Synod Session 2, Part 1: Expectations for the Second Session

What can we expect from the upcoming Second Session of the Synod?
Inputs from the Study Groups established after the First Synod Session and the Preparatory Document for the Second Synod Session

The second session of the Synod will be convening in early October. What can we expect from this session? There are two sources flowing from last year’s first session which give us some indication regarding this second session:

• A series of study groups, which were established by Pope Francis to delve more deeply into the key areas identified during the first session and report back at this fall’s session
• The preparatory document for the second session, which was issued in July

In this part, we will look at the Study Groups, including the key study areas and the membership of the Groups. Next time, we will look at the preparatory document that flowed from the first session and report on what it outlines for this year’s second session.

The subject areas for the study groups covered key areas that were gathered from the worldwide listening sessions and discussed at the first Synod session. All the study groups have been charged with presenting their “Preliminary Reports” during the upcoming second session, and will then continue their work until June 2025, when their final reports will be due.

The job of the study groups has been characterized as providing more theological “meat” and Scriptural reflection on the areas under discussion, as well as considering the various local circumstances of the Church and how likely decisions are to require changes in Canon Law.

​Key study group areas include:

• Listening to the cry of the poor
• The role of women in the Church and their participation in decision making and community leadership, including the possibility of women deacons
• Possible revisions to the way bishops are chosen, including the involvement of laypeople in the choice
• Greater acceptance of LGBTQ+ and other “marginalized” Catholics
• Revision of the guidelines for priestly formation
• Other areas, such as ecumenism, the evaluation of bishops, the bishops’ relationship with religious orders, and the Eastern Catholic Churches relationship with Rome

Study group membership includes members of the Vatican’s Synod Office and various Vatican offices, theological experts, Canon lawyers, and members reflecting the diversity of the worldwide Church, including lay men and women. The Vatican letter which announced the formation of the study groups states that they must consider “the most relevant current experiences in the People of God gathered in the local churches.”

The content of the preliminary reports from the study groups that will be presented at the upcoming Second Session has not yet been made public, but their reports have been described by one of the lay delegates to the Synod as a way to both preserve the issues from the first Synod session as wide-open questions and to focus the second session assembly on “working toward a Church where these questions can only be dealt with in a synodal manner.”

Next time, we will explore further how the Preparatory Document for the Synod Session sets the stage for what that “synodal manner” of treating these issues will look like in action.

Want to learn more? Check out our series on the Synod on Synodality, from the first session to our parish listening sessions!