VATICAN: Members of the Ordinary Council, Ambassadors of Synodality in Local Churches: Cardinal Grech

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

At the first meeting of the members of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod on Tuesday, December 17, participants were reminded that they are a bridge between the universal Church’s call for a synodal way of living and the local faith community by promoting communion, participation, and mission.

In a statement shared with AMECEA Online, Mario Cardinal Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops said to the online participants from various continents, “You are ambassadors of synodality to your local churches so the people of God may increasingly fall in love with the synodal Church.”

In their meeting, members discussed a series of initiatives and topics to be developed to accompany the local Churches in the appropriation of the Final Document that was released in October after the second phase of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops and the implementation of its recommendations.

“The General Secretariat was asked to develop a project focusing on formation in synodality and the accompaniment of the Churches,” reads part of the statement shared Wednesday, December 18, which adds that the project needs to be submitted to the council in the next meeting slated for February 2025.

Besides the various activities discussed, Monsignor Piero Coda, Secretary General of the International Theological Commission, presented a report on the ecclesiological perspectives of the Final Document which was adopted by delegates of the synod and the Holy Father Pope Francis last October.