What is the Pre-Synodal Meeting?
The Pre-Synodal Meeting is an opportunity for young people to express their view, their ideas, their feelings and their recommendations which will form a document to be considered by the Synodal Fathers, who will meet in October 2018 to discuss the topics of: Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment. During the pre-Synodal meeting, young people from the 5 continents and from different fields of arts, sport, politics and society will reflect to develop a document. The Church is calling everyone to take part, not only those who, in varying degrees, are actively involved in the Catholic Church, but also those from other Christian denominations or other religions and those who do not believe in God.
Will Shalom Catholic Community take part in this meeting?
Yes! The ecclesial movements and new communities will be represented by 30 young people and the episcopal conferences are going to send young people from their territory. Shalom Catholic Community was invited to collaborate on this initiative and it is sending a young member called Barbara Freitas who is currently serving as a volunteer in the World Youth Day Organizing Committee in Panama where the next WYD will take place in January 2019. Barbara is going to share her experience of evangelization of other young people by the social network and the many initiatives organized by the community as an effective cooperation with the evangelizing action of the Church in the world. Fr. Cristiano, Shalom Catholic Community missionary priest and Head of Shalom International Office in Rome was invited to help in a mediator and facilitator role in one of the groups of English speakers.
How is it going to work?
The participants will be divided by language. In each group there will be a priest or a lay person to mediate the dialogue between the young people and the Church. The groups will create a document which will be sent to the writing committee composed of 10 young people. This committee will collect the contributions of the young people present in the meeting and those from the Facebook group in order to build a final document.
When and where will this final document be delivered?
The final document after being approved for the pre-Synodal assembly will be delivered to Pope Francis on 25th of March, Palm Sunday, when the annual World Youth Day is celebrated at the diocesan level. The pope will take this document to the Synod of bishops in October as a considerable contribution.
How you can participate through Facebook?
If you are between 16 and 29 years you can take part in the work by sending comments to one of the linguistic groups. It is necessary to register using a real and personal profile, that is, it should represent yourself and not a group or institution. The registration should be done up to 16th of March. To register, visit www.synod2018.va or face
15 #Hashtags for Comments
Indications for personal or group reflection in preparation for participating in the Pre-Synodal Meeting of Young People through the Social Media. These #hashtags are the means for interacting with those who are in Rome.
Comments can be made at the following #hashtags:
#WhoAmI
#differences
#future
#DigitalWorld
#InteriorLife
#Jesus
#IBelieve
#called
#choices
#guide
#Church
#ActivelyInvolved
#places
#proposals
#WaysAndMeans
Each #hashtag will be connected to a brief explanatory text as an assistance in commenting. These texts will be found at www.synod2018.va.
To know more: www.Synod2018.va
Raquel Reis