Reimagining Pastoral Councils - Starter Kit
This toolkit for pastoral councils is designed to foster faith-filled communities, more engaged participation, and a renewed openness to mission.
Synodality 101: Our Workshops
Learn about our online series of workshops with practical application on hosting Conversations in the Spirit in your own contexts.
How do we step back from our own agendas to be attentive to where the Spirit is moving? How can we make better decisions about organising ourselves as Christian communities? How do we enrich our parish communal life with enriching conversations?
The Synod process has emphasised the importance of listening and good conversations in our community life. However, these are not always so easy in practice!
After the success of our Practising Synodality Webinars, we wanted to offer a series of workshops to help people to bring the richness of conversations in the spirit into their communities. The School for Synodality now holds bi-annual online workshops called ‘Synodality 101: Conversations in the Spirit’.
The aim is to help people engage with this method at the local level, and train in how to successfully facilitate conversations in the spirit in their own contexts and communities. These workshop series introduce the principles of holding prayerful, truthful and safe conversations which value gracious listening and courageous speaking. To be the first to hear about our upcoming workshops and events, please sign up to our newsletter here.
Below is a snapshot of what you may experience in our Synodality 101 workshops - registration requires you attend all three sessions:
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Explore the values of a synodal church
Be introduced to the importance of listening in Jesus' ministry
Reflect on what makes a good conversation
Work through some values of listening and speaking
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Explore the role of the facilitator
Look at options for leading prayer at the beginning of a session
Think about small-group skills
Consider some tricky situations which might arise
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Reflect back on your own trial conversation
Think about using these materials to train others in your community
Make plans for how you can use your skills
The workshops also include interactive 'trial' conversation over the course of the sessions, and reflections on this experience with the group. We will also hold a conversation in the Spirit together each week.
The series is suitable for all levels of experience, including people not involved in the Synod process so far. After attending these workshops, we hope you will have all the resources you need to hold a conversation in the Spirit in your community.
We will be running the sessions again in spring 2025, to hear about them first, sign up to our newsletter below.
““The small group spiritual conversations were really enriching - both from the perspective of practicing skills, but also from the experience of having a spiritual conversation with people we wouldn’t otherwise ordinarily connect with.””
Conversations In the Spirit - a How To Guide
All of our ‘Conversations in the Spirit’ practical resources, including prayers, meeting prompts and methods.
‘Conversation in the Spirit’, or Spiritual Conversation, is an ancient practice of the Church and a key tool of Synodality. A prayerful method, it allows for space for the spirit as well as voices usually not heard and can be used for faith sharing, difficult conversations, or when lots of creativity or ideas are needed.
Conversation in the Spirit is a strangely practical art. It relies on good communication – being able to hear and understand one another. It can be an excellent tool to ground any conversation in the Spirit, open us to new voices and possibilities, and move us to action when appropriate.
RESOURCES
Conversations in the Spirit - methods & best practice
How to host Conversations in the Spirit - easy to follow methods, practical considerations and helpful habits to embody.
Conversations in the Spirit - prompt cards for groups
“How shall we be together?”
We have created helpful cards that can be used to facilitate Conversations in the Spirit within your own communities.
Conversations in the Spirit - Leading prayer in meetings
“where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them”
We can have a terrible culture of a ‘quick prayer’ at the beginning of meetings - but this is not enough to help us grow as living communities of faith. This process can help us enrich decision making meetings to be both more effective, and become encounters that help us grow as living communities of faith.
Download our step by step directions for group meetings that draw on the rich tradition of Lectio Divina.
Four Steps to Practising Synodality
A framework for thinking these new synodal processes and habits. Drawing on the Council of Jerusalem. It can be applied to any group making decisions or discerning the future.
Bishop Nicholas Hudson Synodality Interview
Bishop Nicholas Hudson and Avril Baigent discuss life at the Synod in Rome, and how we can bring synodality into our parishes at home.
Bishop Nicholas Hudson, auxiliary bishop of Westminster and Synod delegate, was interviewed at our event 'From Rome to Home' by Avril Baigent, the Co-Director of the School for Synodality and a Synod facilitator. They discussed their shared experiences of the Synod in Rome, and what synodality might mean for our Catholic communities at home.
