We invite you to take part in a report back and discussion session about the global Synod and its implications for the Australian Church, to be held via Zoom at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 19 February 2025.
The presentations will focus on the final session of the universal Synod in October 2024 and its report For a Synodal Church.
The presenters are two Synod participants:
- Bishop Shane Mackinlay
- Dr Sandie Cornish (now confirmed for this date).
As well as relating their experiences of the final meeting, the presentations and discussion will highlight key issues such as the role of women in the Church, the diversity of opinions across the global Church and the scope for local autonomy.
A key question is how the Australian Church will implement the results of the Synod and address unresolved issues.
There will be ample time for discussion. The meeting is organised by the Sense of the Faithful.
Comments from the speakers:
Bishop Mackinlay has reflected on his participation in the Synod:
There’s real excitement about the journey that we’ve been part of and the signposts that this will give us for the way forward from here. “We’ve become very aware of the significance of this across the whole of our Church, and it will play out in very different ways in different places. It’s an enormously significant step forward. It’s clearly an experience that’s been very full of the Holy Spirit and guided by the Holy Spirit. I’m tremendously grateful to have been part of it and look forward to the ongoing journey in this synodal process to which we are so committed.
Dr Cornish had this to say:
Throughout the journey, we’ve been learning how to be a more synodal Church together, and the process itself has been so important. As one of the facilitators here at the Synod, I feel that this is one of the things that people will take home with them, that we’ve been learning how to be a synodal Church on mission together. People are going home knowing more people from the universal Church, having heard of so many different contexts and different ways of expressing ourselves as a Church on mission. So I hold a lot of hope for the future.
This session is brought to you by Sense of the Faithful. Find out more on the Diocese of Parramatta’s Events page.
