The International Meeting "Parish Priests for the Synod", and the dialogue with all of you who have taken part, provide me with the opportunity to pray for the parish priests the world over.

To all of you, I address these words with great affection.

It is so obvious as to sound almost banal, but that does not make it less true: the Church could not go on without your dedication and your pastoral service.

So before all else, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for the generous work that you do each day, sowing seeds of the Gospel in every kind of soil (cf.Mk4:1-25).

Parish priests and synodality

As you have experienced in these days of sharing, the parishes in which you carry out your ministry vary widely.

These range from those on the outskirts of great cities - as I know personally from Buenos Aires - to those in sparsely populated areas that are the size of vast provinces.

They range from those in town centres in many European countries, where ancient basilicas house dwindling and aging communities, to other quite different environments.

There, celebrations are held beneath the branches of great trees and the songs of birds mix with the voices of small children.

Parish priests are well aware of this, since they know from within the life of God's People their joys and hardships, their resources and their needs.

For this reason, a synodal Church needs its parish priests.

Without priests, we will never be able to learn how to walk together and to set out on the path of synodality, "the path which God expects of the Church of the third millennium".[1]

Synodal and missionary

We will never become a synodal and missionary Church unless parish communities are distinguished by the sharing of all the baptized in the one mission of proclaiming the Gospel.

If parishes are not synodal and missionary, neither will the Church be.

The Synthesis Report of the First Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is very clear in this regard.

Parishes, beginning with their structures and the organisation of parish life, are called to think of themselves:

"primarily as being of service to the mission that the faithful carry out in society, in family life and the workplace, without concentrating exclusively on their own activities and their organizational needs" (8.1).

Parish communities increasingly need to become places from which the baptized set out as missionary disciples and to which they return, full of joy, in order to share the wonders worked by the Lord through their witness (cf.Lk10:17).

Accompanying communities

As pastors, we are called to accompany in this process the communities that we serve.

At the same time, we are called to commit ourselves with prayer, discernment and apostolic zeal in ensuring that our ministry is suited to the needs of a synodal and missionary Church.

This challenge is set before the Pope, the bishops and the Roman Curia, and it is also set before you, as parish priests.

The Lord who has called us and consecrated us asks us today to listen to the voice of his Spirit and to advance in the direction that he points out to us.

Of one thing we can be sure: he will never leave us without his grace.

Along the way, we will discover how to set our ministry free from the things that wear us down and rediscover its most authentic core, the proclamation of God's word and the gathering of the community for the breaking of bread.

I encourage you, then, to accept this, the Lord's call to be, as parish priests, builders of a synodal and missionary Church and to devote yourselves enthusiastically to achieving this goal.

To this end, I would like to offer three suggestions that can help to inspire your lifestyle and activity as pastors.

Suggestions

1. I ask you first to live out your specific ministerial charism in ever greater service to the varied gifts that the Spirit sows in the People of God.

It is urgent to "discover with faith, the many and varied charismatic gifts of the laity, be they of a humble or more exalted form" (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis, 9), which are indispensable for evangelizing any number of human situations and contexts.

I am convinced that in this way you will bring to light many hidden treasures and feel less alone in the demanding task of evangelization.

You will experience the joy of being true fathers, who do not dominate others but rather bring out in them, men and women alike, great and precious possibilities.

2. With all my heart, I suggest that you learn to practise the art of communal discernment, employing for this purpose the method of "conversation in the Spirit", which has proved so helpful in the synodal journey and in the proceedings of the synodal Assembly itself.

I am certain that you will reap from it many good fruits, not only in structures of communion such as parish councils, but in many other fields as well.

As the Synthesis Report makes clear, discernment is a key element in the pastoral activity of a synodal Church:

"It is important that the practice of discernment be exercised also in pastoral settings, in a way adapted to differing contexts, in order to illumine the concreteness of ecclesial life.

"This will help to recognise better the charisms present within the community, to distribute wisely different responsibilities and ministries, and to plan in the light of the Spirit pastoral projects that go beyond the mere programming of activities" (2.1).

3. Finally, I would like to urge you to base everything you do in a spirit of sharing and fraternity among yourselves and with your bishops..

This is something that emerged forcefully from the International Conference for the Permanent Formation of Priests, on the theme, "Fan into Flame the Gift of God that You Possess" (2 Tim1:6).

The conference took place last February here in Rome, with over 800 bishops, priests, lay and consecrated men and women, engaged in this area and representing some 18 countries.

We cannot be authentic fathers unless we are first sons and brothers.

And we cannot foster communion and participation in the communities entrusted to our care unless, before all else, we live out those realities among ourselves.

