A month after attending the Vatican’s Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies (Oct. 24–26), Canadian lay leaders involved in the Church’s synodality movement hosted a webinar to reflect on the event and discuss next steps in the synodal journey.

The Nov. 25 virtual event, called “Pilgrims of Hope: From Waterloo to Rome” by Concerned Lay Catholics, highlighted that much of the Vatican summit’s discussions echoed those from the Journey of Encounter: Pilgrims of Hope Embracing Synodality event held in June at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ont.

At a macro level, Christina Mines, director of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Hamilton, observed how both spiritual gatherings showcased that the commitment to this journey remains strong following the passing of this grand endeavour’s chief architect, Pope Francis.

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“What I experienced in June, and then again in October, is the fundamental truth that the people of God, the royal priesthood of believers, are commissioned through baptism to live and breathe synodality and all that we are as Church,” said Mines. "Synodality is the pathway to right relationship with one another and with the Holy Spirit.”

Mines was particularly encouraged” in both Waterloo and Rome “by the women who bore witness to the importance of synodality” and that the role of women in a synodal Church “continues to be a priority for discussion.”

Catherine Pead, a founding member of Concerned Lay Catholics, said Fr. Bill Burke, SJ, struck a resonant chord during his homily at St. Jerome’s by sharing the African philosophy of Ubuntu, translated as “I am because we are.” This viewpoint accentuates the interconnectedness of humanity and how identity is shaped by relationships with others.

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This phrase loomed large for Pead during the Vatican assembly while listening to remarks from Polish Cardinal Grzegorz Wojciech Ryś, the Archbishop-designate of Kraków (he was the shepherd of the Łódź archdiocese during the Jubilee of Synod Delegates and Participatory Bodies). Pead said Ryś elucidated that one of the “tensions revealed by synodality” is how "I" and "we" are working at cross purposes.

“(He said that) ‘I’ and ‘we’ are somehow in competition and contradiction with each other,” said Pead. “Synodality, he said, ‘calls us to relational conversion, to reimagining the I-we dichotomy.’ That for me resonated with the ‘I am because we are.’ There isn't a dichotomy in that statement because the two are mutually reinforcing, supporting and interdependent.”

Lisa Polk, the director of pastoral services for the Archdiocese of Regina, said “many of the challenges that I heard about, you know, at my small group table in Waterloo, are things that I heard from the diocesan coordinators in Rome.” She highlighted during her presentation that synod delegates from across the world view formation as a concern.

“When we talk about formation, what does that even mean? We need formation on synodality, facilitating conversations in the spirit and we need formation on the faith,” said Polk. “Formation has its own big piece that has a whole bunch of subheadings under it.”

Linda Staudt, who participated as a lay delegate at the Synod of Bishops General Assembly in 2023 and 2024, said the October Jubilee gathering illustrated to her just how widespread the adoption of the “conversations in the spirit” prayerful practice has spread over the past two years.

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“Conversations in the spirit have provided us with inclusion, the prayer and the deep listening to all voices, not just some voices and not just the loudest voices,” said Staudt. “I had the pleasure on behalf of Canada to share with the whole assembly what emerged from using the conversation of the spirit in work being done here in Ontario to support schools, parishes, principals and pastors in working together.”

The three-day Jubilee also featured workshops and seminars, a passage through the St. Peter’s Basilica Holy Door, remarks from the Secretary General of the General Secretariat of the Synod, Cardinal Mario Grech, Holy Mass and an encounter-dialogue event with Pope Leo XIV.