Irish Bishops’ Conference have published the National Synthesis of the Synodal Process on www.synod.ie. You can access the document by clicking HERE . The Synodal Process has been conducted across the Church in Ireland from Autumn 2021. The publication the National Synthesis is the fruit of a wide-ranging process of listening and consultation drawing on the syntheses produced by the 26 dioceses in Ireland, as well as those submitted by religious congregations and other interested groups.
The National Synthesis will be forwarded to Rome as part of the worldwide synodal process of listening and discernment launched by Pope Francis in October 2021 and which will culminate in the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 2023.
The bishops issued a statement of welcome on the completion of the National Synthesis, saying, “We are pleased to publish the National Synthesis document prepared by the Steering Committee of lay faithful, religious, priests and bishops which was appointed by our Conference to lead us along the synodal journey.”
Bishops went on to reflect on the process, the Synthesis Document and the continuing Synodal Pathway. They said, “Since October 2021, tens of thousands of Catholics across Ireland have been engaging in prayerful listening and reflection on the theme chosen by Pope Francis: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.” In June 2022 there was a unique and wonderful National Synodal gathering in Athlone which was followed by a moving ritual in the sixth century ancient monastic site of Clonmacnoise. In a prayerful atmosphere, we heard feedback from the hundreds of conversations that had taken place across Ireland, and from the many submissions that had been collected. Despite the constraints of COVID-19, the process that we have been following in these past months represents a modest but significant first step in developing a synodal style of consultation about the future of the Church in Ireland and around the world.