WelCom May 2024
Fr Marcus Francis
How is the teaching of Pope Francis on synodality impacting at ground level? So often we hear of what is happening in the Vatican or elsewhere but what is happening in New Zealand?
One example is St Joseph’s parish in Dannevirke. Last year it celebrated its 125 Jubilee but what, one may ask of the future? Taking inspiration from Pope Francis, the parish began its own journey of synodality to discern a vision to unite the parish and take it into the future. Underpinning this was also the concept of missionary discipleship, where all parishioners are called to contribute to the mission of the Church.
The first step was to gather the members of the three principal parish committees to experience synodal dialogue. This put into practice the process learnt from the National Priests’ Assembly. The prayer, the sharing and the listening resulted in a distillation of the desires and hopes of the participants for the parish. The result was a sense of hope and optimism as we shared our love of the Church and found common ground.
Factions and divisions were not apparent. Rather a sense of how God is calling us all to embrace the future.
The next stage is to widen the process to include the wider parish as we learn better how to listen. Dissent and dissatisfaction are not excluded but speak to how we need to change. They are not part of the end result. Unity in mission and an openness to hear diverse voices emerging and surrounded by prayer and the Holy Spirit seems to be a providential method to deal the polarisation and polemics that are highlighted by some commentators.
Based now in the Catholic Parish of Hastings I will look to initiate synodality here. Meanwhile, I hope that the good work begun in Dannevirke will continue to bear fruit.
Fr Marcus Francis, parish priest, The Catholic Parish of Hastings.