The Archdiocese of Armagh enters the listening phase of its Synodal Pathway

As the Diocesan Pastoral Plan in the Archdiocese of Armagh for the period 2015 to 2020, drew to a close, the Archdiocese launched a Year of Reflection and Prayer in January 2020 so that it could begin making preparations for a new Pastoral Plan in a new decade!

The purpose of the year was to encourage reflection and seek the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit in discerning the way forward for the diocese in the years ahead.  No one could have foreseen the arrival of a worldwide pandemic in 2020, nor the immense changes and challenges that it heralded.  For this reason, the Archdiocese extended the year of reflection and this extended period of prayer and reflection ended on the 30th June 2021. The Year of ‘Year of Reflection and Prayer’ may have officially ended in the diocese on the 30th June but, reflection and prayer never ends and will be an essential element of each step along the way.

The next step on the journey will involve an active period of listening and consultation over the next two years which will help the Archdiocese prepare for a Diocesan Synodal Assembly in Autumn 2024. The final year before the Assembly will be spent analysing what we learn through the consultation and conversation process and working with the delegates who will participate in the Assembly, the elected and selected ‘Some’ from the parishes and other church bodies who will attend the actual Assembly itself. There they will bring the fruits of the listening, consultation, and conversation to the ‘One’ the bishop and make recommendation for a future diocesan plan. And so, the principle of ‘All’, ‘Some’, and ‘One’ comes into effect and opens up responsibility for the ongoing mission of the Church to all the baptised.

   As a local Church we will also feed into the universal Churches synodal pathway leading to the Synod of bishops in Rome in 2023 and the island wide process that will culminate in a National Assembly or Assemblies in 2026. So, over the coming years there will be widespread consultation with everyone inside and outside the Church, those who are faithful and committed and those who have turned their backs and walked away. This model of operating as a Church is for the long term it won’t simply be over or set aside when the actual physical Assemblies take place in Rome, in Ireland or Armagh in the next three to five years.