Book Club - Reading the Final Synod Document

‘Reading the Final Synod Document Together’-
the School for Synodality’s Online Book Club

After four weeks of listening, discerning and writing in October 2024, the final day of the Rome Synod Assembly brought a dramatic surprise from Pope Francis - that the recommendations of the Assembly would become Church teaching. The three year listening process was over, and it was now time to get on with implementing it.

The Final Synod Document (officially ‘For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission’) is our guide to the implementation, and while beautiful and inspiring, can be rather technical in places (episcopal conferences and Vatican dicasteries, anyone??).

To enable us to reflect on the document in more depth, the School for Synodality organised an online bookclub with a stellar cast of experts in May and June 2025. Each week, the School for Synodality’s Director Avril Baigent unpacked a different section of the Final Synod Document, reflecting on its theological and practical implications, with time for questions afterwards.

Below are individual session recordings, with reflection questions and suggested reading. You could bring together some in your parish and study this together in small groups? There have been many approaches to these rich insights that we hear about - please do contact us and share how you are discovering and using our book club resources!