Watch the interview in full below:
Explainer video - What is Synodality?
What is Synodality, exactly? Watch and share the School for Synodality’s video exploring the core components of the synodal way.
The School for Synodality has created this short animation video exploring the synodal way, explaining it not as a one-off listening exercise but rather as an invitation towards an ongoing call to conversion, reshaping how we attend to all things, guided by the working of the Holy Spirit.
While the ancient practice of synodality can be found throughout Church history, where leaders of the Church gathered in a way to listen and discern together, what is different here is this invitation into the practice of synodality is for all the people of God.
We are all invited to integrate this ancient practice at all levels of the Church - including local, diocesan, national and global - changing how we gather, how we listen, how we include, how we plan, how we discern, and how we move forward together as a people of God.
When we build on this style of encounter, when we include different voices and open the space to all, to discern and dream together, we can we strengthen the bonds of love and enrich all aspects of Church life.
Conversation in the Spirit Resource Cards
We have created these helpful cards that can be used to facilitate Conversations in the Spirit within your own communities. We have a professional printer version and a standard home printing version.
Final Synod Document - Reflection Resources
Follow along as we reflect together on key passages from the Final Document from the XVI Assembly.
The last stage of the three year Synod journey was the creation of a Final Synod Document called ‘For a Synodal Church, Communion, Participation and Mission'.
These recommendations from the XVI Assembly have been approved by Pope Francis and taken into church teaching, and which the Pope has asked us all to implement in our countries and contexts. You can download the Final Document of the XVI Assembly, ‘For a Synodal Church, Communion, Participation and Mission' here >>.
The Final Synod Document a rich resource, beautiful but rather technical in places. Much like we might do with scripture, its possible to reflect on individual passages of the Final Document and allowing them to inspire us. Our series of reflections are an opportunity to reflect and respond alone or in groups, and we will be updating this page as we go along.
Reflection One:
Our first reflection concentrates on the definition of synodality. This passage from the Final Document is taken from 'Part I: The Heart of Synodality' which looks at how we are called by the Holy Spirit to conversion.
“Oriented towards mission, synodality involves gathering at all levels of the Church for mutual listening, dialogue and community discernment. It also involves reaching consensus as an expression of Christ rendering himself present... In simple and concise terms, synodality is a path of spiritual renewal and structural reform that enables the Church to be more participatory and missionary so that it can walk with every man and woman, radiating the light of Christ” §28
Questions for reflection:
What stands out for you from this passage? Is there a particular word or phrase that is resonating in you?
What are the possibilities for linking "spiritual renewal and structural reform"?
What possibilities does it open up for you?
Video resource: Reimagining Pastoral Councils Workshop
The video of our online workshop from November 2024 exploring our latest resource, the ‘Pastoral Council Starter Kit’.
Moving to a new form of Pastoral Council requires learning new skills and practices, particularly in listening to the Holy Spirit and to one another. This is not so easy in practice!
The School for Synodality held an online workshop on 23rd November 2024 for all those interested in our resource ‘Reimagining Pastoral Councils, a Starter Kit’ which you can download here. We explained the journey of a reimagined Pastoral Council, talked through the practicalities, and gave the chance for attendees to share with others their own hopes for re-imagined pastoral councils in a synodal style in their communities.
Watch our edited video fo the workshop below:
Re-imagining Pastoral Councils: Briefing Paper
We suggest a wholesale re-imagining of pastoral councils, a distinctly Catholic model of decision-making, which does not rely on business methods but draws on centuries-old practices of spiritual discernment.
Download here
Practising Synodality Webinar Series
On-demand versions of our Practising Synodality webinar series, in which we heard from several important voices on the topic of synodality.
Leading Prayer in Meetings
Step by step directions for meetings that draw on the rich tradition of Lectio Divina. This process can help us enrich decision making meetings to be both more effective, and become encounters that help us grow as living communities of faith.
Conversation in the Spirit
A key tool of synodality that helps us to have different kinds of conversations about our faith and discern plans for the future. This prayerful method allows for space for the spirit as well as voices usually not heard.