On the afternoon of Thursday 10 September, Sr Nathalie Becquart, Undersecretary of Synod_va, met with the bishops of El Salvador during their ad limina visit. Led by the President of the Bishops’ Conference, His Excellency Monsignor Jose Luis Escobar Alas, Archbishop of San Salvador, the bishops presented the activities carried out to implement synodality in the country that was the birthplace of the saint and martyr Oscar Arnulfo Romero.

The announcement of the Synod on Synodality was well received, but a lack of understanding of the process and the confusion between synodality and democracy on the part of some led the local bishops to adapt the consultation document to local conditions. Besides, some members of the clergy did not get involved in the process, which caused delays.

Following the 16th Assembly, the bishops of this Central American country published the Final Document to raise awareness of them; once the printed copies were available, presentations and discussions on the document took place amongst the clergy of the dioceses, as well as at parish, vicariate and diocesan assemblies.

All this work has yielded the following results: a greater motivation and better organisation for evangelisation and catechesis. A national evangelisation plan has been drawn up, complete with the basic materials required to implement it, and is already being put into practice. Parish catechetical schools are being promoted, a process which includes ongoing training for catechists and the continuous updating of catechisms.

Whilst they already had some way to go regarding processes of discernment, decision-making, accountability and evaluation, work has been done to organise Parish Pastoral and Finance Councils where none existed; where they do exist, efforts have been made to consolidate them; and all members have received training to enable them to perform their duties more effectively.

Within the Economic Affairs Councils, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of transparency and accountability. Taking advantage of the fact that local communities have lay people specialising in the field of administration, methods have been sought to put this into practice, and it is already being implemented in many parishes. These councils have gained a better understanding of their role and its significance; the laity are responding very well to this work

Among the remaining challenges, the Bishops identified the need of clarifying how and by whom decisions are made; formation (of the clergy, seminarian and lay people), to deepen our understanding of synodal spirituality and the training in methods for its application.