Mgr Aldo Angelosanto meets Pope Francis at the Synod for Parish Priests
What an honour and privilege it was for me to attend the International Conference of Parish Priests in Rome last week. There were over 200 priests from 99 different countries who attended. There were some Parish Priests, like myself, who came alone others, had as many as five or ten other Priests with them. In our conferences we were split up into language groups, with simultaneous translators, to help us understand those of another language. The atmosphere was one of great fraternity, as we got to know each other better, sat in our groups and had no seating arrangements and met so many others as we just choose where to sit at each meal. Although this was a meeting for Priests, it dealt with topics concerning Bishops, Deacons and most importantly and for the longest time, of the role and gifts of you, the women and men, that is all the Baptised, in the Church. The Pope insists, your voice must be heard; you have your part to play as witnesses to Jesus Christ, you have the dignity of what the Vatican Council called “ the common priesthood of the Baptised”. The role of women in the Church was well talked about in serious terms and their role too in decision making. Also the point was made that if we truly want to be a Synodal Church in our local Parish, the Parish Priest ( or Bishop ) cannot be the one and only voice. We need to listen to each other. We need to bare our wounds and hurts. We need the love to trust in the Holy Spirit and reveal our hearts, in a loving way as to how we experience what it means to be church in today’s world. Decisions need to be made together, each having a voice as our diverse roles and gifts (Charisms ) the Spirit has given us in the Church. We were challenged by a noted theologian to consider the point that some questions were so dignified they did not deserve an answer immediately. And so we must give the Holy Spirit His space.



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