“Being a synodal Church means recognizing that truth is not possessed, but sought together, allowing ourselves to be guided by a restless heart in love with Love.”
— POPE LEO XIV
A diocesan synod is a time of prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit and to one another, culminating in a general assembly with representatives of the clergy, vowed religious, and laity to assist the local bishop. Synod 2027 will be an engagement of our whole archdiocese to consider what the Holy Spirit may be asking of the Church of Cincinnati at this moment. The goal will be to discern needs and recommend pastoral priorities for the future to Archbishop Casey.
Read the Archbishop’s letter to the Faithful Regarding Beacons of Light and Synod 2027
Engaging in an archdiocese-wide synod is appropriate at this time for several reasons:
It is a priority of the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, that the Church be intentionally synodal so that pastoral plans and decisions are made in a spirit of prayerful discernment. In this spirit, the results of our Synod will serve as input to that of the universal Catholic Church.
Synod 2027 will be particularly useful to Archbishop Casey as he continues to get to know our archdiocese and establishes priorities for the future.
Our last archdiocesan synod was in 1971 and much has changed in the intervening years.
The two-year timeframe of Synod 2027 corresponds to the conclusion of the timeframe designated for Beacons of Light.
Synod 2027 will be a valuable means of setting in place the foundations of Beacons of Light as the way of life in our archdiocese. The 6 principles of Beacons of Light are the connection between Beacons of Light and Synod 2027.
Throughout Synod 2027, clergy, vowed religious, and laity – in other words, you – will lead and be invited to participate. This participation will be facilitated through open local gatherings and through discernment of delegates to the culminating General Assembly planned for the second half of 2027.
In the meantime, please pray for the fruitfulness of Synod 2027.
Synod 2027 will proceed in five movements:
2026
Formation and Preparation
A time for orienting everyone – clergy, vowed religious, and laity – to the meaning, purpose, and scope of Synod 2027.
Conversations in the Spirit
These will consist of multiple sessions, conducted as prayerful “Conversations in the Spirit” about local needs, opportunities, and issues. This will be everyone’s opportunity to participate.
2027
Synthesis, Prayer, and Preparation
This time period will be dedicated to prayerful distillation of themes and issues to be treated during the General Assembly, as well as logistical preparation for the Assembly. Delegates will be chosen and prepared to appropriately and knowledgeably represent their constituents.
General Assembly
A two to two-and-a-half-day gathering for prayer, listening and discernment by delegates from each Family of Parishes and other institutions across the archdiocese, resulting in the recommendation of pastoral priorities to the archbishop.
2028
Implementation
Following the General Assembly, Archbishop Casey will discern priorities and next steps for implementation.
The synodal spirit of prayerful discernment while listening to the Holy Spirit and one another is the foundational approach of Beacons of Light. While Beacons of Light is a distinct pastoral planning process for Families of Parishes, it shares in and contributes to the hopes for Synod 2027.
The Synod will include prayer and discernment of priorities and goals for the local Church, specifically how to faithfully live and share the apostolic mission of the Church across the 19 counties of western and southwestern Ohio that comprise the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Points of doctrine or dogma of the universal Church will not be debated.
The General Assembly will include representatives of all the faithful across the archdiocese: lay people, consecrated religious, priests, and deacons. Details regarding specific events will be released as plans come together.
Consistent with the last archdiocesan Synod in 1971, the outcome of Synod 2027 will likely include insights and guidance for Archbishop Casey regarding pastoral priorities, some of which may include recommended Church legislation for his consideration.
Each session will follow the same format:
A brief time of prayer, rooting the conversations in the presence of the Lord and asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We will have two conversations, each with three rounds of sharing:
In the first round of conversation, each person has a chance to speak. There is no discussion in this round, and there is a time of silence to allow for reflection.
During the second round of conversation, you will be invited to share what struck you most or what resonated for you in the first round and what moved you during the time of silence. Once again this is followed by a pause for reflection.
In the third round of conversation, you will reflect together on what moved you most deeply. What new insights arise? What are the common themes or fruits of the conversations?
The prayers and personal insights of those who attend the Conversations in the Spirit sessions are accepted with gratitude. Following the Conversations, discernment of matters is not a tallying of responses, but a prayerful reading of how the Holy Spirit is calling us to fulfill the mission of the Church at this moment. Every prayer and personal insight offered is part of the process, but not every contribution will be closely examined at subsequent stages.
Each session will include the following question for prayerful consideration: As you reflect on your experience of faith and the Church, what stands out to you—experiences of joy or hope, difficulty or disappointment, belonging or exclusion, encounter or longing?
While Beacons of Light has laid foundations for life as missionary disciples in our parish communities, Synod 2027 is about building on those foundations by helping Archbishop Casey discern how in and through our communities we fulfill the mission of the Church.
While certain groups whose voices are not always widely represented in the Church will have cohort sessions, general sessions support a primary value of Synod 2027, that people of varying perspectives pray together and listen to one another. The decision to have cohorts was done with that reasoning in mind, knowing that there would be only a limited number of cohort sessions so as to balance the primary value of bringing groups with varying perspectives together in prayer with the need to encourage participation from groups that tend to be less represented in the Church.
The Congregations for Bishop’s 1997 document, Instructions on Diocesan Synods, is a great resource to understand the nature and purpose of a Diocesan Synod. Other important documents include Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church from the International Theological Commission and Pope Francis’ speeches and remarks on Synodality from 2015 through 2022.
