Deanery Synodal Council
Below is a report from our own Deanery Synodal Council. With having the Archbishop’s Pastoral Letter for the First Sunday of Advent it was decided to print the report in the newsletter rather than having it read out as well. The Cathedral has 2 representatives on our Deanery Council. They are Fr Peter and Mr Paul Cooper.
An Update from the Deanery
It seems so long ago since Archbishop Malcolm began Synod 2020, and we all came together to answer questions and discuss the type of church God was calling us to be.
Synod 2020 led on to the formation and launch of the Pastoral Plan, a plan that was based directly on what you were telling us during Synod 2020.
Since the launch of the Pastoral Plan, you could be forgiven for thinking that it had all gone away, but the opposite is true. There has been lots of changes brought about by the Pastoral Plan, mostly, so far, at Archdiocesan level. The composition of some of the Archbishop’s advisory bodies has changed to include both lay women and men. The Pastoral Formation Department has changed into the Pastoral Development Department with specialist people brought in to oversee specific aspects of the Pastoral Plan.
Recently, directly as a result of the Pastoral Plan, each deanery now has a Deanery Synodal Council, with representatives from each parish attending the council. These councils have been formed to deal with two specific items of the six-point Pastoral Plan, those are
1) ‘becoming a church that renews its organisational structures and administers its property to serve its mission’ and
2) ‘becoming a church that cares for its priests’.
We aim to do this by working in partnership with all the parishes in our deanery and by collaborating effectively with clergy to make improvements as to how we can efficiently use our buildings and priests to best serve the community and help us to reach the people on the margins.
As we do this, in order for us to be totally synodal, that is working towards a common purpose, we would like to tell you what we have been discussing at our meetings and ask for your feedback. The council meets roughly every six to eight weeks. This may mean your parish representative speaking to you at the end of Mass or through a section of the parish newsletter, and we would love to get feedback from you, in fact it is essential that you let us know what you think, so that any future changes will have been agreed on by everyone. You have been steadfast in your support for Synod so far, now you have a chance to be directly responsible for change, however minor.
Please take this chance to make a difference.
