News from across our Parishes

Welcome to this Synod newsletter for the

St Barnabas Cluster of Parishes.

As preparations are underway for us to participate in the Synod process, we will use this newsletter to keep you informed of the opportunities for you to take part.

Meetings for conversations in small groups will be set up on different dates and at different times in the hope that as many people as possible will find a time that suits them.

It is important that we take this opportunity to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to us through each other and make our contribution to this synod called by Pope Francis across the universal church.

So what exactly is this Synod?

In 2023 there will be a meeting in Rome, called a Synod, of all the bishops of the worldwide Church. In choosing the theme for this meeting Pope Francis has focused on a central point of the Second Vatican Council. This Council reinvigorated the sense that all the baptised, both the hierarchy and the laity, are called to be active participants in the saving mission of the Church.
All of us are called in virtue of our Baptism to be active participants in the life of the Church. All of us are called to journey together (the word synod means journeying together) in shaping the Church’s life and mission.

Over fifty years after this Council, Pope Francis has invited all of us, laity and hierarchy, to reflect on how this journeying together takes place today on different levels (from the local level to the universal one), allowing the Church to proclaim the Gospel, and what steps is the Spirit inviting us to take in order to grow in this journeying together.

The Synod will take place very differently in each of our parishes and with different timetables. Below you will find some news about the synod in each parish.

St Augustine's

Thursday Dec 9th		7.30pm
Friday Dec 10th	10.30 am	2.30 pm
Sunday Dec 12th	9.30 am
Monday Dec 13th	10.30 am	2.30 pm
Tuesday Dec 14th	10.30 am	7.30pm
Wednesday Dec 15th	10.30 am	7.30pm
Friday Dec 17th	10.30 am

The coordinators of the process in St Augustine’s Parish, have arranged the dates above for meetings in the parish.mThe first of these will be held in December and a further two will take place in January and early February. All those who receive the weekly cluster e-newsletter will also receive this Synod newsletter. If you know of people who do not receive the e-newsletter, please let them know about this one. They can register at any time to receive the newsletter by sending an email to office@mk-cluster.co.uk. For people who do not use email, the basic information for St Augustine’s parish will be posted in the church porch.

In Christ the King, Our Lady of Lourdes, St Bede’s, St Edward’s and St Mary’s we have leadership groups who are gathering other leaders and we will begin meeting in a variety of ways after Christmas.

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