Implementing the Synod on Synodality
The Synod on Synodality
The Synod on Synodality is less a single meeting in Rome and more a multi-year conversion of how the Church lives and makes decisions: a shift from “some speak and others receive” toward “all walk together,” listening to the Holy Spirit through the whole People of God. Its central claim is simple but demanding: the Church’s mission is strengthened when baptized people learn habits of listening, prayerful discernment, shared responsibility, and real participation at every level of ecclesial life. The Synod’s Final Document, approved on October 26, 2024 and published with Pope Francis’ approval, frames synodality as a normal way of being Church, not a temporary project.
Since the close of the Synod assembly in 2024, the Church has entered an implementation phase. In July 2025, the Synod’s Secretariat released “Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod,” meant to help local Churches translate the Synod’s conclusions into concrete practices, and to encourage dialogue and exchange of experiences among dioceses. In other words, the “center” is not replacing local discernment with a one-size-fits-all program; it is asking each diocese to build structures, formation, and processes that make synodality sustainable in its own context. This is why the guidance repeatedly points to the importance of diocesan or eparchial “synodal teams” whose task is to promote synodal dynamism, choose appropriate tools and methodologies, and support formation so that synodality becomes a stable habit rather than an occasional event.
The implementation phase also has a defined horizon. Vatican announcements describe a multi-year accompaniment process in local Churches and their groupings, culminating in an Ecclesial Assembly in 2028. That timeline matters pastorally: it signals that synodality is not “one more initiative this year,” but a long arc of learning, evaluating, and adjusting, so that consultation, discernment, and co-responsibility become normal features of parish and diocesan life.
What does this mean for the Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith?
First, it means the Synod is not something “out there” in Rome; it is something that takes root in communities spread across vast distances, cultures, and languages, often served by small teams and limited clergy. The diocese already has experience with the Synod’s first major movement: local listening. In 2022, the diocesan website invited participation through listening sessions and other means of sharing, with input gathered for synthesis at the diocesan level. Implementation builds directly on that: the question now becomes how listening turns into ongoing practices of shared discernment and mission, especially in a northern context where relationships and trust are everything.
Second, for a northern diocese, “communion, participation, and mission” will be expressed less through large programs and more through reliable, repeatable patterns: parish and regional conversations that are prayerful, well-facilitated, and connected to real decisions. Synodality becomes concrete when pastoral councils and finance councils are not merely formal requirements but genuine places of discernment; when major pastoral choices are preceded by listening; when plans are communicated transparently; and when lay leaders, elders, youth, religious, and clergy know they are responsible together for the Church’s mission. The Vatican’s implementation guidance emphasizes the local Church’s active role and the need to develop tools, methods, and formation suited to each place. In Mackenzie-Fort Smith, that “each place” includes fly-in communities, seasonal travel constraints, and pastoral realities where leadership is often shared by necessity. Synodality, rightly understood, blesses that reality and asks that it be supported intentionally rather than left to improvisation.
Third, synodality has a natural overlap with Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation work, which is already central in the North. A synodal Church is trained to listen without defensiveness, to tell the truth about wounds, to honour memory, and to discern concrete steps toward justice and healing. In a diocese that serves many Indigenous communities, implementation should look like relationship-grounded processes: listening that is culturally safe, respectful of local protocols, attentive to language and symbolism, and paced in a way that does not feel extractive (“we came, we collected input, we left”). Synodality also pushes the diocese to ensure that those who are often least heard are not an afterthought: people who feel on the margins of Church life, survivors and families carrying pain, youth, and also those who may be skeptical of the whole synodal process. The July 2025 coverage of the Vatican guidelines highlights outreach to diverse communities, including the marginalized and those resistant to synodality, precisely so the Church can truly “walk together.”
Finally, synodality in Mackenzie-Fort Smith will be tested by geography. Distance can either fragment a diocese or purify it into deeper communion. Implementation here likely means investing in practical connective tissue: regional synodal or pastoral gatherings (even if small), formation for facilitators and pastoral councils, simple tools for consultation that work with limited bandwidth, and a steady rhythm of feedback so people can see how their discernment shapes priorities. The “Pathways” document exists to help dioceses do exactly this kind of contextual translation, encouraging locally appropriate tools and formation rather than importing a template that fits urban dioceses better.
In short, the implementation of the Synod on Synodality asks the Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith to do what northern Churches often do best when they are at their healthiest: build the Church through relationships, shared responsibility, and careful listening, then carry that listening into real choices about mission. It is not primarily about more meetings. It is about becoming a diocese where the way decisions are made, leaders are formed, and communities are accompanied consistently reflects a Church that truly walks together, in communion, participation, and mission.
Mackenzie-Fort Smith 