Pope Francis has invited you to participate in the Synod of Bishops.
He is listening! Be part of building a Church that listens to its people.

Click here for updates on Synod of Bishops
Click here to view the final synthesis
Click here to view appendices
Click here to view the AUSTRALIAN SYNTHESIS

Pope Francis has invited you to participate in the Synod of Bishops.

He is listening! Be part of building a Church that listens to its people.

Plenary Council Website
Diocese of Parramatta response to the Plenary Council
Click here for Updates on Synod of Bishops
Click here to view the DIOCESAN final synthesis
click here to view the DIOCESAN final synthesis appendices
Click here to view the AUSTRALIAN SYNTHESIS

Although the deadline for official submissions has closed, we still want to hear from you! Send your thoughts to met@parracatholic.org.

Join us for the Exhibition Night via Zoom at 7pm for reflection and discussion on 21 April. To register email met@parracatholic.org

On 1 May join Bishop Vincent at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Seven Hills (7 Grantham Rd) for a Mass to celebrate our Synod responses at the 9:30am Mass. For catering purposes and to RSVP email met@parracatholic.org

With the deadline for Synod submissions having closed on 13 March, you might be wondering what’s next. In the coming weeks, the Diocese of Parramatta’s Writing Group will be unpacking your submissions and making them one.
The Writing Group has four members: Anne Benjamin, David Bourne, Wendy Goonan, and Anastasia Boulus.

ANNE BENJAMIN
I am a woman of faith, a wife, mother and grandmother, a researcher, educator and poet, from a multicultural family in Western Sydney. I have worked for development in India, with the Church in Tonga, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand and across many Catholic dioceses in Australia, the Anglican and Lutheran Churches and the Australian Council of Churches. The vision of Vatican II which I encountered as a young adult has inspired me for the past 60 years and governed my various roles, including Diocesan Director of Education. With an ACU colleague, I recently completed a study of how the field of leadership can contribute to a more synodal Church.

DAVID BOURNE
I am a cradle Catholic, married to Catherine with three adult children. I have spent many years studying and teaching history, spirituality, theology and Catholic identity to students and adults. I have seen my forty-two years in Catholic education as an important ministry in the Church. I spent nineteen of those years as school principal and have had the privilege to serve a number of Catholic communities. I believe the Lord calls us to recognise and uphold the dignity of others as we are all “made in the image and likeness of God” (Wisdom 2:23).

WENDY GOONAN
I have been called as a Member of the Plenary Council and to help the Church grow in synodality. I have worked as a professional engineer and research assistant, and volunteered as a bushland crown reserve manager before joining the Diocese to serve on a Deanery Pastoral Council. I am married to Anthony, am a mother to six and grandmother to three. I am currently studying postgraduate theology and enjoy gardening and working with textiles and wood.

ANASTASIA BOULUS
I am a young Catholic who has enjoyed all thirteen years of schooling in the Diocese of Parramatta, and have helped establish and lead a thriving, volunteer-based youth group in my parish. I have a strong passion for youth and faith and remain inspired by my experience of World Youth Day 2016. I hope to grow in faith and fellowship as I prepare for marriage in May 2022. Professionally, I draw on my degrees in finance and psychology in my role as a consultant, in which I work collaboratively and solve complex problems. My area of expertise is the public sector, specifically higher education.

Plenary Council Website
Diocese of Parramatta response to the Plenary Council

We journey

We journey with each other and the Holy Spirit to participate equally in the present and future of our Church.

We pray

Through prayer, we open ourselves to be led as a Church by the Holy Spirit.

We talk

As we share with one another, we try to better understand where the Holy Spirit is leading.

We listen

As we listen, we deepen our awareness of the diversity of our Church and of the Church's mission now and into the future.

We invite

We invite all people to contribute. Your opinion matters.

We all need to learn in this journeying together. If you can, why don’t you help us in encourage real dialogue in your local communities through your friendships and other networks.

Maybe you have a social media account, a podcast?
A YouTube channel? A Newsletter? A blog? Share this important news with everyone. Be creative!
Download our social media posts to share with your friends

Share your thoughts

Email met@parracatholic.org

READ

Read the Synod documents

REFLECT

Reflect on the questions

PRAY

Say the prayer

Although the deadline for official submissions has closed, we still want to hear from you! Send your thoughts to met@parracatholic.org.

Synod means “coming together” or “travelling with”. A Synod brings together Catholics from all over the world to pray and reflect upon where the Holy Spirit is leading the Church. These sort of gatherings have existed since the earliest years of Christianity, when local leaders would come together to pray and make decisions.

One of the most significant Synods was the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). This Council stressed the importance of bishops as local leaders and as collaborators with one another, and encouraged more frequent synodal gatherings of bishops, known as “General Assemblies”.

