In late 2021, Pope Francis announced a ‘Synod on Synodality’, an initiative to promote consultation and mutual listening within the Catholic Church. While the methodology and framework of this synod have evolved, it is set to conclude in October 2024 through a Second Session of the Synodal Assembly in Rome.

 

In the guidelines ‘Towards October 2024’ given by the General Secretariat of the Synod on 11 December 2023, local Churches were invited to conduct a new round of consultation before sending a summary to the General Secretariat of the Synod by 15 May 2024.

 

In the section ‘A Guiding Question to Deepen Reflection’ one can read:

“At the local level as well as at the level of the groupings of Churches, the prospect of an authentically synodal discernment also requires the contribution of theological and canonical expertise, as well as of the human and social sciences, involving experts in these disciplines and academic institutions in the area.”

The report of the First Session of the Synodal Assembly (Oct. 2023), similarly highlighted the need to involve academic institutions and their human social science departments.

 

As an academic consortium supporting social scientific research on Asian Catholics, the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholics (ISAC) has generated a survey to evaluate the ways in which academics with knowledge of Asian Catholics have been involved in the Synod on Synodality.