St. Pappin’s Parish, Ballymun
First Gathering: Monday, 7th March 2022 at 7.30 pm
Venue: St Pappin's Pastoral Centre, St. Joseph's Church
Second Gathering: Monday, 14th March 2022 at 7.30 pm
Venue: St Pappin's Pastoral Centre, St. Joseph's Church
All parishioners are invited to attend these two gatherings
Format of the Parish Gatherings
Each Gathering will last about 90 minutes and will follow a similar format: As individuals arrive they will be assigned to a small group where participants will share their personal reflections on two questions. Roles and responsibilities of the group leader: A group leader will have been previously assigned to each group. This leader will try to create a sense of welcome in the small group and manage the meeting ensuring
that people listen to each other
that this is a sharing exercise not a debate
that everyone has the chance to speak
that there are no interruptions
the time allocated is shared by all speakers
Then the first question of the evening will be put to the gathering and each participant will be allowed time to reflect and contribute. Each participant will then be given the opportunity to write down their contributions on post-cards or post-it notes.
After the break, people will go back into their groups. There will be a short prayer or scripture reading and then the second question will be put to the gathering and the process will be repeated.
There will then be a moment of thanks, the Our Father will be recited, and a non-contact Sign of Peace will be shared and the meeting will conclude
Confidentiality
Pope Francis really wants people to feel free to share with integrity and kindness.
Part of creating an atmosphere of freedom is to ensure people respect what is being said and who is saying it.
Confidentiality in the small group means that any sharing after the meeting must not to attributed to a particular person.
So it would be okay to tell others after the meeting about the kinds of things that were shared (in general terms) but not to say who said what – or to tell others in a way that they can easily identify who might have said it.
What Happens Next?
Reporting back to the diocese and process involved. At the end of each gathering the animators will collect all the notes of the meeting. These will be typed up, collated and then given to the parish. This feedback from the parishioners will be used by the Parish Team and Parish Pastoral Council to help with parish planning. The animators will then synthesise the feedback into similar themes. This will form the basis of a report to the Archdioceses of Dublin where, along with similar reports from all parishes in the country, will feed into the next National Synod scheduled to take place within the next five years. Additionally, St. Pappin's Parish comments will be included in a document to be sent to Rome where they will be combined with responses worldwide and will feed into a Papal Synod scheduled for 2023. For further information on the Diocesan Synodal Pathway, visit https://dublindiocese.ie/category/synod/
