Bangalore 13 July 2022 (CCBI): The Latin Church in India will be holding a National Synod from 26 to 28 July 2022, at Paalanaa Bhavana, Bengaluru, to validate the ‘National Synodal Synthesis,’ with the participation of 64 Delegates from all over the country.
The National Synod will be presided over by His Eminence Cardinal-Designate Filipe Neri Ferrão, President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), in the august presence of His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias, His Eminence Cardinal-Designate Anthony Poola, Most Rev. George Antonysamy, Vice President of the CCBI and other Officials of the National Episcopal Conference.
The 15 Bishops, 12 Priests, 10 Religious and 27 Lay Faithful are coming together to finalize the Synthesis prepared by the National Synod Desk in collaboration with Commission for Theology and Doctrine of the CCBI, before it is sent to the General Secretariat of the Synod in Rome.
The First Phase (Diocesan Phase) of the Synod for a Synodal Church 2021–2023 ends in August 2022. The Latin Church in India, having arrived at a National Synthesis collated from 132 Diocesan syntheses, 14 Regional syntheses and syntheses from the 16 Commissions, 7 Departments and 4 Apostolates of the CCBI as well as from the 674 Major Superiors of the Latin Religious Congregations in India, assembles to validate it.
The validated National Synthesis will be sent to the General Secretariat of the Synod and the proposals that have emerged at the consultations at different levels will be taken up by the CCBI for further discernment and implementation.
This National Synthesis will thus effectively serve as a road map for the Church in India in the coming few years. As the first (national) phase of the Synod for a Synodal Church is brought to a conclusion, it is hoped that this National Synod will be an occasion for the Latin Church in India to discern the ministerial goals and adopt the pastoral approaches that will help her to be a genuinely authentic Synodal Church.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Alathara
Deputy Secretary General, CCBI