Silence: a privileged way for synodality to unfold

6 March 2025

Europe

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Silence is a privileged way for synodality to unfold! This is what Msgr. Fülöp Kocsis, Archbishop of the Eparchy of Hajdúdorog (Hungary) for Catholics of the Byzantine rite and member of the 16th General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops tells us in the video we are presenting today, made for the meeting ‘Synodality in Hungarian’, organised by Church 2030 and Megújul.hu & under the patronage of Card. Erdö and Card. Nemet.

‘For me personally,’ Kocsis testifies, ’the perspective of synodality can primarily unfold in these attentive and receptive silences to God. This is not evident in this noisy and agitated world we live in. There is very little silence available to us. If nothing else, with hindsight I could say that this synod has been silence, or rather, this synod has been the synod of silence, bringing the meaning of silence into our lives from our Christian thinking'.

Want to know more? Read the two english article and discover what the participants think about synodality in the following video.

English summary of the conference: https://megujul.hu/synodality-touched-the-heart-of-hungary/

how the synodal messages reached the streets and subways of Hungary: https://szemlelek.net/plakatkampany-es-felmeres-indult-ferenc-papa-egyhazreformjarol/

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 | synodevent