Nairobi, 11 May, 2022 / 8:40 pm (ACI Africa).
A working group of theologians, professionals, and academics who participated in a symposium that the African Synodality Initiative (ASI) organized on the ongoing preparations for the Synod on Synodality have exuded confidence that the synodal deliberations will live beyond the October 2023 Synod of Bishops.
ASI is a partnership between the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM), the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), and the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA).
It was established to generate creative ideas and resources that aim to support local churches in Africa and enable them to engage fruitfully and constructively in the synodal process.
In a report ASI representatives compiled following their three-day colloquium in March, which they shared with ACI Africa May 6, the team of African scholars comprising members of the Clergy, women and men Religious, and the Laity said that Synodality is supposed to be an everyday way of the Church, and therefore timeless.
“It is our hope that Synodality will not end with the synod. We believe that Synodality is an ongoing, long-term pedagogy and way of life of the Church,” the team of scholars said in their report following the ASI colloquium.