Synod on Synodality
Synod on Synodality
The theme of the Synod is Communion, participation, and mission. Pope Francis is inviting all the baptized to participate in this Synodal Process because all the baptized are the subject of the sensus fidelium, the living voice of the People of God. The Synod began in 2021 and is still continuing beyond 2024. Learn more about the Synod by using these helpful links.
65. Over the centuries, the Church has also been enriched spiritually by the many different forms of consecrated life. From the very beginning, the Church has recognized the action of the Spirit in men and women who have followed Christ along the path of the evangelical counsels, consecrating themselves to the service of God, whether through contemplation or other forms of service. They are called to interrogate Church and society with their prophetic voice. Across their centuries-long history, the various forms of consecrated life elaborated what we now recognize as practices of synodal living. These include how to practice discernment in common and to harmonize together individual gifts as well as pursue mission in common. Orders and congregations, societies of apostolic life, secular institutes, as well as associations, movements and new communities, all have a special contribution to make to the growth of synodality in the Church. Today, many communities of consecrated life are like laboratories for inter-cultural living in a way that is prophetic for both the Church and the world. At the same time, synodality invites - and sometimes challenges – pastors of local Churches, as well as those responsible for leadership in consecrated life and in the movements, to strengthen relationships in order to bring to life an exchange of gifts at the service of the common mission.
77. The lay faithful, both men and women, should be given greater opportunities for participation, also exploring new forms of service and ministry in response to the pastoral needs of our time in a spirit of collaboration and differentiated co-responsibility. In particular, some concrete needs have emerged from the synodal process. These ought to be responded to according to the various contexts: a) increased participation of laymen and laywomen in Church discernment processes and all phases of decision-making processes (drafting, making and confirming decisions); b) greater access of laymen and laywomen to positions of responsibility in dioceses and ecclesiastical institutions, including seminaries, theological institutes and faculties, more fully enacting existing provisions; c) greater recognition and support for the lives and charisms of consecrated men and women and their employment in positions of ecclesial responsibility; d) a greater number of qualified lay people serving as judges in all canonical processes; e) effective recognition of the dignity and respect for the rights of those who are employed in the Church and its institutions.
118. We recognize that institutes of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life, as well as associations, movements and new communities, have the ability to take root locally and, at the same time, connect different places and milieus, often at a national or international level. Their action, together with that of many individuals and informal groups, often brings the Gospel to highly diverse contexts: to hospitals, prisons, homes for the elderly, reception centers for migrants, minors, those marginalized and victims of violence; to centers of education and training, schools and universities where young people and families meet; to the arenas of culture and politics and of integral human development, where new forms of living together are imagined and constructed. We look with gratitude also to monasteries, which are places of gathering and discernment and speak of a “beyond” that concerns the whole Church and directs its path. It is the particular responsibility of the Bishop or Eparch to animate these diverse bodies and to nurture the bonds of unity. Institutes and associations are called to act in synergy with the local Church, participating in the dynamism of synodality.
144. The Church already has many places and resources for the formation of missionary disciples: families, small communities, parishes, ecclesial associations, seminaries and religious communities, academic institutions, and also places for serving and working with the marginalized, as well as missionary and volunteer initiatives. In each of these areas, the community expresses its capacity to educate in discipleship and to accompany through witness. This encounter often brings together people of different generations, from the youngest to the oldest. In the Church, no one simply receives formation: everyone is an active subject and has something to give to others. Popular piety, too, is a precious treasure of the Church, which teaches the whole People of God on the journey.
On March 21 and 26, 2025, the NRVC Board was invited through the USCCB-CCLV to participate in a National Synod Listening Sessions for the Interim Stage for Working Group IV and VI. The focus on Working Group 4 was the revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacredotalis in a missionary and synodal perspective. The focus of Working Group 6 was on the revision, in a synodal missionary perspective, of the documents (Mutuae Relationes) touching on the relationship between Bishops, consecrated life, and ecclesial associations. This was part of a wider invitation to the other consulting organizations in the CCLV committee: CMSM, CMSWR, LCWR, NACS (National Association of College Seminaries), NACTS (National Association of Catholic Theological Schools, USACV (United States Association of Consecrated Virgins), and USCSI (US Conference of Secular Institutes).
On October 31, 2024, the NRVC Convocation opened with a reflection from Mr. Wyatt Olivas, the youngest voting delegate at its opening prayer. Wyatt had just flown home from the Synod. The NRVC invited him to deliver reflections on Micah 6:8 in light of his experience at the synod. His reflection was published in the Winter 2025 edition of HORIZON.
On April 9, 2024, the NRVC International Member Area along with Vocations Canada and Vocations Ireland, hosted a 90-minute webinar with a presentation, breakout groups, and dialogue with the presenter, Synod voting delegate, Sister Elizabeth Davis, RSM of the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland and Labrador.
On March 20, 2024, the National Religious Vocation Conference and Religious Formation Conference (RFC) sponsored a synodal consultation for formation and vocation ministers. 256 registered for the event and 105 participated. Participants are current members of the NRVC and RFC from around the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Peru, and Singapore, including brothers, sisters, religious priests, and lay ecclesial ministers. The religious institutes represented were apostolic, cloistered, evangelical, missionary, monastic, and societies of apostolic life. The consultation took place for 1.5 hours in the evening by Zoom.
For more information, reach out to Sister Debbie at debbiesscm@nrvc.net
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Being connected to others doing similar ministry is a big reason that Friar Emanuel Vasconcelos, O.F.M.Conv. is part of the NRVC. He is vocation director for the Franciscan Friars Conventual, Our Lady of the Angels province. He is also a Mid-Atlantic Member Area Coordinator, along with Sister Jean Rhoades, D.C. Read more...
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