U.S. Bishops Release National Synthesis for the Interim Stage of the 2021-2024 Synod

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued the National Synthesis of the People of God in the United States of America for the Interim Stage. The synthesis marks the completion of the Interim Stage of the 2021-2024 Synod: For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.  

Following the conclusion of the First Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod in October 2023, the Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops invited episcopal conferences to engage in a listening process in response to the synthesis report A Synodal Church in Mission.   

Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine, has been leading the synod process for the Conference and shepherded the preparation of the synthesis. “Participation in this Interim Stage has been an opportunity to deepen our ongoing formation in synodality and in the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council,” he said. “It is with deep gratitude that I share this synthesis which now becomes part of our ongoing record of theological and pastoral reflection together.” 

The USCCB invited dioceses and eparchies to hold two to three listening sessions during Lent and submit a three-to-five-page document to the U.S. Synod Team. Additionally, the U.S. Synod Team created three working groups on participation in Church life, social justice, and vocations, bringing bishops, USCCB staff, diocesan synod leaders, theologians, experts, and pastoral ministers. The resulting diocesan and working group reports served as the source material for this synthesis, submitted to the Holy See earlier this month.   

The National Synthesis for the Interim Stage will, along with the contributions of episcopal conferences worldwide, form the basis of the work to be engaged by the Catholic Church until the Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod in October 2024.  

Bishop Flores expressed, “This document reflects the sense that there exists among Catholics in the United States a deep desire to rebuild and strengthen our communion as the Body of Christ.  Rebuilding trust where it is frayed involves practicing the humanly graceful art of listening to each other and speaking together. The more we do this, the more we realize that it is the Lord who never fails us.” 

The National Synthesis for the Interim Stage is available in English and Spanish