Letter
of promulgation
The Electoral Law for the Synodal Assembly
of the Sixth Diocesan Synod of Montreal
( 1995 – 1998 )
September 26th 1997
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
For almost three years now, we have been journeying together through the process of our diocesan Synod. An initial exploration and research phase was followed by the formation of a Pre-Synodal Committee which established for us the major perspectives of this ambitious enterprise which is no less than the transformation of our Church, that is, our desire to make the Church conform evermore closely to what God intends it to be. We put forth this great challenge in the simple words of the slogan of our Synod : A Thousand Faces, One Church. However, we do not pretend to have the power to meet this challenge with our own simple resources. That is why the great celebration of Pentecost 1995 emphasized the importance of praying to the Holy Spirit, as did the period leading up to the launching of the Synod in the Fall of 1995 and as we constantly emphasized during the whole process of the Synod up to this point. Furthermore, we are encouraged by the fact that hundreds of people have written to assure us of their faith-filled collaboration through prayer for the spiritual success of the Synod.
We then proceeded to the Consultation Phase of the Synod during which
I invited you to express to me, through various means, your expectations
with regard to your Church. Thousands of you responded by means of the
Questionnaire that was distributed at large throughout the diocese; several
hundreds of you attached notes, some brief, some lengthy, addressed to
me personally or sent to the Secretariat of the Synod. Hundreds of others
took advantage of the open telephone line that was at their disposal for
five months. Finally, a Consultative Commission was established to listen
to groups or organizations who wished to express their views at a series
of Hearings open to the public; almost two hundred
( 200 ) Briefs were submitted, the majority of which were presented publicly.
During the summer of 1996, we were able to gather together all of these documents and to prepare detailed accounts of this remarkable outpouring of thoughts and opinions. During the fall of 1996, I visited each of the pastoral regions to personally thank everyone who had worked successfully to encourage a response to the call that I had issued.
At the Same time, I invited every single one of you to enter into the second phase of the Synod, to bring the Synod into your homes, into your living rooms and into your kitchens. Thus began Phase II of the Synod; the formation of Synodal Teams. To date, more than two thousand (2,000) teams have been registered.
While these Synodal Teams are completing their work and the Secretariat of the Synod is busy creating a data bank of all the Recommendations that are flowing in, we must begin to think about the event that will be the summit of all of our undertakings : the great Synodal Assembly, the dates of which I have set for the 24th, 25th of October and the 28th, 29th of November 1998. At this point, after many consultations, I would like to present to you the electoral regulations governing the Synodal Assembly that will be held in the next year. These regulations do not pertain to the functioning of the Synodal Assembly. A further document describing this process will follow in due time.
While inviting you to continue your prayers for this great consultation process, I now promulgate this Synodal Law which becomes effective immediately.
Issued in Montreal, in my name, stamped with the seal of the Archdiocese
of Montreal and signed by the Chancellor of the Archdiocese, on this day
the twenty-sixth of September, nineteen hundred and ninety seven.
+ Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte
Archbishop of Montreal
Michel Parent, v.e.
Chancellor
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June 4, 2003