Synod 2021-2023: For a synodal Church

"By walking together, and together reflecting on the journey made, the Church will be able to learn from what it will experience which processes can help it to live communion, to achieve participation, to open itself to mission."

Pope Francis' aim in the Synod was to involve the whole Church at the diocesan, national, and continental levels through a process of “listening and discernment” on the important theme of synodality: “For a synodal Church: communion, participation, and mission.”

This synodal process began in Rome on the weekend of Oct. 9-10, 2021, and began in the Diocese of Knoxville and all dioceses around the world on Sunday, Oct. 17. The official diocesan report, which can be read below, was submitted to the USCCB in the spring of 2022. The 10-page report is a synthesis of the months-long synod process utilizing an online survey and listening sessions held at parishes, schools, and ministries around the diocese from December 2021 until March 2022. 

In January 2024, dioceses were asked to hold a series of meetings within their dioceses to discuss the topics in the October 2023 Synthesis Report and submit a summary to the General Secretariat of the Synod by May 2024. 

In July 2024, the Holy See’s General Secretariat of the Synod issued Instrumentum Laboris for the Second Session of the 2021-2024 Synod. This document will form the basis for the discernment and discussion for the participants of the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be held in October.

Phase 1: Diocesan Phase (October 2021 - April 2022)
Phase 2: Continental Phase (September 2022 - March 2023)
Phase 3: Universal Church Phase at the Vatican with the synod of bishops (October 2023)
Phase 4: Response Phase (January - March 2024)