Pretoria, 22 February, 2021 / 7:54 pm (ACI Africa).
The ongoing second Synod of South Africa’s Pretoria Archdiocese is an invitation for the members of the local church to “reflect and discern together” God’s will as well as to renew their mission, the Local Ordinary, Archbishop Dabula Anthony Mpako has said.
“It is a moment when we are all invited to reflect and discern together how God is calling us to be at this time and what God is calling us to do at this time,” Archbishop Mpako said in his homily during the Sunday, February 21 Mass to launch the Synod.
In the process of discerning God’s will, Archbishop Mpako noted, the people of God in Pretoria will heed to the Synod’s invitation “to collectively and individually and, in the different roles as Clergy, Religious and Laity, take responsibility for the life and mission of our local church.”
The Synod whose outcome will inform a new Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese “is an invitation to us to renew our understanding of who we are called to be as Church and of our mission in the time and context within which we find ourselves presently and in which we are called to minister,” the South African Archbishop added.
The Synod is also an opportunity for the Archdiocese of Pretoria to commit itself “anew to becoming more and more a local church that is alive, vibrant and that is responsible and effective in carrying out its God-given mission,” the 61-year-old Archbishop said in his homily during the Holy Eucharist he presided over at the Sacred Heart Cathedral of Pretoria Archdiocese.
