Becoming a Parish-in-Council
The second session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2024 presents a timely opportunity to reflect on synodality as an emerging concept within the Church.
Following the “Parish Priests for the Synod” meeting of parish priests in Rome earlier this year, the Holy Father published a 2 May 2024 letter and remarked:
We will never become a synodal and missionary Church unless parish communities are distinguished by the sharing of all the baptised in the one mission of proclaiming the Gospel. If parishes are not synodal and missionary, neither will the Church be.
The Synthesis Report of the First Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is very clear in this regard. Parishes, beginning with their structures and the organisation of parish life, are called to think of themselves “primarily as being of service to the mission that the faithful carry out in society, in family life and the workplace, without concentrating exclusively on their own activities and their organisational needs” (8.1).
Parish communities increasingly need to become places from which the baptised set out as missionary disciples and to which they return, full of joy, in order to share the wonders worked by the Lord through their witness (Lk 10:17).
Faithful to this invitation, the Chatswood parish has pioneered a new way to bring the synodal activities of encounter, listening, and discernment into action called “Parish-in-Council”.
This initiative, reflective of Chapter 3 of the Rule of St Benedict, invites the entire parish together, with regularity, to enjoy friendship, prayer, formation in faith and shared discernment of mission through the methodology of Conversation in the Spirit. Chatswood have now committed to three such sessions annually, having completed four to date, with a fifth to be held on November 10.
As a Parish, Chatswood have also implemented a Kids-in-Council to coincide with Parish-in-Council sessions and a Youth-in-Council for senior students of two local Catholic high schools that feed into the Parish-in-Council sessions.
With this experience over the last 18 months, the project has now matured to a confidence that is able to share the experience with those who may have an interest in the model for other parish communities.
As a community, particularly resourced, Chatswood understands its responsibility to make available our knowledge and insight. Though we would not expect the Parish-in-Council model to be applicable in every context, we do believe it offers opportunities for every parish to grow synodally.
You are invited to join in on Saturday, 2 November
Interested clergy, parish staff, ministry leaders and lay people are invited to join us from 11am on Saturday, 2 November for an interactive seminar on “Becoming a Parish-in-Council”.
The seminar will feature:
- An introduction to the unique approach and its origins
- Learning to date from being a Parish-in-Council
- The opportunity to experience the process in action
- Practical considerations of becoming a Parish-in-Council
- The significance of charisms and their identification
Please use the link below for further information and to lodge your RSVP.
RSVP