What Ireland’s synodal assembly prioritized — and what it didn’t
More than 300 delegates gathered in Gormanston, County Meath, for Ireland’s national synodal assembly on Oct. 17, considering 35 proposals developed through a process launched in 2021. Delegates prioritized catechesis, healing, and youth ministry, while giving less support to proposals for new national bodies and changes concerning women’s roles in the Church. Ireland’s bishops began the National Synodal Pathway before Pope Francis announced the global synodal process, though the Irish process later slowed while the worldwide process unfolded. A 2026 working document grouped proposals under five themes, including proclaiming the Gospel, belonging, healing, accompaniment, and shared responsibility for ministry.
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Ireland’s Oct. 17 national synodal assembly backed stronger faith formation, healing, youth ministry and evangelization, while drawing less support for some proposed national structures and initiatives concerning women’s roles. The 35 recommendations are nonbinding and will now go to the bishops for discernment. 1 2
More than 300 laypeople, clergy, religious and bishops gathered in Gormanston, County Meath, to consider proposals developed through Ireland’s five-year synodal process. The pathway began in March 2021, before Pope Francis launched the global synodal process later that year. 1 2
The proposals were organized under five themes: proclaiming the Gospel, belonging, healing, accompaniment, and ministry and co-responsibility. Delegates could mark each proposal as highly recommend, recommend, needing further discernment, or not recommend. 1
By combined “recommend” and “highly recommend” votes, the strongest proposal was appointing dedicated catechists at diocesan and local levels, which received 91% support. Healing as a priority for future synodal work received 89%, while making parishes and local faith communities spaces for formation received 88%. 1
Other highly supported proposals included pathways of belonging for young people through pilgrimages and gatherings, engagement with Irish society on the common good, formation for shared ministry, and youth coordinators and advisory committees. Each received between 84% and 88% combined support. 1
The reports use different measures to describe the leading proposals. OSV highlighted the share who selected “highly recommend”: the highest figures were for reviewing catechetical and sacramental formation (69%), prioritizing healing (67%), making parishes faith-formation spaces (65%), and engaging with Irish society on the common good (63%). 2 1
Bishop Niall Coll of Raphoe said the assembly reflected a need to form people as disciples amid secularism and the abuse crisis. He described the end of “cultural Catholicism” as a reason to focus on “intentional disciples.” 2
The proposal for a national office to promote women’s inclusion received the least support: 18% recommended or highly recommended it, and 56% did not recommend it. A proposal to continue exploring women’s ministry, including the diaconate, received 54% combined support; OSV reported that 42% highly recommended it and 27% did not recommend it. 1 2
Other lower-ranked proposals included a national commission focused on faith-based social infrastructure and a permanent national ecclesial council. The assembly was not uniformly opposed to new structures, however: youth advisory committees appeared among the most-supported proposals. 1
The low combined scores should not be read as rejection of every proposal in the lower-ranked group. Only the three lowest—on a national office for women, women and the domestic church, and a national commission—failed to receive majority support under the combined measure. 1
The assembly’s recommendations will go to the Irish bishops’ conference for consideration. The process’s working document calls this next phase “bishops’ discernment”; the synodal team also said it would review delegates’ written responses, which it considered important alongside the voting. 1 2
Archbishop Eamon Martin said some recommendations could be put into effect quickly, while others would require planning, resources and personnel. He said the bishops would consider a timeline for a possible national pastoral plan, with 2029, 2032 and 2033 mentioned as potential milestones for assessing progress. 1*
Synodal discernment balances evangelization, healing, and inclusive participation
Synodal discernment is best understood not as a choice among evangelization, healing, and participation, but as a spiritual process in which these belong together. The Church listens broadly so that it can discern how to serve its mission; that listening can expose wounds and foster healing, while the mission gives discernment its purpose. Participation is therefore more than a procedural courtesy, but it is not simply a vote or a tally of opinions.
The 2024 Synod describes ecclesial discernment as undertaken by the People of God “in view of mission.” It draws on the gifts of the whole Church and the sensus fidei—the Spirit-given capacity of the baptized to recognize and respond to the faith—so that the Church may discern God’s presence and purpose in changing circumstances.
That means synodal conversation should not stop at hearing people or recording disagreements. Pope Francis warned that encounter and listening are not ends in themselves: they should lead to discernment, conversion, and a willingness to follow where God is leading. He also described the Synod as a process of prayer and dialogue with the Word of God, not a political gathering or a parliament.
Evangelization is thus both the aim and the test of discernment. A process is not fruitful merely because it is inclusive or cordial; it should help the Church proclaim Christ and accompany people toward him. The International Theological Commission similarly connects communion in the Eucharist to mission: those who share Christ’s Body and Blood are called to share the Gospel with others.
The connection between discernment and healing is especially clear in the Synod’s account of Jesus’ way of meeting people. Jesus listened to people from differing circumstances and responded in ways that renewed lives and opened paths toward healed relationships. The Synod presents this as a pattern for the Church’s own listening.
Listening is especially important when people have suffered exclusion or marginalization. The Synod says that hearing those who suffer exclusion helps the Church recognize that bearing the burden of wounded relationships is part of its mission, so that the Lord may heal them. It also notes that attentiveness to people and cultures can reveal signs of the Gospel in practices such as mutual trust, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
This does not mean that every painful experience can be resolved by a listening session, or that listening replaces other forms of pastoral care. The Synod’s discussion of a possible ministry of listening and accompaniment records different views: some supported a distinct ministry, others saw listening as the responsibility of all the baptized, and others called for further study of how such a ministry would relate to spiritual accompaniment, pastoral counselling, and sacramental confession.
The Synod states that ecclesial discernment is a spiritual practice grounded in faith, prayer, humility, mutual trust, and openness to God. Participants are called to share their consciences and listen to one another in seeking what the Spirit says to the Churches. The document concludes that the richer the hearing, the richer the discernment, and calls for broad participation, particularly by people at the margins of the Church and society.
But participation does not mean that discernment is simply a survey of preferences. The Synod’s practical description includes prayerful preparation, adequate information, freedom from personal or group self-interest, attentive listening, and a search for the widest possible consensus without concealing conflicts or settling for a lowest common denominator. Leaders are to formulate the emerging consensus so participants can say whether they recognize it; the process should also allow time for the community to receive and later review the decision.
Nor does broader participation erase the distinctive responsibility of bishops. The Synod’s opening address says that the presence of non-bishop members does not diminish the episcopal character of the assembly or derogate from the authority of bishops and the episcopal college. It presents broader participation instead as a way of exercising authority within a Church understood as relational and synodal.
Taken together, the sources suggest that evangelization, healing, and inclusion are mutually related. Inclusion gives discernment access to a fuller range of experience, especially the voices of those who might otherwise be unheard. Attentive listening can help uncover wounds and create conditions for reconciliation. Prayerful discernment then asks how the Church should respond in fidelity to Christ and in service of mission.
The balance requires both openness and spiritual discipline: openness to people’s actual experiences, and discipline in testing conclusions through prayer, Scripture, and the Church’s mission. Synodal discernment is therefore not “everyone gets whatever they ask for,” nor is it a process in which listening is merely symbolic. It is a shared search for the good of the Church’s mission, undertaken with real attention to people and with responsibility for the decisions that follow.