By Matters India Reporters
New Delhi, Oct 18, 2021: Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the head of the Catholic Church in India, has launched the diocesan phase of the Synod 2021-2023.
The cardinal, who is the archbishop of Bombay and one of the top consulters of Pope Francis, on Oct 17 appealed to every Catholic to transform the Church in India to a Synodal Church.
“To transform the Church to a Synodal Church, we have to walk together in the same path including everybody; we have to encounter Jesus through prayer and adoration and to hear what the Spirit wants to say to the Church. Church should listen to all than hearing,” he said during the opening Mass at Mumbai’s Holy Name Cathedral.
The cardinal quoted the Pope to reiterate that the synod is a process of spiritual and ecclesial discernment that unfolds in adoration, prayer and in dialogue with the Word of God.
He also released a handbook for the synod titled, “For a Synodal Church,” published by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, the national body of Latin rite bishops.
Cardinal Gracias described the handbook as a useful tool for those involved in the two-year ‘Synodal Journey,’ which will unfold in three phases of consultations — at the diocesan, the continental, and the universal levels, culminating in October 2023, in Rome.
In Mangaluru, southern India, Bishop Peter Paul Saldanha opened the synod’s first phase during the Mass at Our Lady Holy Rosary Cathedral.
After the Mass, the bishop unveiled the Synod’s logo in the presence of priests, religious brothers and sisters and laity gathered.
The theme of the Synod depicted on the logo read: ‘For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.’ The Mangalore diocese will hold a study session to discuss the synodal process for priests, religious and lay leaders on October 21 at Urwa Church.
The day marks the 50th anniversary of Diocesan Pastoral Council.
Agartala diocese in the northeastern Indian state of Tripura inaugurated the Synod on Synodality at the public Mass concelebrated by some 30 priests at St. Xavier’s Cathedral Parish in the state capital.
Two finally professed for Holy Cross seminarians were ordained as deacons during the Mass.
In Goa, Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa-Daman celebrated the inaugural Mass at Se Cathedral, Old Goa.
“Let us get involved in this synodal process,” Archbishop Filipe Neri urged the gathering and explained the three phases of Synodal consultation.
Recalling the invitation of Pope Francis, he requested Catholics to “encounter one another with love and respect. Let us try to listen to one another with empathy. Let us all together listen to the Holy Spirit, what God is telling us as members of the church, as members of the living body of Christ, which his Son Jesus started.”
“What is important is not the product, but the process,” said the prelate who is the president of the Latin rite bishops’ conference.
Archbishop Filipe Neri also urged the people seek ways to make the synodal journey relevant in the day-to-day life of the Church and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit to grow genuinely in journeying together
“We need to encounter one another, listen to each other ‘not just with our ears but with our heart’ and discover together what God wants to say to us at this particular time as well as the direction in which he wants to lead us, as community of the disciples of Jesus,” he asserted.
The representatives of priests, nuns, lay people including elderly, youth, persons with disabilities, migrants and others participated in the Mass.
(With inputs from Stephen Alathara, Irudhaya Jothi and Lissy Maruthanakuzhy)