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Where are we with the Synod in Leeds?
A note from David Jackson to ACTA Leeds supporters:
The Diocese has invited everybody who can to respond to the DOCUMENT FOR THE CONTINENTAL STAGE (DCS). The document is called ‘Enlarge the Space of your Tent’ (Is 54:2), is quite long but prepares for the next stage, the Continental phase in our church’s Synodal journey. World Bishops will meet in October 2023 and also in 2024.

Comments should be sent here to By 8 JANUARY 2023.

Do your best! Think BIG - your parish, set against the wider context of the diocese and the UK in general! And your own gut feeling.
The Text of the DCS can be found on the diocesan website and on the Vatican’s. IT TAKES SOME READING - but is worth it. Covers many, if not all the issues.
It is good that this text is being sent for comment into parishes. It is sad there is no guidance and such a short time given to respond. Hence - even if we hesitate to send this to you - it’s worth a try!

Information now available on Diocese of Leeds website:
The General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops in Rome have asked that this period of reflection focus on three questions:

1. After having read and prayed with the Document for the Continental Stage (DCS), which intuitions resonate most strongly with the lived experiences and realities of the Church in your continent? Which experiences are new, or illuminating to you?

2. After having read and prayed with the DCS, what substantial tensions or divergences emerge as particularly important in your continent’s perspective? Consequently, what are the questions or issues that should be addressed and considered in the next steps of the process?

3. Looking at what emerges from the previous two questions, what are the priorities, recurring themes and calls to action that can be shared with other local Churches around the world and discussed during the First Session of the Synodal Assembly in October 2023?

In terms of the consultation at a diocesan level on the Continental Stage working document, the General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops has advised dioceses to maintain the people and infrastructure used for the listening and discernment thus far. Accordingly, Bishop Marcus has asked that the synod team who prepared and drafted our synthesis for the diocesan stage of the synodal process convene a meeting of the volunteer facilitators, who carried out the consultations in every parish in the diocese, to consider this Continental Stage document. The synthesis team for the Diocese of Leeds is comprised of Jessica Wilkinson and Fr Martin Kelly as joint coordinators and a membership of over 15 women and men along with 80 facilitators from across the diocese aged 24 to 80+. Their reflections on the working document for the continental stage must be forwarded to the Secretariat of the
Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales by 20 January for consideration by those who will represent the dioceses of England and Wales at the Continental Assembly.

The documents are also available via on our diocesan website and any comments will be welcomed and considered by the synod team. If you wish to submit any comments please email them before 8 January 2023.

Letter from ACTA Leeds to the Leeds Diocesan Synod Team.
[Please note the first Clifton guidance sessions is 15th December]

Dear Fr.Martin and Jessica,

I hope you are both keeping well at this busy time.

A recent meeting of the members of the ACTA Leeds core group was attended by nine lay people from across the diocese. Six of them are diocesan facilitators. This, perhaps, indicates the extent of involvement by ACTA members as P2M facilitators more generally.

We warmly welcome the invitation to facilitators to engage with the Continental Stage of the synodal process at Hinsley Hall on 8th Jan. We recognise, even if we regret, the time constraints you have been given. We know that the Working document (DCS) with its three questions is available on the diocesan (and Vatican) websites and everyone is invited to respond to the 3 Questions by Jan 8th.

May we suggest that the direct participation of parishioners (and others) could be easily widened by asking Parish Priests to encourage parishioners (via a note which could be copied into parish bulletins) to access the DCS (website links supplied) and to respond to its three questions – as is requested. We offer this suggestion of a note to PPs in the hope that it will not add significantly to their or your workload but could, in fact, provide a rewarding return for your efforts. In this way parishioners could be more directly included and synodality in the diocese would more likely be regarded as a permanent feature of our local church, rather than a passing phase. ACTA Leeds will encourage its supporters to respond through its regular newsletter.

We regret that time constraints are against more appropriate and fruitful considerations of the DCS and its three questions. In the light of their complexity and nature, we believe they could be better
addressed in the context of well-led discussions. Clifton Diocese is offering on-line guidance sessions on how to respond this Thursday 15th Dec (7pm) and Sat 17th Dec (10am). If not too late, a link to this site could be provided for the attention of PPs. https://cliftondiocese.com/news/synod-the-next-step/

We assume you have considered widening the invitation to our own diocesan meeting at Hinsley Hall on 8th Jan, especially to parishes which do not have a facilitator representative. We appreciate that you may have judged this to be impractical at this time.

Once again thank you for all your work on our behalf.

With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Vincent Borg
on behalf of ACTA Leeds

The official prayer to prepare for the Synod

We stand before You, Holy Spirit,
as we gather together in Your name.
With You alone to guide us,
make Yourself at home in our hearts;
teach us the way we must go
and how we are to pursue it.
We are weak and sinful;
do not let us promote disorder.
Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path
nor partiality influence our actions.
Let us find in You our unity
so that we may journey together to eternal life
and not stray from the way of truth
and what is right.
All this we ask of You,
who are at work in every place and time,
in the communion of the Father and the Son,
forever and ever.
Amen.