Bishop William T. McGrattan calls on all faithful, clergy, religious, and consecrated life in the Diocese of Calgary to join him in local synodal gatherings with a renewed commitment to follow the way Jesus has always journeyed with his beloved children, to become a listening Church and a Church of closeness where all can experience being at home and participate in building the Kingdom of God.
​
Starting January 2022 to May 2022, we will begin the consultation process at the Diocesan and pastoral zone levels, followed by gatherings in parishes, religious communities, lay associations, institutions, and opportunity for online participation.

a time to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create a bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands ~ Pope Francis.

Vertical Divider

The Church exists to evangelize

During the synodal consultations, we gather around the Word of God, rooted in prayer, to listen to one another as we respond to the Synod Fundamental Question, and to provide the Bishop with individual or group feedback, our discerned ideas, reactions and suggestions on how we can help foster communion, renewal, and grow a missionary heart within the Church, to better witness to the Gospel, especially with those who live on the spiritual, social, economic, political, geographical, and existential peripheries of our community.

Process of Consultation

Vertical Divider

• Diocesan level consultation has been taking place through the Pastoral Discernment Advisory Committee that includes representatives throughout the Diocesan community. 
• Pastoral Zone consultations will include participants from all parish lay leadership and pastors.
• Parish and Community consultations will gather all members of Christ’s faithful, particularly those at the margins or who feel excluded. 
  • Information will be provided through parish websites and bulletins in February 2022. ​
• Those who cannot participate in local gatherings will be able to contribute via online platform.

The Fundamental Questions of the Synod

The Gospels frequently show us Jesus “on a journey”; he walks alongside people and listens to the questions and concerns in their hearts. Jesus shows us that God is not distant but he walks at our side and meets us wherever we are, often on the rocky roads of life. This is the “style” of God who travels the paths of history and shares in the life of humanity.

​ A synodal Church, faithful to Jesus in announcing the Gospel, “journeys together”:

• How have YOU experienced journeying together as the Church?
• What steps does the Holy Spirit invite US to take in order to grow in our “journeying together"?

Vertical Divider

• Walking together
• Anchoring ourselves in prayer and the Word of God
• Remembering how the Spirit has guided the Church’s journey
• Listening to each other
• Understanding our diversity
• Discerning together for the good of all
• Spiritual and pastoral conversion
• A way to live and be Church together
• Taking a new step
• Growing closer to Christ and the Church

What is a Synod?

The word “synod” has its roots in Greek means “journeying together.” A Synod is thus an ecclesial event that involves the laity, religious and clergy listening and speaking, praying and discerning together, and placing the hopes and concerns of the People of God at the foot of the Bishops, who, united with the Pope, decide matters of faith, morals and disciplines in order to preserve the faith and strengthen the mission of the Church in the world.

At the centre of the Synod is Jesus Christ, not the Church.
​
A Synod, therefore, is not a parliament, a game of parties, or an opinion poll where one who has more strength subjects the other. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there will be no Synod. 

The heart of the synodal experience is listening. Listening requires us to empty our minds of pre-conceived notions or opinions which may not be of God. It requires faith – do we truly believe that God wishes to speak to us in the depth of our being? It requires resilience – the Holy Spirit will reveal things to us in God’s time and as the Spirit wishes. It requires obedience – our entering into this exercise will demonstrate our humility and our desire to be true disciples of Jesus.
​
The first phase of the Synod on Synodality (October 2021 to April 2022) involves an extensive consultation and listening phase at all levels in each Diocesan Church. This will be followed by consultations on the continental level, leading up to the Synod of Bishops in October 2023 in Rome.

