main themes. To facilitate the gathering of feedback our diocese has employed a survey which has been set up by CathCom. You will find this survey already on the Lancaster Diocesan website.
We encourage individuals to respond by attending any gatherings organised in the parish or to meet in groups to experience the opportunity of listening and speaking in a prayerful way. They can then individually fill the survey in online or on paper. You are all very welcome to attend the gatherings after Mass for the next two Sundays.
Children will be responding to these surveys in their classrooms, beginning with prayer and liturgy. Their opinions will be sent to our Diocese.
The survey is below:
The above survey is for individuals to fill in.
You can download these surveys from parish and return them to school or at the back of church.
