Today we began work in earnest in our Small Groups. I appreciate that some will consider the Synodal process to be a mere talking shop and that nothing will come of it. Time alone will tell. However, we must remember that our purpose is to discern God’s Will. Listening and attentiveness to God takes time. We go at the Lord’s pace and not our own.
We started this process in our parishes back in 2021. Small groups of parishioners met to reflect and share. The Church listened to what you said along with similar voices from across Scotland, Europe and the Universal Church. Since 2021 there have been several further rounds which deepened those initial reflections.
At the end of Last October’s Assembly we presented the Holy Father with a Synthesis Report which contained recommendations. Some of them needed further theological and canonical study before decisions could be made. Pope Francis established 10 Working Groups to study some recommendations in depth. We received the initial reports yesterday and it is hoped that they will present their work to Pope France by the end of June 2025. That will enable concrete decisions to be taken as the Pope judges best. Here are a list of the Working Groups - not all will seem immediately relevant but we must remember that the Church is wider than our parishes and indeed even Scotland!
(i) Ecumenism (ii) Cry of the Poor (iii) Relations between Eastern Catholic and Latin Churches
(iv) Relationship between charismatic and hierarchical ministries, including the role of women
(V) Bishops, including a synodal method of selection (vi) Relationship between bishop, religious and ecclesial movements (vii) Formation in synodality(viii) How does love and truth relate? - working synodally in dogma and difficult moral issues (ix) Digital Mission (x) Nuncios
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