Category Archives: Synod

In building magnificent engineering structures such as bridges, skyscrapers, ocean liners, and bullet trains, human beings have learnt and applied some fundamental lessons. One such basic lesson is that development is a painstakingly slow-moving process devoid of shortcuts. Furthermore, the journey towards completion entails challenges that, once embraced, stimulate creativity and innovation.  Throughout history we’veContinue reading “Building a Synodal Church”

The heart is used metaphorically as the centre. For example, a son or daughter is referred to as the heartbeat of parents.  The rhythm of the heart indicates the quality of our overall health. By using a stethoscope, medical doctors listen to the heartbeat. Positioning it in their ears, the stethoscope drowns out external noiseContinue reading “Synodality – Individual’s Contribution to the Whole”

One of the frustrating experiences in the synodal journey, a journey of dialogue, discernment and decision-making by the People of God, is the immediate shooting down of a proposed idea, concept, or recommendation. Someone offers a proposal and it’s instantaneously thrown in the garbage. There may be good reasons for rejection, but the manner inContinue reading “Synodality and Reception of Ideas”

The feeling of frustration is one of the many emotions that were either expressed by the People of God or intuited in their stories during the consultation phase of the synodal journey. I invite you to sense the frustration in the following testimony extracted from a synod synthesis. “Some of the priests are very thin-skinnedContinue reading “Synodality and Fustrations”

The synodal journey of the People of God fundamentally involves the initiation and development of quality relationships. Relationship building is like the proverbial saying “getting under someone’s skin”. One of the consequences of such attachment is conflict. There’s no synodal journeying without conflicts. Due of our differences – different personalities, experiences, perspectives, opinions, ways ofContinue reading “Synodality and Conflict Transformation”

Why does the journey towards building a synodal Church appear like the ascent up a steep and rugged hill? Some years ago, four friends and I agreed to hike up a steep mountain. On the way to the starting point, I observed a bottle of whiskey and few glasses in the car. At the footContinue reading “Synodality and the Human Family”

We have a natural attraction for youthfulness – the fat cheeks of toddlers, the smooth silk-like skin of children, the exuberance and aliveness of adolescence, the sculptured body of athletes, and the full head of hair of young men and women. These images splatter the pages of fashion magazines, occupy the storyline of movies, shapeContinue reading “Synodality and the Aged”

Within community life, we have been injured by the bullets of persons’ tongues, writings, or inactions. Perhaps, a parish priest has failed to visit during an illness; parishioners have exercised inhospitality at Mass; gossiping tongues have exposed my inner world; or hierarchical infighting plots against upward mobility.  When we are emotionally injured, sometimes the humanContinue reading “Synodality and Ecclesial Bunkers”

Have you ever had the experience of waiting for a response from someone?  It may have been waiting on your boss’s response to a project proposal, or a response to a request to your parents, a challenge or critique to a friend, a love note to a girl or boyfriend, a submitted application form, orContinue reading “Synodality and Waiting”