Synod on the Ministry of Bishop: Bishops to Reflect on their Role in the New Millennium

Friday, September 07 2001

(Ottawa — CCCB) Three hundred Bishops from around the world will be gathering in Rome September 30 for a month-long examination of the ministry and role of Bishop in the modern era.

The Tenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is meeting to discuss the theme: The Bishop: Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World. This Synod follows those of 1987 on the role of the laity, 1990 on the formation of priests and 1994 on consecrated life.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has been preparing for this important synodal meeting for two years. Work began when the CCCB responded to the Lineamenta, a discussion paper for the Synod. The Canadian response and those of bishops from around the world were used in writing the Instrumentum Laboris, the principal working document that will guide the Bishops in their discussions.

The Canadian Bishops elected four of their members to represent them at the meeting in Rome. The Pope recently confirmed the elections of Bishop Gilles Cazabon, OMI, of Saint-Jérôme, Bishop Raymond Lahey of St. George’s, Bishop Pierre Morissette of Baie-Comeau and Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg as the CCCB delegates.

The four delegates, after consulting with their brother bishops, CCCB staff and theologians, have each prepared interventions for the synodal meeting that will discuss the bishop as a sacrament of God’s mercy, the spirituality of the bishop, the bishop as minister of hope, and primacy and collegiality.