KENYA: “Do Not Be Bystander ” Says Bishop Muhatia on Synod on Synodality Process

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

At a webinar session to highlight on Pope Francis’ call for all the faithful to be involved in the forthcoming XVI Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops’ synod scheduled for 2023, a Kenyan Bishop has asked every Christian irrespective of their position in the Church to actively participate in the synodal preparations for the success of its realization.

“I encourage and invite every one of you not to be a bystander in this process, not to sit on the fence for there is no room for spectators,” Vice Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) Rt. Rev. Maurice Muhatia Makumba said while speaking to over 100 online participants Saturday, September 18, adding that this is the Holy Father’s request to all the faithful.

“The Church of God is for the people of God, a body of Christ which is all of us together called to journey as a people baptized and to participate fully in the kingly and prophetic mission of Jesus Christ,” the Local Ordinary of Kenya’s Nakuru Diocese explained narrating that in the prophetic mission, the lay faithful have a role to play towards the growth of the Church.

The Bishop noted that the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops was initially slated for October 2022, but was postponed to October 2023, in order to, “among other reasons, allow for wider consultation with the people of God.”

The Synod on Synodality, Bishop Muhatia explains, “Is an ecclesial journey that has a soul that is the Holy Spirit,” hence the upcoming Synod emphasizes “the participation of all the faithful from the local Church all the way up to the universal Church. It is hoped to be a common path for the laity, pastors and the Bishop of Rome, some kind of decentralized synod.”

Additionally the event themed, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission,” Bishop Muhatia said also aims to draw attention to the “circularity, reciprocity, journeying together, with respect to the various functions of the People of God.”

Expounding on the three tier synodal paths to be followed within the two-year preparations, the Prelate disclose that the solemn opening of the Synod by the Holy Father will be on 9th and 10th October beginning with Holy Eucharist as a “time of encounter, reflection and prayer.”

After the official inauguration of the Synod, the Diocesan phase will then follow with the launch in all local churches by the diocesan bishops Sunday, October 17, after the appointment of diocesan synod coordinators, “who will be the point of reference in the diocese and the liaison with the Bishops’ Conference.”

According to Bishop Muhatia, “The diocesan phase is supposed to be a time of listening to the Holy Spirit and to the Scriptures… consultation and participation of the People of God,” through the use of two working instruments; the preparatory document and handbook (Vademecum) already availed by the General Secretariat of the Synod to guide the Local Churches, and for “Greater involvement of lay people in a decision-making process that affects the whole Church and everyone in the Church.”

“Through this consultation the Church will “learn through her experience which processes can help her to live communion, to achieve participation, to open herself to mission,” and the process will then culminate in a pre-synodal meeting, by April 2022,” the former rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary narrated.

He added concerning the Diocesan phase, “The collated material will be sent to the respective Episcopal Conferences, which the bishops will synthesize as they listen to what the Spirit has inspired in the Churches entrusted to them” and then send the findings to the General Secretariat who will draft the first Instrumentum laboris, based on the responses from the local Churches. These will be published and sent to those particular Churches, September 2022.

Narrating further on the processes, the Bishop disclosed that a six-month period will follow from September, 2022 to March, 2023, as the continental phase aimed “to engage in a dialogue the Instrumentum laboris.”

Each continental group will then draft a final document which will be sent to the General Secretariat in March 2023, and a second Instrumentum laboris, based on the continental responses will be drafted.

In his Saturday presentation convened by the Paulines Publications Africa, the Kenyan Prelate noted that the process will culminate in October 2023, marked by Universal phase “With the celebration of the General Assembly of Bishops in Rome, and presided over by the Bishop of Rome.”