Rwanda’s Catholic Bishops among “school of synodality” Beneficiaries in Training of “true missionaries of synodality”

In the press release, Fr. Giacomo Costa, a Consultor for the General Secretariat of the Synod, who facilitated the sessions in Rwanda and delivered key interventions designed to equip participants with a Synodal approach looks back at the March 2-6 capacity building initiative.

“Aware that the implementation phase of the Synod must be based on what has already been tried and tested and make the most of the fruits that have emerged, the work began by tracing the Synodal journey to date,” Fr. Costa is quoted as saying.

During the sessions, he recalls, “I was able to appreciate the enormous amount of work carried out during the listening phase by the Rwandan diocesan synod teams, who committed themselves to involving everyone, even those furthest from the communities.”

“Many shared the many expectations of the faithful who actively participated in the listening phase and who are waiting for answers,” the member of the Society of Jesus (SJ/Jesuits) further recalls.

He underscores the need to foster consultations in a listening process, saying, “In this sense, it became clear during the works that the heart of the implementation process is not limited to transmitting the content of a document or providing solutions to be applied, but rather that it is a matter of providing an experience, capable of making people perceive the beauty of walking together and the transformative power of listening to one another.”

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Fr. Costa acknowledges with appreciation the active participation of Rwandan Diocesan teams in the Synodal process, which he says served as a testament to the shared responsibility of “every baptized person” in the Church's mission.

The March 7 press release also recognizes the participation of the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, Mario Cardinal Grech, who reportedly noted that the Synod on Synodality has not yet concluded.

“The Final Document has been handed over - or, in a certain sense, returned - to all the local Churches, precisely so that it can guide the third phase, that of implementation or reception”, Cardinal Grech says.

He adds, “No document and no reform, in reality, can be truly incisive if they do not enter into the heart of the journey of the Churches, which are so different from each other in terms of history, culture, traditions, potential and challenges.”

“The path of reception is thus, inevitably, a path of enculturation, a theme on which the Churches of Africa have always been at the forefront”, says the Maltese-born Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops.