Priests of the Diocese of Belize City and Belmopan gathered on May 4th, 2022, to hear the feedback from the recent Synodal consultations. The event took place at a retreat held at the Saint Benedict Diocesan Seminary in San Ignacio and was attended by twenty-one priests.
Since October of 2021 the Synodal team has been engaged in countrywide consultations and collaboration with parishioners. The results were compiled under the themes Communion, Participation & Mission into a thirty-three-page document entitled, “Encounter Meetings Document.”
In March of 2022, the team began to visit with the parish and Lay leaderships in the various districts to further discern and finalize the focal areas of concern. Throughout the meetings four main areas of concern emerged namely, Family, Catechesis, Youth and Evangelization.
Priests get feedback on Synodality Journey
The retreat was a wonderful day of discernment and sharing for the religious ordained and consecrated. The day started with holy hour followed by group discussion, daily prayers, lunch and concluding with a large group plenary. Bishop Lawrence Nicasio addressed the priests briefly on the occasion.
On May 11th, 2022, eleven religious sisters gathered at Our lady of Guadalupe Mercy Centre at Saint Catherine’s Academy to also discern and share on the findings.
Religious get feedback on Synodality Journey
After a brief overview there was a holy hour followed by group sharing, lunch, group suggestions of actions to be taken and finally a plenary where all shared their findings.
Many great suggestions emerged from the discussions at these two events and will serve to guide and direct the future planning for our diocese.
The Synod 2023 was launched in October 2021 by Pope Francis, and subsequently in dioceses across the world. The overall theme for the Synod is ‘For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.’ The Synodal journey will continue ending with a Synod of Bishops in Rome in 2023.