A simple and accessible ‘take-outs’ resource has been published to help Catholics engage with the Synod on Synodality’s Final Document.
Produced by the Diocese of Westminster, the resource is particularly useful ahead of the ‘Implementation Phase’ that Pope Francis has recently commissioned the Church to move into as we journey to the celebration of an ecclesial assembly in the Vatican in October 2028.
The resource is titled: How to be a Synodal Church in Mission. Take-outs from the Final Document: ‘An Informal Reaping of the Fruits’.
Each section of the Final Document (FD) is numbered, and this ‘take-outs’ resource takes a particular topic or key point and explores it with reference to the FD’s more in-depth text.
An example…
“The formation required… needs to explore theological, biblical and spiritual foundations. All the baptised need this formation in witness, holiness and service, which emphasises co-responsibility.” (80)
You can then visit section 80 of the Final Document for more information.
Several aspects of synodality are explored in the resource including exactly what synodality is, what it calls for, how we can walk alongside people in all their joys and challenges, and how to have a ‘Conversation in the Spirit’.
It also looks at how a synodal Church places the poor at its centre, and how Mary, Mother of Christ, is at the heart of a synodal, missionary and merciful Church.
Among many other points, the take-outs look at participatory decision-making, and how the FD advocates for bishops and priests to listen to laypeople and vice-versa.
Please download this accessible 8-page PDF resource, using the link above, to better understand the Final Document of the Synod.
The ‘implementation phase’ we are now entering was outlined in the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio. The principal aim is to ensure that “synodality is increasingly understood and lived as an essential dimension of the ordinary life of local Churches and the entire Church.”
We currently stand at the start of a process of accompaniment and evaluation of the implementation phase by the General Secretariat of the Synod.
Timeline
March 2025
Announcement of the accompaniment and evaluation process
May 2025
Publication of the Support Document for the implementation phase, with guidelines for its conduct
June 2025 – December 2026
Implementation paths in local Churches and their groupings
24-26 October 2025
Jubilee of synodal teams and participatory bodies
First half of 2027
Evaluation Assemblies in Dioceses and Eparchies
Second half of 2027
Evaluation Assemblies in national and international Episcopal Conferences, Eastern hierarchical structures, and other groupings of Churches
First half of 2028
Continental Evaluation Assemblies
June 2028
Publication of the Instrumentum laboris for the works of the ecclesial Assembly in October 2028
October 2028
Celebration of the ecclesial Assembly in the Vatican.