Pope Francis has held a particular interest in the Synod of Bishops. In the year after he was elected pope, he held an “Extraordinary General Assembly of Bishops” on the topic of vocation and family.
On October 9-10, 2021, Pope Francis opened a two-year process of listening and dialogue, called the “Synod on Synodality”. Officially, it’s the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. This synod involves not just the bishops, but parishioners, priests, monks, nuns, and Catholic institutions. It has the great potential for significant and lasting consequences for the entire Church.
The Fifth Plenary Council of Australia, which is particularly focused on the celebration and renewal of the Catholic Church in Australia, has shown us the sort of synodal process to which Pope Francis invites us. The work of the Plenary Council is ongoing and will culminate with propositions made at the Second Assembly in July 2022. With the convoking of the Synod, the work and process of the Plenary Council will now correlate with the Synod’s timeline and intentions.
The Synod’s official theme is “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission”. Based on this theme, Pope Francis has invited the entire Church to reflect on the question: How does this “journeying together” take place today on many different levels (from the local level to the universal one), allowing the Church to proclaim the Gospel? And what steps is the Spirit inviting us to take, in order to grow as a Synodal Church?
Plenary Council Website
Diocese of Parramatta response to the Plenary Council

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The Synod is a journey towards allowing each one to express their experience, sentiments and thoughts. The voice of the Church is composed of many different voices and the Synod is a time of grace where the unified and coherent message is diversity and plurality. This is why we need your voice as well. You are invited to participate in a structured group, an informal discussion with friends, or as an individual.

1 Read the Individual Reflection Guide

https://www.catholic.org.au/images/BishopsSynod_-_Individual_Reflection_Guide.pdf

2 Read the Questions for Reflection.

https://www.catholic.org.au/images/BishopsSynod_-_List_of_questions.pdf

3 Upload your thoughts at the link below by 13 December 2021. You can make these submissions anonymously if you wish. A summary of 250 words capturing your main thoughts is recommended. (Make this a button that says ‘Submit your reflection here’

https://acu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2hoonYFZGcJRfdc

1 Download and distribute the discernment guides for the members of your group. As a guide, a group of five or more will need around 1.5 hours to work through each guide.

Listening and Discernment Guide Session I - Communion

Listening and Discernment Guide Session II - Participation

Listening and Discernment Guide Session III - Mission

2 Work through the questions giving each person an opportunity to respond.

3 Summarise your group’s responses in 250 words.

4 Upload your group’s thoughts at the link below by 13 December 2021. (Make this a button that says ‘Submit your reflection here’

https://acu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2hoonYFZGcJRfdc

We ask for your feedback by the 13 December. This is submitted directly to the Australian Council of Bishops National Centre for Pastoral Research to incorporate into a report about the Diocese of Parramatta’s feedback. The final reports are sent to the Bishops in March 2022. Responses from each Diocese in Australia are then used to create a single report that will be sent to the Vatican’s Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in April 2022. The XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops takes place in October 2023.

Plenary Council Website
Diocese of Parramatta response to the Plenary Council

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference website on the Synod:

https://www.catholic.org.au/synodalchurch

Official Synod of Bishops website:

https://www.synod.va/en.html

Other resources:

Synod of Bishops prayer A4

Synod of Bishops prayer A5

Preparatory document for the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

Vademecum (handbook) for the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

The Plenary Council is the first time in 80 years that the entire Australian Catholic Church will come together to pray, discuss and listen to the Holy Spirit about our future. You may or may not have already participated in contributing direct feedback to the process in 2019. It’s time to become involved again. In October 2021 nine Members of the Diocese of Parramatta will join nearly 280 other Catholics from around Australia. They will discuss the items on the Plenary Council Agenda.

The Plenary Council is about our Church. Each of us can ask the Holy Spirit to guide the process. We can each reflect on how we would answer the questions on the Agenda, and provide our feedback to the Members of the Plenary Council from our Diocese. You can email them at comms@parracatholic.org.

EXPLORE this website
SAY our Diocesan prayer
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DISCUSS the future of our Church.

CONTACT US

To find out more please email Tanya on MET@parracatholic.org

We journey

We journey with each other and the Holy Spirit to participate equally in the present and future of our Church.

We pray

Through prayer, we open ourselves to be led as a Church by the Holy Spirit.

We talk

As we share with one another, we try to better understand where the Holy Spirit is leading.

We listen

As we listen, we deepen our awareness of the diversity of our Church and of the Church's mission now and into the future.

We invite

We invite all people to contribute. Your opinion matters.

Share your thoughts

READ

REFLECT

PRAY

CONTACT US

NEW Stations of the Crib

Visio Divina

Helping you Discern

Imaginative Prayer

NEW The Examen

The Feather Prayer

The Mystery of the Trinity – Catholic Youth Parramatta

Come Holy Spirit – Catholic Youth Parramatta

Praying with Creation

Spiritual Communion Resource

Lectio Divina Prayer Resource

Divine Mercy Video Resource

Being Mary in a Martha World Resource