Synodality is a constitutive dimension of the Church that expresses its way of being and living from its very origins in the spirit of ‘walking together and being united’. It is a return to the sources from which the Church began more than two thousand years ago. When Pope Francis convened the “Synod on Synodality” in October 2021, he revived and embraced this as the path for the Church of the third millennium, a process that extended until October 2024, through diocesan, continental and universal phases; and which his successor, Pope Leo XIV, is continuing. Thus, the Church seeks to renew itself through listening, dialogue and discernment in order to respond to current challenges through the Spirit of communion, participation and mission (Mt 28:19-20).
This ecclesial journey is taking shape and is being embraced in the various dioceses of the universal Church since its expansion phase (2025–2028); the Diocese of Chosisa, where we are based, took the matter seriously, holding its first Diocesan Synodal Assembly in February 2025.
As part of this commitment to implementation, the diocesan bishop, Monsignor Jorge Izaguirre Rafael, CSC, decreed that the Synodal Assembly should be carried out in all parishes within his ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Following on from our 1st Parish Synodal Assembly held on 7 September last year, the 2nd Synodal Assembly of St Christopher’s Parish took place on Sunday 22 March 2026 from 9 am to 5 pm. The event began with the celebration of the Eucharist, presided over by the abovementioned bishop of the diocese and concelebrated by the SSS religious and a diocesan priest.
The assembly brought together approximately 115 pastoral workers and was a spiritual, fraternal and communal experience, characterised by a deep listening to the Spirit through the methodology of ‘Conversation in the Spirit’, expressed by the symbolism of the round table to foster silence, prayer and dialogue as means of discerning God’s will as a community (Rom 12:1–3; Acts 2:42–45) from the perspective of ‘walking together and being united’, in order to respond to the challenges of the pastoral and evangelising work of our parish community.
This parish ecclesial event, included in the 2026 annual pastoral plan from the outset, served the purpose of enabling pastoral workers to deepen their understanding of the sense and method of synodality by delving ever deeper into its challenges “as a spirituality lived in the Church”, that is, through seeking to understand it, embrace it and bear witness to it through openness, integral formation, personal and communal conversion, and a willingness to grow together pastorally and spiritually.
Father Elibien Joseph, sss
Parish Priest – Lima Community
