The General Secretariat of the Synod has published a new document to guide the “path of implementation of the Synod” through to an ecclesial assembly in October 2028 at the Vatican. Source: EWTN News.
The 18-page document, titled “The Path of Implementation of the Synod: Towards the Assemblies 2027–2028 – Stages, Criteria, and Tools for Preparation”, establishes a four-stage process and a common method for local churches, episcopal conferences and continental bodies.
The new text follows a letter sent last year to bishops, eparchs, patriarchs and major archbishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches defining the process of accompaniment in the implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality, which concluded in 2024 after a three-year process.
The Synod’s implementation path will unfold in four progressive stages: Recollecting, in the first half of 2027; Interpreting, in the second half of 2027; Orienting, in the first four months of 2028; and Celebrating, in October 2028.
Each stage will culminate in an assembly and the drafting of materials meant to feed ecclesial discernment ahead of the final assembly.
According to the document, the unity of the process will be guided by a common question at every level: “In light of the journey undertaken after the conclusion of the 2021–2024 Synod, and with a view to offering its fruits as a gift to the other Churches and to the Holy Father: What concrete form of a missionary synodal Church, and what new paths of synodality, are emerging in your community?”
The document says the process is not meant to repeat the consultation stage of the Synod but to help the Churches learn from what has already been lived, recognise fruits and difficulties, recalibrate priorities and processes “in the light of careful discernment” strengthen co-responsibility and foster an “authentic exchange of gifts among the churches”.
Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod, said the proposal should be understood as a time of ecclesial discernment rather than as another administrative burden.
The document calls for assemblies with broad participation, including men and women of different generations, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, members of movements and associations, and faithful not belonging to organised structures. It also asks for attention to the presence of “persons living in situations of fragility or marginality”.
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Synod office sets path to 2028 ecclesial assembly (By Victoria Cardiel, EWTN News)