Vertical Divider

Download Prayer Card
Letter size (PDF) | Printable (PDF | PNG) 
Social media graphic (PNG)

---

Get involved in the Synodal Process
We are in the early stages of the local Synodal process. For more information and to sign up for updates on the Synod on Synodality in our Diocese

Prepare for the Consultation Process

Synod Preparatory Documents​

• Booklet
  • Visually Impaired Version
  • Audio
  • French Version
  • Spanish
• Meaning of the Official Logo of the Synodal Path
• Address of the Holy Father for the Opening of the Synod
• Homily of the Holy Father for the Opening of the Synodal Path
• Testimony of Dominque Yon, a young person from South Africa
• Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. on the meaning of listening for the Dominican tradition (video)
• Abbot Primate Gregory Polan, OSB on listening in monastic tradition (video)
• Synod Facebook​

Diocesan Resources

• Prayer & Prayer Cards:
  • Letter size (PDF) | Printable: 4 cards in one (PDF | PNG) |
  • Web graphic: Square - One Page (PNG) - Two Pages (PNG 1 | PNG 2) 
• Preliminary Poster (8.5 x 11) | PDF | PNG
• Web banner 1 | PNG      Web banner 2 |  PNG 
• Script for announcement of Synod of Synodality in parishes (Oct 31) (PDF)
• Prayer of the Faithful (PDF) in parishes for Oct 30/31 Sunday Mass (PDF)

Vertical Divider

Important Terms

Live in Communion: By his gracious will, God gathers us together as diverse peoples of one faith, through the covenant that he offers to his people. The communion we share finds its deepest roots in the love and unity of the Trinity. It is Christ who reconciles us to the Father and unites us with each other in the Holy Spirit. Together, we are inspired by listening to the Word of God, through the living Tradition of the Church, and grounded in the sensus fidei that we share. We all have a role to play in discerning and living out God’s call for his people.

Achieve Participation: A call for the involvement of all who belong to the People of God – laity, consecrated and ordained – to engage in the exercise of deep and respectful listening to one another. This listening creates space for us to hear the Holy Spirit together, and guides our aspirations for the Church of the Third Millennium. Participation is based on the fact that all the faithful are qualified and are called to serve one another through the gifts we have each received from the Holy Spirit. In a synodal Church the whole community, in the free and rich diversity of its members, is called together to pray, listen, analyse, dialogue, discern and offer advice on making pastoral decisions which correspond as closely as possible to God’s will. Genuine efforts must be made to ensure the inclusion of those at the margins or who feel excluded.

Open to Mission: The Church exists to evangelize. We can never be centred on ourselves. Our mission is to witness to the love of God in the midst of the whole human family. This Synodal Process has a deeply missionary dimension to it. It is intended to enable the church to better witness to the Gospel, especially with those who live on the spiritual, social, economic, political, geographical, and existential peripheries of our world. In this way, synodality is a path by which the Church can more fruitfully fulfill her mission of evangelization in the world, as a leaven at the service of the coming of God’s kingdom.

Pastoral Discernment Advisory Committee (PDAC)

The Committee has been established by the Bishop to facilitate and sustain the pathways for consulting the People of God during the Diocesan Phase of the Synod and for the continuing renewal of the Diocese.

• Bishop William T. McGrattan | Bishop of Calgary
• Rev. Wilbert Chin Jon, V.G. | Moderator of the Curia
• Rev. Kevin Tumback, V.G. | Pastor, All Saints, Lethbridge
• Huy Nguyen | Director of Pastoral Ministry
• Dr. Bonnie Annichiarico | Facilitator, GrACE
• Dorothy Burns | Facilitator, Catholic Education
• Rev. Fabio Desouza | Pastor
• Rev. Daniel Wilson, LC | Religious Priest
• Deacon Stephen Robinson | Deacon
• Sister Dianne Turner, OSE | Religious Sister
• Judy Look | Catholic Women League
• Lorand Szojka | Knights of Columbus
• Gabriel Maglatang | Lay Associations
• ​Chelsea Marshall | Calgary Catholic School District

• ​Tomas Rochford | Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools
• Heather Irvine | Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education
• Frances Cote | Holy Spirit Catholic School Division
• Lorraine Robinson | Conseil scolaire FrancoSud​
• ​Dr. Peter Baltutis | St. Mary’s University
• Kathleen Boskill | Young Adults
• Lars Duck Chief | Indigenous Community
• Fernando Tinoco | Fr. Naphin Deanery
• Shelley Kehrig | Bishop Grandin Deanery
• Sandra Will-Krile | St. John Paul II Deanery
• Sarah Stamp | Lethbridge Deanery
• Mona Patterson | Medicine Hat Deanery​