Vatican Set to Release List of Synod Members for October Assembly: Stay Tuned!

The Vatican is expected to release today the list of participants for this October’s assembly of the Synod in Rome, which for the first time will include about 70 non-bishop members consisting of clergy, religious, and lay people, including women, with full voting privileges.

The Synod on Synodality, as this multi-year process is informally known, has highlighted LGBTQ+ inclusion as prominent theme lifted up by the people of God from around the globe and recognized by many church leaders, including the Vatican. Most recently, in late June, the working document for the October assembly included two references to LGBTQ+ people. (For New Ways Ministry’s statement on that text, known as the Instrumentum Laboris, click here.)

Bondings 2.0 will cover the list of Synod assembly participants as they relate to Catholic LGBTQ+ issues in a post later today, so please check back for our coverage.

In the meantime, if you have not already done so, consider reading New Ways Ministry’s synod report submitted to the Vatican. The report is based on spiritual conversations held with nearly 1,000 LGBTQ+ Catholics and allies in 2022. You can find all of New Ways Ministry’s Synod resources, including a recording of the lecture by Sr. Nathalie Becquart, the undersecretary of the Vatican’s synod office, to LGBTQ+ Catholics and allies by clicking here. Other webinars on synod topics can also be found through the previous link.

For Bondings 2.0’s full coverage of the Synod on Synodality as it has progressed since beginning in 2021, click here.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, July 7, 2023