Conference on the future of the Church

26 February 2025

Europe

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„Synodality is God’s will for the Church of the third millennium” – with this thought from Pope Francis, four organizations have announced the „Synodality in Hungarian” conference, which will take place on March 1, 2025, in the heart of Budapest. The event, hosted by the Sapientia College of Theology, is a joint initiative of the Church2030 and Megújul.hu think tanks, along with the General Secretariat of the Synod. Its aim is to promote reflection on the future of the Church while gaining a deeper understanding of the synodal renewal process.

To know more: https://megujul.hu/conference-on-the-future-of-the-church/

The focus is on dialogue and sharing, not debate or formulating immediate conclusions.

The topic that was discussed in the listening circle during the session was: How is this journeying together happening in your local church (parish/archdiocese)?

After this exercise, Father Botha shared common mistakes that facilitators should avoid. These include:

    • Dominance and bias, by talking too much, driving a hidden agenda, reacting instead of adapting and modelling teaching behaviour instead of learning behaviour, denying members the chance to think freely.
    • Poor management of group dynamics, by allowing dominators to take more than their share of time, ignoring quiet participants and ignoring conflict by allowing discussions to become personal, emotional or confrontational rather than focusing on the theme.
    • Letting sub-groups disrupt by allowing side conversations or cliques to affect the team’s performance, losing focus and not managing time.

The next workshop will be on 18 July, focusing on spirituality, governance and mission, ahead of the closing of the implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality, on 18 and 19 September 2026.

Listening | Participation | Synodality