THE tables are arranged, the members are “hopeful and curious” and organisers are “full of excitement” for the first two-day session of Brisbane archdiocese’s SYNOD24 at Holy Spirit Provincial Seminary, Banyo, over Friday and Saturday.
Synod Member Erin Dougherty said she was excited to meet everyone.
“I’m also excited just to see how the process will unfold,” she said.
“And I’m curious – I’m curious to see what’s going to happen and how people will respond on certain topics.”
Synod organiser Steph Unger said she felt some trepidation after eight months of planning to finally be having the synod, but she and the other organisers felt a lot of support and, most importantly, she felt they were ready.
She said she was also curious about how the first day would turn out.
She said she was looking forward to seeing how the groups engage in the “Conversations in the Spirit” and what they might be able to achieve by the end of the day.
“I’m hoping we vote on some actions by the end of the day so that we can go into day two with a real sense of what’s possible to achieve,” she said.
She expected the biggest challenge going into day one would be navigating any anxiety the Synod Members might feel about the days ahead.
“Many of (the Synod Members) are going to feel anxious about how the process works,” she said.
She said the job of the organisers and facilitators was to help them navigate it and ease them into how it would work.
Both the September and October sessions will involve discussions and voting on actions based on eight of the Plenary Council decrees.
The bulk of the sessions in September and October involve “Conversations in the Spirit”, which are round-table prayerful discussions between the Synod Members and facilitators to unpack the complex and sensitive topics of the synod.
SYNOD24 organisers will also make use of a software called Mentimeter, which is a real-time polling and presentation program that can help capture the feeling and feedback of the Synod Members as the days unfold.
The synod also includes an engagement and a writing team, both of which will be heavily involved in the sessions.
The synod will be held at Holy Spirit Provincial Seminary in Banyo.
The opening Mass on September 6 is open to the public, held at Australian Catholic University’s Holy Spirit Chapel at 9am.
To find out more about SYNOD24, please head to: http://aobsynod2024.com/
