Dear St. Christopher Family,
In October 2021, Pope Francis has convoked a synod on the theme, “For a Synodal Church.”  What is a Synod?
In the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostles were gathered to discuss a very important issue: how to admit Gentiles into the church? This gathering is known as the “Council of Jerusalem” and serves as the model for other councils. The latest of these council was the Second Vatican Council which was held in 1962. It is a gathering of all Bishops in the world presided by the Pope to discuss important matters of the Church. Once approved by the Pope, its decrees bind all Christians.

A Synod is held locally in various regions of the world to deal with local issues. According to the Canon Law:
The synod of bishops is a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet together 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.
Another term that might scratch your head is Synodality. This refers to a model a synod may take in making decisions. It may include listening and then discussing issues being raised in the listening session. A document would be drafted and the Pope may use it for the Synod gathering.
This particular synod is called “Synod on Synodality” because Pope Francis wants to emphasize the goal of hearing where the Holy Spirit is calling the Church. In order to achieve this goal, everything is opened for discussion. It is not about majority wins or dominates the agenda.

The process will include a diocesan listening phase from October 2021 to April 2022, a continental phase from September 2022 to March 2023, and a final “universal church phase” that will look more like past synod meetings in the Vatican in October 2023.
It is reasonable to expect that Pope Francis will follow the document with an apostolic exhortation outlining his takeaways and decisions from the synod a few months later, as he has done for previous synods.

St. Christopher will hold a listening session soon. We will inform you the date and time of this session.
 
St. Christopher will hold a listening session soon. We will inform you the date and time of this session.
 
- Fr. Ben