LEICESTER, United Kingdom – An English bishop attending the Synod on Synodality says the significance of digital media for evangelization is being “featured highly” at the event.
Auxiliary Bishop in Westminster, Nicholas Hudson, said in a statement to the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales that the suggestion that the Church is “where we follow people to” was brought him by an African bishop who said, “When the fishermen go hunting for fish, we follow them; when the miners abandon their village to pursue the goldrush, we go with them.”
“There was a rootedness in our sharing too, an awareness that, where the Church is more stable, deep consideration needs to be given to how the diverse councils for discernment at our disposal might be made more synodal,” Hudson said.
The bishop said he detected, in a meeting of priests in England “an openness to synodality; a desire to know how we can begin to be more synodal in our parishes – which is precisely the focus of our Synod.”
“We have been asking, for two weeks now, how we can be a missionary Synodal Church. There is a strong sense in the Synod Hall that, at the end of this Assembly, we shall be wishing to communicate something which will be easy to comprehend; and able to empower parishes to embark on a more synodal approach,” he said.
Hudson said in his speech, he pointed out that the word “Evangelization” is entirely absent from the synodal document – “and yet a synodal Church must have the New Evangelization at its core.”
“I suggested Conversations in the Spirit might be understood as a most timely strategy for realizing the call of successive popes for synodal conversation – not only among ourselves but also with members of other ecclesial communions, other faiths and people who profess no faith. Formation for this would be essential. Transparency and accountability also featured largely in the section,” the bishop said.
Hudson also said the Synod on Synodality is a “unique experience.”
“It feels very much like a journey, a shared journey that we make together – much more a pilgrimage than a conference,” he said.
“It felt very pilgrimage-like to process, laypeople leading the bishops together into St Peter’s Square for the opening Mass; to celebrate a vigil of mercy, a penitential service, after our retreat; to come in prayer to the Basilica of St Mary Major on the eve of the anniversary of the 7th October Hamas terror attack in Israel to pray the rosary and all to fast the next day; to gather one evening on the site of St Peter’s martyrdom for an ecumenical vigil; and to meet for Mass in St Peter’s in diverse rites and languages across the month,” the bishop said.
He noted that in his opening address, Pope Francis chose to describe the synodal journey as a “journey we make together with hope, humility and trust.”
“Hope, humility and trust – these three words I have held onto and sought to aspire to; and find they capture wonderfully the spirit in which so many around me also seek to live this unique enterprise,” Hudson said.
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