I am quite aware that, amid the constant call of our pastoral responsibilities, this commitment may seem burdensome, even a waste of time, but the opposite is true.

Indeed, only in this way will we be credible and our activity not end up scattering what others have already gathered.

Missionaries of synodality

It is not only the synodal and missionary Church that needs parish priests, but also the ongoing process of the 2021-2024 Synod "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission".

We are currently looking forward to the Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will take place in the coming month of October.

In order to prepare for it, we need to hear your voice.

For this reason, I invite those who have taken part in the International Meeting "Parish Priests for the Synod" to be missionaries of synodality, among yourselves and, once you return home, with your fellow parish priests.

I ask you to encourage reflection, with a synodal and missionary mindset, on the renewal of the ministry of parish priests.

I also ask you to enable the General Secretariat of the Synod to gather your distinctive contributions in view of the preparation of the Instrumentum Laboris.

The purpose of the present International Meeting was to listen to parish priests, but that cannot finish today: we need to continue to hear from you.

Entrust ourselves to Our Lady

Dear brothers, I am at your side in this process, in which I myself am taking part.

I bless all of you from the heart, and in turn, I need to feel your closeness and the support of your prayers.

Let us entrust ourselves to the Blessed Virgin MaryHodegetria, Our Lady of the Way.

She shows us the way; she leads us to Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

FRANCIS

Saint John Lateran,
Rome

2 May 2024

__________________________________

[1]Address for the Commemoration of the Fifteth Anniversary of the Establishment of the Synod of Bishops, 17 October 2015.

[00737-EN.01] [Original text: Italian]

Source

• Vatican Press

The priests at the April 29-May 2 Rome-based meeting will reflect on the theme "How to Be a Synodal Local Church in Mission".

The invitation

The synod's General Secretariat has invited several parish priests to attend the second and last session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

The number of participants was determined according to a criterion similar to that which bishops' conferences used for electing members of the Synod Assembly (about 200).

In selecting participants, bishops' conferences and Eastern Catholic Churches were asked to take into account, as far as possible, those "who have significant experience with the perspective of a synodal Church".

They were also asked to "favour a certain variety of pastoral contexts of rural or urban origin or specific sociocultural contexts".

Listening, prayer and discernment

The Ordinary General Assembly's second and last session will be held at the Vatican next October.

Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín from the Sybod's General Secretariat says the meeting will involve "listening, prayer and discernment".

The meeting has strong Vatican support from the General Secretariat of the Synod and from the Dicasteries for the Clergy, for Evangelisation and for the Eastern Churches, Martin says.

The meeting will also respond "to the recommendations of the participants in the first session of the Synod of Synodality who suggested listening more to the voice of the parish priests".

The objectives

Marín says the objectives are to "listen to and enhance the synodal experience that they are having in their respective parishes and dioceses" and "enable dialogue ... experiences and ideas".

Another objective is for the meeting to "provide materials that will be used in the drafting of the Instrumentum Laboris (working document) for the Synod's second session.

These will add to the consultation summaries which the bishops' conferences coordinated and to the results of theological-canonical studies carried out under the auspices of the Synod's General Secretariat.

On the last day of the gathering, May 2, the parish priests will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican, finishing with a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

Source

• Catholic News Agency

Butler (pictured) will represent New Zealand's Catholic priests at the gathering from 28 April to 2 May.

He and 300 confreres from across the globe will share views and experiences at the "Parish Priests for the Synod: An International Meeting".

Their input is being sought to help prepare for the Synod on Synodality's second session this October.

The parish priests were chosen because they meet the selection criteria set by the Vatican for bishops' conferences.

These criteria expect those selected to have "significant experience in the perspective of a synodal Church" while also ensuring attendees are from "a variety of pastoral contexts".

Priests views sought

Butler says he has written to New Zealand's priests recently explaining his trip's purpose.

While noting he can't possibly represent everyone, he wants them to tell him about how they are finding the synodal process.

He says he hasn't always been engaged with the process himself.

"While I wasn't hugely involved with the Synod process at the parish level when it began, when I became Local Administrator I became very involved."

He now sees the experience quite differently.

"It's a wonderful way to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say to us from people whose voices are not always heard."

The meeting

During the five-day meeting, the parish priests will participate in roundtable discussions, liturgical celebrations, workshops on pastoral proposals, and dialogue with experts.

By listening to and valuing each other's experience of parish priests, they'll have the opportunity to experience and contribute to the "dynamism of synodal work at a universal level".

Their discussions will contribute to the Instrumentum Laboris - the working document for this October's synod assembly.

"I'm looking forward to the experience and the chance to meet Pope Francis there, something I never thought I would experience" he says.

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference