Fr Jonathan Stewart and Angela Folden from Blessed Sacrament parish in Exeter have been to several School for Synodality events over the years. We invited them to speak at our 'Pathways for Implementation: Next steps on our Synod Journey’ event, capturing the enthusiasm that they're feeling for this Synod journey and how they are practically implementing this in their own parish community.

In reflecting on where this interest in synodality has initially sparked, Fr Jonathan Stewart said :

“I think some of the things that we were trying [in our parish], we didn't really have words for it. And then the Synod came along, and suddenly, in a sense, we realised we were trying to be more synodal, that we hadn't really realised it. And that was quite exciting, really. Suddenly we had something to pin it on, in a way. And the School for Synodality Book Club was extraordinary. I urge anybody, if you haven't watched the Book Club sessions, please do watch them, because it really has a fantastic insight into the Final Document.”

Angela also commented:

“It's the same in lots and lots of parishes, there's a few people doing quite a lot of things [in the Parish]. What we really, really would love to happen, is for people to feel not just a sense of belonging at Mass - but of belonging that the parish is theirs and looking at what people have got to offer, as well as how we can accompany people.”

Supporting Parish Leadership

One key aspect for Blessed Sacrament Parish is evolving concepts of leadership and discernment synodally. Fr Jonathan explains it was a journey to this framework:

“We had a ‘Parish Vision Day’ where we invited the whole parish to come and reflect about vision for the whole community. Out of that came a group of people who are committed to vision, and also committed to making the vision a reality. And that was not the normal people who would perhaps be on a parish council.”

This has flourished into having a ‘Vision Team’, replacing the traditional Parish Pastoral Council, and made up of volunteer parishioners as well as the Parish Priest. Rather than being a reporting or administering body, the question the Team is charged to ask is ‘Where are we going as a parish, and how (long term) will we get there?’

‘A Light to the Nations’ booklet was published at the Parish Vision Day, outlining many of the things that have been happening at Blessed Sacrament in the last couple of years which have been inspired by Divine Renovation and their desire to become a more missionary community, which you can find more about here >>.

Misconceptions of Conversations in the Spirit

Angela discovered first hand some of the issues in initially getting synodal tools understood by parishioners: “I was really astounded in my small group. When we did the first one, a couple of people kind of went white and said, "but I don't know how to speak in tongues". I was really taken aback by the misconception of what a Conversation in the Spirit. So we've learned together as a group how to invoke the Holy Spirit before we start.”

The School for Synodality has some helpful resources for Conversations in the Spirit, including handy cards for those first steps, as well as a How To Guide - find out more here ».

Importance of Prayer

Fr Jonathan also notes the importance of intentional prayer and facilitation for successful meetings, using some of the resources from School to Synodality around Conversations in the Spirit:

“Lectio Divina has transformed the meetings…making them calmer, more respectful, deeper and really, really helped us focus. So now the agenda - we're not so much agenda driven - I think, is spirit driven. And I really do believe that. I think that's really helped us, and it's become a forum where we really do listen to one another and everybody. We have a fantastic chair. Another Angela. She brilliant. She chairs it brilliantly, and she makes sure that everybody has time to think, time to reflect, and time to speak. And it really helps.”

“And I think one of the one of the real challenges for us is about transparency and communication. We could very easily become a little, a little clique within the parish. So we call ourselves a Vision Team, and we think we're doing everything differently, but actually we're just perpetuating the same structure that was in place before. We recently went on an away day together, which was facilitated, and was very helpful”.

'Called and Gifted' Small Parish Groups

Over 5 months Blessed Sacrament Parish held a small group series called 'Called and Gifted', which brought together about 30 people in discernment of their charisms. These use Conversations in the Spirit and other practical approaches to bring people into spirit-filled community with each other, and these groups are continuing successfully as ‘pilgrim groups’.

“When the series came to an end, people wanted to continue so we started watching the School for Synodality Book Club, and what we were just so excited that actually those videos! And the understanding of the Final Document could be the kind of vehicle, really, for what we, study, learn about, and that's still the plan. But because we knew that School for Synodality is working on more resources, we decided to just take reflections each time we meet, which is three times every three weeks, and just get people used to Conversations in the Spirit. Things are growing in the right direction.”

Another important aspect for Fr Jonathan is these small pilgrim groups not become siloed, but continue to be synodal, welcoming and feed back into Parish life. A day’s retreat is planned for an opportunity to speak, to talk, to listen, to discern together, and learn more about synodality.

More about our Pathways for Implementation Event:

The School for Synodality held an online event - 'Pathways for Implementation: Next steps on our Synod Journey' - held on Saturday, 18th October 2025 at 11am (UK time). As ever, when the School for Synodality community gathered, there was plenty to challenge and inspire us. Come Holy Spirit!

This event was inspired by the guiding document for synodality released by the Vatican in June 2025, called ‘Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod’. The Final Document has been brought into church teaching, and as we seek to embed synodality in our everyday Catholic life and culture, we explore the next steps at grass-roots level.

You can watch the rest of this conversation, as well as Bishop Brendan Leahy of the Limerick Diocese in Ireland as keynote speaker and Austen Ivereigh giving us an insightful overview of the Implementation Document, via YouTube below: