SYNOD: Our Listening Sessions Have Begun: Preparing for the Archdiocese of Hobart Synod 2027
By Archbishop Anthony Ireland
The first of our regional listening sessions in preparation for the Archdiocese of Hobart Synod 2027 was held in Devonport. By the time you read this, the second will have taken place in Launceston, and our attention will turn towards the regional listening session in Hobart.
We all came away from the first session greatly encouraged.
People entered generously into the process. They listened carefully to one another, spoke honestly about their experience of the Church in Tasmania, and approached the questions before them with seriousness and hope. Particularly impressive was the enthusiasm for what comes next. There was a sense that this was not simply a meeting to be attended, but part of a journey which we are undertaking together.
I am very grateful to everyone who participated, and to those who have helped prepare and facilitate these sessions.
At the beginning of the day, I offered some thoughts about synodality. A number of people subsequently asked for a copy of my talk, so perhaps it is worth sharing here something of what I tried to say.
Synodality is not a program, a slogan, or another administrative exercise. It is something much deeper. It concerns the way the Church lives the Gospel. The Final Document of the Synod describes Christians as walking together with Christ towards the Kingdom, listening, discerning, and sharing responsibility for the mission.
That final word is important: mission.
The Church does not listen merely for the sake of listening. Nor do we gather simply to discover what everybody thinks. We listen so that together we might hear more clearly what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church and respond more faithfully to the command of Christ: “Go and make disciples.” If synodality does not lead us towards evangelisation, then we have missed its purpose.
This is particularly important for us in Tasmania. We live in a beautiful place, but also in one of the least religious parts of Australia. Many people have little contact with the Church. Some have become distant from faith; some carry wounds; others simply wonder whether the Gospel has anything to say to their lives. We cannot respond to that reality with business as usual.
Our Synod therefore cannot become an exercise in ecclesiastical housekeeping. The question before us is more demanding and more exciting: what is the Spirit asking of the Church in Tasmania so that we might proclaim Christ more faithfully?
There is a happy providence in the timing of these regional gatherings. I am writing this article in Sydney, where the Australian bishops are meeting during the first week of November. On Friday 6 November, Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, will address the bishops on the significance of synodality for the Universal Church and for each local Church.
Thus, we can note that our own journey in Tasmania is part of something much larger. Yet synodality cannot remain an idea discussed in Rome, or even something considered by bishops meeting in Sydney. It must take flesh locally: in our parishes, schools, and communities, and in the lives of the people of God in our island state.
As I said at our regional listening sessions, our task is not to copy another diocese’s model. Our task is to discern what the Spirit is asking of the Church in Tasmania.
That will require prayer and patient listening. Above all, it will require us to keep our eyes fixed upon Christ and upon his mission.
The Devonport regional listening session gave us great hope. We look forward to listening further, especially when we gather in Hobart.
May the Spirit continue to lead us, so that our Synod might renew the missionary energy of the Church in Tasmania and help us hear anew the words of the Lord: “Go and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19)