SYNOD 2020
Our journey to Synod 2020 is almost over. It has been a long but rewarding journey, beginning with a year of prayer between 2017 to 2018, leading up to the Eucharistic Congress.
Then in 2018 the Synod members were chosen by parishes and pastoral areas and they then got down to work.
In 2019, we gave our parishioners 4 questions and listened to your answers. Our congregations, our school children, our senior citizens, people preparing for the Sacraments, people who weren’t regulars in church in fact anyone who would take the time to speak to us, we would listen. The result of the answers given by everyone were analysed, prayed about, and discerned by our Synod 2020 working party to identify the Themes that would form the core of the next stage which was to turn the themes into proposals that would go to the Synod working party to again be analysed and prayed about and discerned to identify Recommendations that would go forward to be voted on by the whole Synod.
In 2020 the Synod 2020 fell victim to the Covid-19 Pandemic and with the churches closed, the Synod members had to devise ways to get the proposals to people to allow them to voice an opinion. Lots of people turned to social media to reach as many people as possible but some people used telephone calls to inquire over someone’s welfare and to ask them for their opinions on proposals. Synod members were quite inventive. The Synod time scale was extended to account the delay caused by the Pandemic, but the work of the Synod office never stopped.
Now, finally, the Proposals have become Recommendations, and these will be voted on by the entire Synod on 19th June 2021 via a Zoom meeting (in case Covid restrictions are still in operation) and the Synod 2020 will conclude with a Mass (hopefully) in the Metropolitan Cathedral on Sunday 20th June 2020.
There are 19 Recommendations, covering topics such as Evangelisation and Ministry, how we welcome people, faith formation, prayer and spirituality, Catholic social teaching, and others. When voting, each member will, after a period of prayer and discernment, have 4 possible votes for each Recommendation.
1. is of high priority and should be acted upon immediately.
2. is that the Recommendation is a good idea but not imperative.
3. is one that doesn’t strike the member as being as important as some of the others.
4. is a recommendation that the member doesn’t think is the way ahead for the Archdiocese currently.
The Next Steps
You have been involved in every part of the process so far, so you should naturally be involved at this stage too.
On a link in this page is a list of all 19 Recommendations. Please read them. If you would like more information about them then please go to
Recommendations — Synod 2020 Recommendations
This link will take you to the Synod website which will give you to background to each of the Recommendations and there is a short video by Bill Huebsch, the American theologian and author, highlighting what we need to be considering as we vote.
The results will be prayed about and discerned by Archbishop Malcolm and the group he has chosen to help him create the Pastoral Plan which will be delivered to our Archdiocese in the first week in Advent 2021.
If you have any feedback on the Recommendations, please feel free to email me on
May I thank you all for your support over the years of Synod 2020. It has been a journey of discovery, enlightenment, and friendships. Yes, there have been low times, but these have been few and can be considered as life lessons. I am grateful for the good and bad of the journey. Thank you.
Pat Daly