by Cardinal Stephen Chow, S.J.
On September 19, 2026, the Synodality Development Team of the Diocese held a kick-off event on synodality at Wah Yan College, Kowloon. The event brought together lay people, religious sisters and brothers, and priests from different sectors of the Diocese to listen and learn together what “synodality” is about, how it is being put into action in a few sectors. It was also a promotional event for the upcoming Diocesan Assembly to be held in February 2027.
Dioceses, Episcopal Conferences, and Continental Conferences will hold their assemblies or synods later in 2026, during 2027 or in early 2028, leading to the Ecclesial Assembly to be held in Rome in October 2028. These assemblies or synods are meant to evaluate, with gratitude and humility, the synodal paths that individual dioceses, conferences, and continents have taken up to the respective points of their assemblies.
Hence, the local Churches and the Holy See are in their learning modes as they prepare for their respective assemblies or synods, including the one being planned for in Rome. The gathering in Rome will not be another Synod of Bishops, but an Ecclesial Assembly of the entire Church to listen, evaluate, learn, and celebrate as the People of God. There we will reflect on how we have been journeying together as a synodal People under the guidance of the Spirit of God.
The Holy Father will value this opportunity to learn from the people of God how synodality is being lived in different ecclesial contexts, what difficulties and challenges have been encountered. It will also be an opportunity to celebrate good practices and learn from each other’s positive and not-so-positive experiences. All these will equip us for better discernment on how we can continue our journey as individual synodal churches and as a Synodal Catholic Church.
The kick-off event was a grace-filled gathering at which sisters and brothers serving in education, parish, youth, and migrant (English-speaking) ministries shared what they had been doing in their respective areas. They also discussed issues they had encountered in living out synodality, including how to reach out to and engage others as partners in synodal discernment.
I chose to accompany the migrants’ (English-speaking) group. They have four programs that, with the grace of faithful discernment and further collaborations, would help them become a synodal community. Of the four, the one that touched me the most was “Street Evangelisation.” Fr. Jay Flandez, svd, was struck by a comment from a Filipino on the street as he was providing pastoral service. He was told that he was the first ever Catholic clergyman who came on the street to evangelise all these years. Instead, they were only approached by pastors of the other Christian denominations. This remark impressed Fr. Jay so much that he decided to start a street evangelisation program.
I must say that I am impressed by this program. How much our Church needs to reach beyond ourselves so that we remain out there with our people, whether Catholics or not. This was what our late Pope Francis had emphasised: shepherds should have the smell of their sheep. And these sheep are not only the ones staying in our folds but also those waiting outside for shepherds to tend to them.
Hence, it is desirable that our parishes become mobile “field clinics,” reaching out, providing emergency care, healing, and welcoming. I am not putting “welcoming” at the beginning because we should not offer our help only to those who are open to our welcoming. A field clinic offers first aid and initial treatments to those who are injured or at risk physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and socially. Accompaniment and protection, at least during the critical period, are what we can try our best to offer.
Therefore, for the sake of our different missions and in the spirit of synodality, it is advisable that we reach out to other like-minded organisations willing to collaborate with us on specific projects or in serving particular groups. Collaboration with others, within or outside of our Church, after faithful discernment is very much in line with our synodal Church.
May God bless our synodal efforts and the Diocesan Assembly!
+ Stephen Cardinal Chow, S.J
