Monsignor Aldo’s message on his return from Rome (May ’24)
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.
Monsignor Aldo Angelosanto
In the letter below, Monsignor Aldo asks for our prayers as he heads off to Rome…….
Please find attached, the Diocesan report and priorities following the Synthesis Report 2023. which has been sent to Fr Gerry Maguinnes, General Secretary of BSO.
From the Diocese of Dunkeld Synod Team, to all of us in the Diocese:
In preparation for the opening of The Synod on Synodality in Rome on Wednesday 4 October, Pope Francis will preside over the Ecumenical Prayer Vigil in St Peter’s Square on Saturday, 30 September 2023. This vigil of prayer will welcome the participation and presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and many other Church leaders, as well as thousands of Christians from different denominations.
The programme leading up to the prayer and the ecumenical vigil will be transmitted live by Vatican Media via its YouTube channel, with translation into eight different languages.
To “walk together” and listen to the Holy Spirit we need to pray. There can be no communion, participation, and mission without personal and community prayer. Prayer prepares our hearts to listen carefully to others and helps us to discern the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in the life of our church, and throughout the world. Let us pray, therefore, that the coming synod may become an opportunity for genuine renewal among our laity, religious and ordained ministers, so that we can grow together in greater synodality into a more participatory Church strengthened in its mission to proclaim the Gospel in accordance with the mission entrusted to Her. “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 15:5-6).
You and your families are encouraged to pray for the success of the Synod in your own words or in the words of the Adsumus Sancte Spiritus below.
We stand before you Holy Spirit,
as we gather together in your name.
With You alone to guide us,
make Yourself at home in our hearts;
Teach us the way we must go
and how we are to pursue it.
We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder.
Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path,
nor partiality influence our actions.
Let us find in You our unity
so that we may journey together to eternal life
and not stray from the way of truth and what is right.
All of this we ask of You
who are at work in every place and time,
in the communion of the Father and Son
forever and ever. Amen