From the Website of CBCP
Vatican synod official says synodality must continue in parishes
Synodality has been widely discussed at the Vatican and in bishops’ conferences, but its implementation at the local church level is still critical, a synod official said Thursday.
Sr. Nathalie Becquart, the highest-ranking woman in the general secretariat of Synod of Bishops, stressed that without parish priests embracing a synodal path, fostering a truly synodal Church will be difficult.
“The most important is what you are doing and what you are living at the grassroots,” said Becquart, who serves as an undersecretary for the Church’s ongoing Synod on Synodality.
The Church is, first of all, there in all your dioceses and parishes… so that’s where synodality has to continue,” she said.
The French missionary was speaking at the National Meeting of Parish Priests for the Synod, held in Manila from July 29 to Aug. 1, to address the question on how to be a local synodal Church on mission.
She urged the Filipino priests to continue the synodal journey, particularly with the poor, young people, women and families.
“Synodality calls us to foster a culture of mutual care and mutual empowerment,” Becquart added.
More than 250 priests from various dioceses across the country attended the gathering, which was inspired by the international meeting of parish priests in Sacrafano, a small town north of Rome, held in April.
The month-long meeting, which included the participation of10 Filipinos, highlighted the Church’s commitment to engaging with parish priests who are deeply embedded in their local communities.
In a letter to parish priests following the gathering, Pope Francis emphasized the critical role of pastors in the Church’s synodal process.
“A synodal Church needs its parish priests,” declared the pope, adding that without their voices, the Church will “never be able to learn how to walk together and to set out on the path of synodality.”
The pope also invited them “to be missionaries of synodality, among yourselves and… with your fellow parish priests.”
In Manila, the nationwide meeting of listening, prayers, and discernment was promoted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the Philippine Conference on New Evangelization (PCNE).
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, CBCP president, said that synodality now invites parish priests “to enter more deeply into communion with Christ.”
The process of synodality, according to him, is opening the consciousness of parish priests about their true vocation in the Church, which is “the care of the souls”. “It makes us realize that the ministerial priesthood is entrusted to us precisely so that we can accompany the whole parish community to grow in the common priesthood of the faithful,” David said.
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