It was my birthday yesterday which I had hoped to keep quiet but the Synod Secretariat think that it is ‘nice’ to publicly announce these things. My Small Group then hurriedly printed an impromptu Birthday Card (with all our faces on it) and got/stole a wee cake🥳. Perhaps this was to make up for having voted me as the rapporteur the day previously (they obviously didn’t get the memo about my near disaster as Secretary in my previous Group).
Last year the Small Groups were given different aspects of the same topic to discuss and so the feedback to the Plenary was varied. However, this year we are all reflecting on the same chapter from the Working Document. To avoid unnecessary repetition during the Plenary Session there are only 5 feedbacks, representing all the 39 Small Groups. How is this achieved?
Yesterday I explained that the Small Groups, after 4 rounds of sharing, agree on particular topics they would like the Plenary Assembly to discuss in greater detail. Each Small Group elects a rapporteur who will represent it and present their preferred topics when the 39 rapporteurs meet over 5 language groups: 2 English and 1 each of Italian, French and Spanish/Portuguese. For 2 hours the rapporteurs prayerfully share their individual groups conclusions, then agree together which are the most important topics before formulating questions which will be proposed for the Plenary Session. Tomorrow I’ll explain the next steps in a very thorough discernment process.
+Brian

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