Latin Church in India to hold national synod

By Matters India Reporter

Bengaluru, July 13, 2022: The Latin Church in India will hold a national synod to validate a “National Synodal Synthesis” drawn from the deliberations held at the parish, diocesan and regional levels.

The July 26-28 synod at Paalanaa Bhavana in Bengaluru will be attended by 64 delegates from all over the country, says a press release from the headquarters of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in India, Latin rite.

CCBI president Cardinal-designate Filipe Neri Ferrão will preside over the synod that will be attended by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Cardinal-designate Anthony Poola, archbishop of Hyderabad, CCBI vice president Archbishop George Antonysamy and other officials of the conference.

At the national synod, 15 bishops, 12 priests, 10 Religious and 27 lay leaders will validate and finalize the Synthesis prepared by the National Synod Desk in collaboration with CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. It will then be sent to the General Secretariat of the Synod in Rome.

The first phase – the diocesan — of the Synod for a Synodal Church 2021–2023 ends in August. The Latin Church in India arrived at a national synthesis collated from 132 diocesan syntheses, 14 regional syntheses and syntheses from the 16 commissions, 7 departments and four CCBI apostolates as well as from the 674 major superiors of the Latin Religious Congregations in India.

The proposals that have emerged at the consultations at different levels will be taken up by the CCBI for further discernment and implementation, says Father Stephen Alathara, CCBI deputy secretary general.

He says the national synthesis will effectively serve as a road map for the Church in India in the coming few years.

As the first (national) phase of the Synod for a Synodal Church is brought to a conclusion, it is hoped that this national synod will be an occasion for the Latin Church in India to discern the ministerial goals and adopt the pastoral approaches that will help her to be a genuinely authentic Synodal Church, Father Alathara says.