National Synod Teams

Friendship and personal encounter were placed at the heart of synodal life as representatives of Asian national synod teams took part in a creative group activity designed to help them know one another beyond their roles and countries.

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, Chairman of the FABC Commission for Synodality, called on National Synod Teams from across Asia to embrace a new model of Church leadership: moving from “walking ahead” of people to learning to “walk with” them.

More than 70 members of national synodal teams from across Asia took part in a “Conversation in the Spirit,” a synodal methodology designed to help participants discern where God may already be doing “greater things” in their local Churches.

Cardinal David also stressed the difference between being looked at and being truly seen. The poor can be reduced to statistics, migrants to labor, young people to problems, women to expected functions and Indigenous peoples to minorities. People of other religions can likewise be viewed simply as those who do not share the Christian faith.

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, Chairman of the FABC Commission for Synodality, urged members of National Synod Teams from across Asia to allow the synodal process to transform not only Church structures and pastoral practices but also the way they see, listen and accompany others.

Bishop Joseph Do Manh Hung of Phan Thiet, Vietnam, offered that threefold invitation as he presided over the welcome Mass on August 31 at St. Michael Chapel at Baan Phu Wan, the Pastoral Training Center of the Archdiocese of Bangkok, Thailand, where Catholic representatives from across Asia have gathered for the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) Meeting of National Synod Teams.