You will remember that late last year, Fr Peter and Fr Antonio led “Listening Events” to listen to what you had to say about the Church. The events were part of the worldwide synod process launched by Pope Francis to invite us to listen deeply to one another and to discern what God is saying to the Church about how we “journey together”. Those not able to come to the events were invited to fill in a questionnaire instead.
The feedback we received from both the Listening Events and questionnaire were submitted to the diocese. The diocese, in turn, gathered all the responses from parishes and our bishops (Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Bishop John Sherrington, Bishop Nicholas Hudson and Bishop Paul McAleenan) wrote a report based on the parish responses. The report has been submitted to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales to contribute to a national report finalised in June and sent to the Synod Office in the Vatican in July. The reports from this global exercise will then form the basis of preparatory documents for the Synod of Bishops in October 2023.
The report covers feedback on the impact of the pandemic, the role of priests, transparency and inclusion, women in the Church, teaching the Catholic faith and welcome towards LGBTQ+, divorced and remarried people
Fr Antonio was pleased to have been asked by the bishops to turn the report into an attractive and easy-to-read booklet. You can download the 20-page report here and it is also available on the Diocese of Westminster website.