Diocesan Synod Summaries for Ireland will be published

Pope Francis has called on everyone to take part in Phase 1 of the Synod on Synodality.

But will those of us who participate get to see how each diocese summarises what they hear?

The Vademecum is quite clear on this:

As a model of transparency, the members of the drafting team as well as the process of synthesizing the feedback can be made known to all. It is strongly recommended that the synthesis be made public once it has been drafted, as a touchstone for the journey of the diocese along the path of synodality. [Appendix D, page 59]

“Strongly recommended” is not the same as “you must”. So WAC decided to ask each of our dioceses if they plan to publish their synod summary.

We were very happy with the replies we received. Not a single diocese said they would not publish their summaries! So it looks like most of our dioceses will publish their summaries!

           SUMMARY:

           16 (62%)        said they plan to publish their summaries

            4 (15%)        said their synod committee will decide this

      None (0%)          said they would not publish their summaries

            6 (23%)        did not reply

Most disappointing was that 6 dioceses did not reply at all, despite reminders being sent.

As well as our 26 dioceses summarising what they hear, our bishops will summarise the 26 diocesan summaries into a Summary for all of Ireland. There is no advice offered in the Vatican documents as to whether the National Bishops Summaries should be made public. So WAC contacted the Irish Catholic Bishops to ask is they intend to publish the National Summary. We were informed that this question will be brought to the attention of the bishops at their March 2022 meeting.

Colm Holmes

WAC Joint Coordinator

28 February 2022