Synodal Pathway Update with Julieann Moran
In just a few weeks, delegates from across Ireland will gather in Kilkenny for the Pre-Synodal Assembly taking place on 18th October 2025. This is an important step on our Irish Synodal Pathway – the journey of listening, prayer, and discernment that we are walking together as the People of God.
Link to Julieann:
To help prepare for this Assembly, Baptised and Sent, the Preparatory Document, has now been published. This text is the fruit of prayer, reflection, and communal discernment drawing on the contributions from the Spring Gatherings held across the country (February – May 20025), as well as the ongoing work of the National Synodal Team. It highlights the emerging priorities which the Spirit is calling the Church in Ireland to attend to in this time.
Although not everyone will be in Kilkenny, the Synodal Pathway belongs to all of us. We warmly invite you to:
- Read the document and reflect on the emerging priorities.
- Share your reflections at home, in your parish, in your school, or wherever two or three gather in His name.
- Pray for the delegates who will gather in Kilkenny, that the Holy Spirit will guide their listening and discernment.
The Synodal Pathway is not about a single event, but about building a culture of listening and walking together as Christ’s people. Thank you for being part of this journey. Together, we are the Church in Ireland, listening for what the Spirit is saying today.
You can download the Preparatory Document here or by clicking on the image below.
A call not just to open doors but to tear down walls. Now is the time❗️
Without radical equality between Women and men there is no true synodality.
https://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/2025-09/dcmen-008/for-a-synodal-church-women-s-co-responsibility-is-not-an-appendi.html
The publication of this document a month before the pre-synodal Assembly is a confirmation of the transparency and accountability that are integral to the notion of synodality. It makes it clear that the document belongs in the first place to the People of God in Ireland, each of whom is now free to respond and register their opinion for consideration at Kilkenny. This is a refreshing change in how until relatively recently the Church conducted its business behind closed doors, in secret. The document itself is most interesting: with a fair degree of convergence (around the centrality of Baptism and several main priorities for the future), but also the identification of ongoing tensions and disagreements (around, for example, the role of women and attitudes to the LGBTQ+ community). There are also frank acknowledgements of the fatigue and weariness, even scepticism, around the whole process. This is an honest, realistic and hopeful document. Many congratulations and thanks to the National Team and indeed all involved, including the Bishops.