Synodality is a way of being Church that emphasises journeying together, listening deeply, and discerning the Holy Spirit’s guidance. It renews the Church’s mission through shared participation and dialogue. 

Watch and share the School for Synodality’s video exploring the core components of the synodal way, here >> 

Synodality reflects the life of the early Church, where believers gathered, listened, prayed, and discerned together. It continues a long tradition of councils, assemblies, and communal discernment. 

Learn more about this in our ‘4 Steps to Synodality’ framework, an easy to follow framework using Acts 15 to reflect on scripture in relation to the skills required to step on the synodal journey.  

The Synod on Synodality (2021–2024) was a global journey of prayer, listening, dialogue, and discernment involving the entire People of God. Initiated by Pope Francis, it invited Catholics in every country and level - from parishes, dioceses, religious communities, movements, to individuals - to reflect on how the Church can better walk together in communion, participation, and mission.  

 It was the most extensive consultation in the Church’s history, gathering insights from local listening sessions, bishops’ conferences, continental assemblies, and two major sessions in Rome 2023-2024. Rather than focusing on particular issues, the Synod explored how the Church itself listens, learns, and discerns as a community guided by the Holy Spirit. 

After four weeks of listening, discerning and writing in October 2024, the final day of the Rome Synod Assembly brought a dramatic surprise from Pope Francis - that the recommendations of the Assembly would become Church teaching. The three year listening process was over, and it was now time to get on with implementing it. 

The Final Synod Document (officially ‘For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission’) is our guide to the implementation, and while beautiful and inspiring, can be rather technical in places.  

We highly recommend starting your journey with accessible information about the Final Document and synodality – maybe start with our book club with expert speakers, or our lectio style reflections?  

The Synodal Process was always designed in phases, aiming to support the journey of synodality into church teaching. Phase one was the ‘Consultation of the People of God’, Phase two the ‘Discernment of the Pastors’ (which included the two Synod Assemblies 2023-2024) and finally the third phase - ‘The Implementation for a Synodal Church’.  

The Pathways Document by the Synod Secretariat is the guide for the implementation phase, and aims to offer local Churches throughout the world both a shared framework that will make it easier to walk together, and to promote the dialogue that will lead the whole Church to the Ecclesial Assembly in October 2028.  

Find our more about the implantation phase, the documents attached and more here >>. 

Synodality does not alter doctrine, and the Final Document from the Synod has been taken into Church teaching by Pope Francis in 2024, helping the Church discern how to live, communicate, and embody the Gospel faithfully in today’s world.

As a Church, we don't necessarily have good ways of listening to voices on the margins and connecting to people's lives.  We struggle to have difficult or creative conversations, and to step away from our own agendas. In many ways we have lost the habit of seeking the Holy Spirit, and we are often paralysed by indecision.

The global Church is responding to Pope Francis’ call to cultivate communion, participation, and mission with synodality, helping the Church engage today’s challenges with unity, honesty, and spiritual depth.

Synodality is a process that can be adapted for all manner of questions, topics, and in different countries and settings. The synodal way is a structured but flexible journey, applicable to multiple contexts, using prayer, listening, dialogue, and communal discernment. It invites the whole People of God to reflect on how the Spirit is calling the Church forward. This is also why it is successful in different countries and cultures.

It is being used in Parish Councils, Bishop’s conferences, clergy retreats, youth groups, prisons, committees, religious life, and more.

We suggest taking a look at our small groups resource, ‘A Feast for all Peoples’, is a 5 session series that explores the Final Synod Document in more depth, and can be applied to different contexts.

This style of interacting is a culture change in the Catholic Church, rather than a one of exercise or programme. Some conversations take an hour; parish or diocesan processes may unfold over weeks or months. The aim is depth, clarity, and spiritual attentiveness, and a deeper fellowship with our fellow Christians.  

Explore more: A helpful guide through the basics of  with one of our resources for small groups called ‘A Feast for All Peoples’, aimed at supporting groups explore pathways to synodality, see here ».

‘Conversation in the Spirit’, or Spiritual Conversation, is an ancient practice of the Church and a key tool of Synodality. A prayerful method, it allows for space for the spirit as well as voices usually not heard and can be used for faith sharing, difficult conversations, or when lots of creativity or ideas are needed.  

Conversations in the Spirit is a strangely practical art. It relies on good communication – being able to hear and understand one another. It can be an excellent tool to ground any conversation in the Spirit, open us to new voices and possibilities, and move us to action when appropriate.  

Learn more via our ‘Conversation in the Spirit- A How to Guide’ includes practical video explainers, prompt cards for beginners, and method best practice.  

 You can also register for join our free online ‘Synodality 101’ workshops, exploring all about this how to facilitate your own conversations. 

Decisions emerge through discernment, inviting all those present to reflect through a spiritual lens. They consider the fruits of listening, the movement of the Spirit, and the needs of mission before making pastoral decisions. Synodality is an intentionally prayerful way in approaching group decision-making,  

Learn more: Vron Smith from the Jesuit Institute helps understand more about communal discernment in a Parish setting, and how it is a slow uncovering of God’s will that gradually moves us from where we are to where God wants us to be, via this short video >>.  

The School for Synodality is a project to help support the synodal conversion of the Church in England and Wales in our day to day practice. Through conversations, the development of resources and our programmes, we hope to enable an openness to the Holy Spirit in our Church through listening, sharing and discernment. 

This project creates events, resources and networking for everyone interested and involved in synodality in their context. This is wide ranging and includes churches, congregations, parishioners, clergy, those in religious life, diocesan teams, teachers, families, lay ministers, academics, pastoral councils – anyone really who is seeking to grow in synodal mission and leadership! 

Start small: 

• Practise intentional, prayerful listening 

• Use spiritual conversation in groups 

• Encourage participation across ages and cultures 

• Adopt a discerning approach in councils and leadership groups 

• Pray for openness to the Spirit 

Remember – we are all at different stages of our synodality journey, and many around the world are experiencing the joys and challenges of taking these first steps into established contexts (or into a void of connection, that you wish to change!).