Synod on Synodality Organizers want local scene to focus on this fundamental issue | Catholic National Register



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“A Synodal Church, by proclaiming the Gospel,“ walks together â€. How is this “journey together†going today in your particular Church?

Cardinal Mario Grech on Tuesday warned Italian bishops against the temptation to use the Synod on Synodality for purposes other than listening to the People of God.

The Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops noted On November 23 that there is a “risk – or perhaps the temptation – of wanting to overload the synodal process with other meanings and objectives, of wanting to add things to do to obtain other results, beyond of the shared experience of listening to the People. of God on synodality and the synodal Church.

“This risk concerns especially those who thought of a synodal path before the proposal formulated by the general secretariat of the synod”, he added.

Cardinal spoke at the 75th Italian Bishops Extraordinary general meeting, which will take place in Rome from November 22 to 25.

The Italian bishops’ conference launched its own four-year national synod process before the Vatican announced last spring that the synod of bishops on synodality would take place with a two-year consultative preparatory phase involving all Catholic dioceses around the world whole.

In Germany, a ‘synodal path’ has also been taking place since 2019. The process was recently extended until 2023 after its plenary session ended abruptly in October following votes in favor of a text endorsing homosexual blessings and a discussion of whether the priesthood is necessary.

Cardinal Grech thanked the more than 200 Italian bishops gathered at the Ergife Palace hotel and conference center in Rome for “harmonizing†their synodal process with the world synod in light of the “boring†overlap of times.

“The virtuous realization of the synodal process by the Churches which are in Italy will be an example for the other Churches and for the other episcopates. On the other hand, everyone knows with what insistence the Holy Father has requested the holding of a synod of the Italian Church â€, he noted.

Pope Francis opened the first phase of the two-year consultative process leading up to the Synod of Bishops on Synodality last month. The diocesan phase will last until August 15, 2022.

A second continental phase will take place from September 2022 to March 2023 ahead of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in October 2023.

In his speech, Cardinal Grech stressed that there was no questionnaire included in the preparatory documents for the Synod on Synodality published last September, “to avoid any misunderstanding about the consultation, which can and never will be a survey”.

The cardinal stressed that there is only “one fundamental question†to guide the consultation process: “A Synodal Church, proclaiming the Gospel,“ walks together â€. How is this “journey together†going today in your particular Church? What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our “journey togetherâ€?

He said the other issues listed at the end of the manual were only “thematic points to exploreâ€.

“These are not 10 questions – then we would be back to the quiz – but aspects of the one core question,†he said.

“I repeat: it is better for the People of God in our Churches to confront the fundamental question, rather than talking about anything, without foundation and above all without direction,” he added.

“What matters is to develop a true synodal mentality; to understand that truly “the Church is constitutively synodalâ€, that is to say that the People of God walk together, not only because they walk, but because they walk knowing where they are going – towards the fulfillment of the Kingdom – and therefore he questions himself on the way to be followed, listening to what the Holy Spirit says to the Church.

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