In his pastoral letter last weekend, the Cardinal highlighted Pope Francis’ invitation issued to each and every one of us to contribute to the meeting or Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome.In creating this opportunity for listening and dialogue at the local level, Pope Francis is calling the Church to humbly learn together how God is calling us to be as the Church in the third millennium. Synod means quite literally ‘journeying together’. At the heart of our journeying together is our listening – listening to one another, yes, but listening first and foremost to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us through the scripture, through the Tradition of the church, and through each other.

I do want to stress that this invitation is for everyone. In a preparatory document for the Synod, the point is well made. ‘In a synodal Church the whole community, in the free and rich diversity of its members, is called together to pray, listen, analyse, dialogue, discern and offer advice on making pastoral decisions which correspond as closely as possible to God’s will’. To this end, Pope Francis has asked every bishop throughout the world to listen to the local church that he has been called to shepherd. In turn, Cardinal Vincent has asked that each parish facilitate this listening.

Not long after the first lockdown had ended, we, as a parish, conducted a parish survey the principal aim of which was to listen to and learn from people’s experience of that first lock down. Again, the recent Parish Assembly was, I trust, an exercise in listening and journeying together. I hope therefore that we are well placed to respond to the Pope’s invitation and to engage in a discernment that relates to the life and mission of the church as a whole, not simply as it is lived here in St Albans or indeed the Diocese of Westminster. In the coming weeks and months, we will pray for the forthcoming Synod and, in particular, the success of these preparatory stages taking place across the world. More importantly, there will be opportunities for us to do what the Cardinal and Holy Father have asked us to do – to listen to one another: to share our experiences of life and faith, its joys and sorrows, its comforts and challenges so as to understand more fully what it is that God is calling us to.

The Synod Prayer can also be downloaded as a pdf using the button below.