The Synod Committee approves the statutes of the Synodal Conference
With the agreement on the statutes of the synodal conference plan, the participants of the Synodal Committee of the Catholic Church concluded their meeting in Fulda on Saturday. The statute resolution was passed unanimously, as announced by the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference. A synod is a church meeting held to discuss and clarify questions and then make decisions.
The main point is “that the bishops and laity in this synodal conference will discuss and take decisions together in the future,” explained Irme Stetter-Karp, President of the Synodal Way and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) about the adopted law. He spoke of “a new quality of community spirit, in challenging times.” He believes that this innovation occurred “because trust in each other has grown over the more than five years of the synodal path.”
The Catholic Church Synod Committee meeting begins on Friday. Since then, participants have discussed important structural and substantive decisions for the further synodal development of the Catholic Church. This planned synodal conference is intended to act as a national body for this purpose in the future.
In addition to the fundamental decision to discuss together and take decisions, the statute now regulates, among other things, the composition of future synodal conferences. The council should consist of 27 diocesan bishops, the same number of ZdK members and 27 other members elected by the synodal assembly. “In synodal conferences, believers from many different vocations gather. Together they express the diversity of God’s people in the church in Germany,” the statute reads.
AFP
