Page 10 - LOTN Advent issue 57

DIOCESE

Aberdeen diocesan synod development

Dr Glen Reynolds, Evangelisation and Communication Officer
for the Diocese, provides an update on the progress being
made by the Diocesan Synod Development Team as part of
the work building upon the synodal sessions held by parishes
throughout the Diocese.
BY DR GLEN REYNOLDS

n 2021 Pope Francis invited everyone in our church to
participate in a synod process. The word Synod means
I‘travelling together’. It was an opportunity for us to
discuss issues important to our church, and each parish
in our diocese was invited to meet prayerfully and listen
to each other as we shared what was in our hearts with
the help of the Holy Spirit.
The diocesan wide feedback from these meetings
was discerned into several themes for action. These
included Rebuilding Parish Communities, Fostering Lay
Involvement and Developing Diocesan Communications. will reference news, events, fundraising and activities in
Bishop Hugh subsequently invited a team of twelve the diocese; the distribution of the Light of the North and
people with diverse backgrounds, including laity and messages from Bishop Hugh. None of the above will or
religious, from across the Diocese to consider the issues should detract from best practice currently carried out
that had been raised and to propose actions that would by parish priests and local volunteers who in challenging
address them. This is the first article in a series that will circumstances carry out information, sharing as they are
share the work of the Synod Development Team, and best placed to do so, in local areas and parishes that they
explains some of the work that has been undertaken to know better than anyone else. It builds upon the diocesan
improve communications within the diocese. web site and Facebook page, and those that parishes may
already use in a very constructive way for their own parish
A COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE communities.
The Diocesan Synodal Team in collaboration with our A good and ongoing perspective is our need both
Diocesan Data Protection Officer, the Council of Priests, to review and to develop communication within a
clergy and religious, has been engaging in an ongoing geographically vast diocese with varied staffing and
consultation process aimed at addressing how we resources, a differing potential for volunteers (not least in
protect personal data and at the same time to update, isolated and rural areas), all with a differing cultural and
hopefully for the better, how we communicate and share local dynamic, and varied localised views in terms of the
information throughout the diocese. relationships between the diocese, deanery and parish
This will be a huge step forward for the diocese, and levels.
taken carefully to ensure that all views are incorporated We are seeking to develop models that empower us, and
not least those of lay members of our parish communities at the various levels create a network, for disseminating
and local parish priests who are best placed to address information - at parish, deanery and diocesan level, and
local information sharing in light of their resources and do this via a volunteer network which relieves the clergy
what works best for them. of as much of that responsibility as is possible.
Communication is more than adapting to the needs and What you will see in your parishes in due course are first
demands of ‘experts’ surrounding rapidly changing social steps toward building up communication in our parishes
media tools, but concerns the use of technology in a ‘new and across the diocese, laying the foundations that build
way’, and has been at the heart of many discussions. The upon what we do already. What works for parishes locally
aims and objectives of the Synod Development Team are will remain at the heart of our work, but refining how
to facilitate (within our legal obligations surrounding we can better manage information sharing across the
date protection), a consultation process that will design a various structures at a diocesan, deanery and parish level.
sharing tool or platforms that will update how individuals Communication is about connecting with real people,
choose to receive parish information, including but not and the Synod Development Team hopes that its efforts
limited to communications via post, text or emails. It will will help to make that happen.
also consider how diocesan communications are better
shared and posted, such as a diocesan newsletter that

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