Members of the Synod of Bishops experienced a new way of being Church and are committing to sharing it, said the two cardinals who guided its work. Source: Catholic Review.
Speaking on Saturday after Synod members passed their final document and Pope Francis approved it, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod said, “For me, personally, this document is important, but there is a document that was not written, which is the experience” of synodality by all those who took part in the global process since its beginning in 2021.
“The experience during this year has been beautiful,” he told reporters at the Synod’s final news conference on Saturday. And now the final document will help support local churches as they “try to take on this style of synodality”.
“We have walked together and now we know that we have to (keep walking) together in the future. And that’s, I think, the great lesson we could experience,” Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the Synod said on Saturday.
“We not only have to teach the document, but we also have tried to give people the experience in order to become a real synodal Church on mission. Let’s not forget” that sharing the Gospel is the ultimate goal of the multiyear process, he said.
“We have not gathered just to look (at) structures of the Church; we have not gathered to make a battle between conservatives and liberals.
“We have gathered to have a synodal church for all the baptised, a Church which fulfills, which listens to the mission it has received from Christ and tries to do that in everyday life,” Cardinal Hollerich said.
The second session ended on Saturday with everybody “full of joy”, Cardinal Hollerich said, and there was no visible sense of people lamenting that their position had not been taken into consideration.
FULL STORY
Synod gave life to new way of being church, members say (By Carol Glatz, CNS via Catholic Review)
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