Synod Report

It was a joy that at the Chrism Mass, the Final Report of the Synod was presented. This has now been submitted to the Bishops’ Conference for their work of assimilating the reports from all 22 Dioceses of England and Wales. The resulting document will in turn be submitted to the European Bishops’ Committee for their discussions. You can read our diocesan submission here on the diocesan website: https://www.portsmouthdiocese.org.uk/synod. I would like to thank everyone, clergy and laity, for their engagement with the process and for all the conversations and discussions generated. We had nearly 7,000 responses. Our sincere thanks to Fr. John Chandler and his teams for all their hard work organising us, and to Heather Hauschild, Professor Tim Cain, Dr. Elizabeth Slinn and others for their work at the end in the final edit. I hope and pray that the ideas raised, the hopes and aspirations expressed, the lessons learnt and the prayerful sharing and listening to one another will bear much fruit in the weeks and months ahead and in the day to life of the Church in our Diocese.