No Synodality without Laity

14 November 2022

We Are Church calls for Equal Numbers of Voices for Laity and Clergy at the October 2023 and October 2024 Synod meetings

The Synodal Process called by Pope Francis has already exceeded expectations.

Laity and clergy have been meeting and listening at many levels:

·      Parishes

·      Dioceses

·      National

·      Continental

The Continental (DCS) document presents a good summary of the wide range of issues raised around the world and the Continental meetings in February and March 2023 will have balanced teams of laity and clergy representing each country.

The same balance must be maintained as we approach the two upcoming Synod sessions in Rome. Synodality means sharing decision making and decision taking. Thus, we urge church leaders to ensure that balanced teams of laity and clergy are present at the October 2023 and October 2024 meetings and that lay members have the same deliberative authority as clerical members. A Church of equals should be represented in the Synod by having representatives according to the plurality existing in the Church with respect to many important issues eg. Women; LGBTQ+ people; Laity in decision taking at all levels.

"No one puts new wine into old wineskins: otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins: but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins" (Mark 2:22)

Colm Holmes                                                             

Chair, We Are Church International                         

E colmholmes2020@gmail.com                                           

M +353 86 606 3636                                                 

W www.we-are-church.org

We Are Church International (WAC) founded in Rome in 1996, is a global coalition of national church reform groups. It is committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church based on the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it.