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RECOLLECTING: Accompanying the preparation of the local Church’s evaluation Assembly
Notes for Bishops and synodal teams
These Notes are intended to accompany the local Churches in the preparation and celebration of the evaluation Assembly, to be held during the first semester of 2027, which will bring to completion the local Churches’ (Dioceses and Eparchies) stage of the Synod implementation process, entitled “Recollecting”.
In Scripture, remembering means recognising God’s faithfulness throughout history in order to learn to discern the present and open oneself to the future that He is preparing. As such, it consists of far more than simply looking back at the past. Israel learns to reinterpret its own journey by recalling the Lord’s great deeds. Jesus invites his disciples to recognise what God has accomplished through their mission; the early communities recount the events they have experienced in order to discern together the work of the Holy Spirit. The evaluation Assembly belongs to the same spiritual dynamic. It is an occasion for the local Church to gather, to recount what the Lord has brought to maturity throughout its journey, to give thanks for it, and, with renewed trust, to embrace the next steps to which the Lord is calling it.
The fundamental point of reference for the Synod implementation process remains the Final Document (FD) in its entirety. The Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod 2025-2028, published on 29 June 2025, set out the ecclesial framework, meaning and method of the Synod implementation process; the document Towards the Assemblies 2027-2028: stages, criteria and tools for preparation (20 May 2026) offers more specific guidance for accompanying the process of becoming aware of and assessing the journey undertaken. These Notes follow in the same line as those texts and presuppose their content.
All documents relevant to the Synod implementation process are available on the website www.synod.va. For ease of reference, however, the third section of these Notes brings together selected extracts from the reference documents, particularly those of a more practical nature. Where appropriate, references throughout the text direct the reader to the materials gathered in that section.
Preparing the Assembly will require a specific commitment. Its fruitfulness will depend first and foremost on the willingness of the communities to allow themselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and then on careful organization and the quality of the tools employed, which are also important. At the heart of this work is the task of gathering and understanding what the communities have experienced during the Synod implementation process, bringing their diverse experiences into dialogue, so as to recognize together what the Lord has brought to maturity and the further steps to which He is calling His Church.
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