Questions, reflections, concrete experiences. The over 200 parish priests who will meet in Rome from 29 to 2 May on the theme “Parish Priests for the Synod” are called to discuss some of the fundamental questions of being the Church before meeting, on 2 May, with the Pope.
«What experiences of the Synodal Church have I been able to have in my ministry as parish priest? Which were happy and which were less? What understanding of synodality have I been able to develop through them?”, they will ask themselves during the four days of work organized jointly by the General Secretariat of the Synod and the Dicasteries for the Clergy, that for the Oriental Churches and that for Evangelization (First Section for First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches).
The reflection will start from the summary report of the last meeting in October. In particular on the face of the missionary Church which «involves coming together in assembly at the different levels of ecclesial life, mutual listening, dialogue, community discernment, the creation of consensus as an expression of the presence of Christ alive in the Spirit and the taking a decision in differentiated co-responsibility” so as to bring out “the many expressions of synodal life in cultural contexts in which people are used to walking together as a community”.
And after having outlined the face of a missionary Church, as the title of the first day states, the parish priests will reflect on the fact that “All are disciples, all missionaries”. And, therefore, they are called to ask themselves how much they have succeeded in making different charisms, vocations and ministries participate in the life of the Church and in the construction of the community. “What intuitions and what questions have they raised in me?”, the priests ask themselves. «In my context of origin, what significant experiences have we gained regarding the contribution of parish communities to the life and mission of the local Church (diocese or eparchy) to which they belong? What did they teach us?”. In particular, it is underlined that «lay men and women, consecrated men and women, and ordained ministers have equal dignity. They have received different charisms and vocations and exercise different roles and functions, all called and nourished by the Holy Spirit to form one body in Christ. All disciples, all missionaries, in the fraternal vitality of local communities who experience the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing. The exercise of co-responsibility is essential for synodality and is necessary at all levels of the Church. Every Christian is a mission in this world.”
Finally, on the last day, dedicated to Weaving bonds, building communities, the participants in the meeting are asked to ask themselves what experiences of “ecclesial discernment dynamics” they have had. Which ones worked and which ones didn’t, what lesson was learned considering that «as members of the faithful People of God, all the baptized are co-responsible for the mission, each according to his vocation, with his experience and competence; therefore, everyone contributes to imagining and deciding steps to reform the Christian communities and the Church as a whole, so that it experiences “the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing”. Synodality, in the composition and functioning of the organisms in which it takes shape, has the mission as its purpose. Co-responsibility is for the mission: this certifies that we are truly gathered in the name of Jesus, this frees the participation bodies from bureaucratic involutions and worldly logics of power, this makes the gathering fruitful”.