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Dear Tricia,
As we come to the close of 2025, our hearts are overflowing with gratitude. This has been a year of deep listening, joyful collaboration, and great steps forward in the synodal journey.
When Pope Leo stepped onto the balcony after having been elected, his opening words encouraged us to be “a synodal Church, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close, especially to those who suffer.” These words, and the many that Pope Leo has spoken since on synodality, have been a guiding light to us over the year.
In particular, we have been delighted that the SfS community has continued to grow, not just in England and Wales, but across the world. It has been a fruitful year of collaborating with dioceses, organisations and new friends. In January we were able to speak at length with Bishop Nicholas Hudson during our Rome to Home event.
Through May and June we were joined by wonderful group of international speakers – Dr Jos Moons SJ, Professor Anna Rowlands, Dr Estela Padilla, Professor Catherine Clifford, Fr David McCallum SJ, Sandra Chaoul and Archbishop Jason Gordon – to explore the Final Synod Document in our online Book Club. The video series has received over 7,000 watches and is now available on podcast channels.
Over the summer, we worked with Teresa Carvalho and Fr Chris Vipers from the Archdiocese of Westminster to produce our small group resources, A Feast for all Peoples. To our surprise and delight these were downloaded in over 20 countries in the first month, including China, South Korea and Kenya. They are now being translated into Dutch by the Dutch Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Find out more here >>.
We celebrated a major milestone as our Reimaging Pastoral Councils Synodality Toolkit was downloaded over 1000 times this year, representing individuals, parishes, dioceses, and organisations actively choosing to walk the synodal path. Developed for Northampton Diocese by the School for Synodality, and in partnership with the dioceses of Northampton, Hexham & Newcastle, Liverpool, and Clifton, and the Jesuit Institute, the toolkit truly reflects a collaborative Church in action.
In October we held a second online gathering, this time to explore the Pathways to Implementation document that outlined the next steps on our synodal journey. While we were delighted to be joined by special guests Bishop Brendan Leahy and Austen Ivereigh, Fr Jonathan Stewart and Angela Folland stole everyone’s hearts with their description of putting synodality into practice in their parish in Exeter.
Finally, we had the opportunity to meet some of you in person during the Jubilee of Synod Teams in Rome. We had an unforgettable evening of sharing stories from around the world, and came away refreshed and newly inspired by the work carried out by the SfS community on the ground.
Across the year, our Synodality 101 workshops have continued to be popular, as people recognise the need to learn how to facilitate conversations in the Spirit. Led by our Co-Director Fr Matthew Nunes, our participants experience the richness of a synodal way of being Church and get excited for starting or renewing spiritual conversations in their own contexts. You can register for our next sessions starting in January 2026 >>.
As we reach the end of 2025, we are grateful to all who have collaborated with us, commissioned us, and shared stories, best practice and even frustrations with us. Thank you for your trust, your courage, your creativity, and your willingness to travel the synodal path. As we move into 2026, we do so with renewed hope that the Church is becoming ever more a community that listens, discerns, and walks together, and that the Holy Spirit is already ahead of us, lighting the road.
Looking forward to connecting with you all in 2026,
Avril Baigent & Fr Matthew Nunes,
The Directors of School for Synodality
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