Synod document asks how to increase unity, participation, mission outreach

Friday, Jun. 23, 2023

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a Church that “bears the signs of serious crises of mistrust and lack of credibility,” members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be asked to find ways to build community, encourage the contribution of every baptized person and strengthen the Church’s primary mission of sharing the Gospel, said the working document for the October gathering.

“A synodal Church is founded on the recognition of a common dignity deriving from baptism, which makes all who receive it sons and daughters of God, members of the family of God, and therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, inhabited by the one Spirit and sent to fulfil a common mission,” said the document, which was released at the Vatican June 20.

However, it said, many Catholics around the world report that too many baptized persons – particularly LGBTQ+ Catholics, the divorced and civilly remarried, the poor, women and people with disabilities – are excluded from active participation in the life of the Church and, particularly, from its decision-making structures.

Based on the input from listening sessions held around the world since October 2021 and especially from reports submitted from continental and regional synod sessions earlier this year, the working document asks members of the synod to focus their prayer, discussion and discernment on three priorities:

– Communion, asking: “How can we be more fully a sign and instrument of union with God and of the unity of all humanity?”

– “Co-responsibility in mission: How can we better share gifts and tasks in the service of the Gospel?”

– “Participation, governance and authority: What processes, structures and institutions are needed in a missionary synodal Church?”

Editor’s note: The full text of the document, in a variety of languages, can be found at https://www.synod.va/en/synodal-process/the-universal-phase/documents.html