Written by Angela Townend, Angela Townend, MSW, RSW Toldo Research Chair for the Advancement of Human Formation.
"At its heart, synodality is a way of being Church together, grounded in relationship, listening, and shared discernment under the guidance of the Holy Spirit."
Earlier this month, at the kind invitation of Archbishop Brian Dunn, I had the privilege of offering an introduction to synodality to the priests of the Archdiocese of Halifax–Yarmouth. Gathering with the presbyterate by Zoom, I explored what synodality is, and, just as importantly, what it is not.
Synodality, I emphasized, is not a program. It is not a new layer of structures, and it is not simply more meetings. Nor does it ask pastors to hand over their responsibility or their authority. The temptation is to begin with what we do; the invitation is to begin with how we are with one another. At its heart, synodality is a way of being Church together, grounded in relationship, listening, and shared discernment under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As Pope Francis taught, the Church is “essentially relational, and therefore synodal”; a Church recognized not first by its processes but by the quality of its communion.
The priests were warmly receptive, and our conversation turned to what synodality genuinely looks and feels like in the daily life of a parish. It was a welcome opportunity to share some of the work underway at St. Peter’s Seminary to embed synodality into priestly formation and, in particular, my research on character formation for ministry in a synodal Church.
This is precisely why the work matters beyond the seminary. As dioceses across the country take up the synodal path, the task is not to schedule more meetings but to cultivate the virtues, practices, and relationships that make a parish a place of genuine communion: humility, attentive listening, co-responsibility, and the patient love that lets every baptized person feel at home in the mission of the Church. Synodality is lived in our relationships before it is ever organized in our calendars.
I am grateful to Archbishop Dunn for his gracious invitation and to the priests of Halifax–Yarmouth for their generous engagement, and I look forward to further opportunities to share this work with dioceses across Canada.