Denmark: start of diocesan synodal process. Involvement of parishes and communities, but also of non-believers and other Churches

With a letter to the faithful, Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of Copenhagen has kick-started the synodal process in the diocese. The time that has passed “since Pope Francis launched the synodal process last year”, the Bishop wrote, has helped us to understand how we can best follow the advice and inspiration offered by the project in our diocese”. In recent months, a “coordination committee” has worked on the preparation of “a guide on how to implement the synodal process in our parishes and communities”. Our work will focus on the three key words (community, participation and mission). Working documents are available on the website that has been developed (synode.dk). All parishes and pastoral centres should have a contact person, who will also be responsible for gathering the results of the consultation process in a document of no more than three pages, which will be presented to the coordination group. The group for foreign pastoral care, religious communities and lay movements are also invited to follow this procedure. We will try to involve “Catholics who in their daily lives are somewhat far from the Church” by means of questionnaires. Furthermore, “other denominations in Denmark will also be asked to answer some questions about the local Catholic Church”. The final reports and responses are to be sent to the coordination group by May 2022.
Valentina Bombelli