“It has been a gift to have this experience. You saw both the large church at work in synodality and the People of God”.

This is how Sr. Maria Cimperman RSCJ perceived the recent Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies in Rome. 

Sr. Maria is a religious sister from the USA who serves as a Synodality Initiative Coordinator at the UISG in Rome. 

In a video for the UISG, Sr. Maria RSCJ recounted what she has seen at this particular Jubilee:

“It was hearing Pope Leo XIV begin and talk to us about the importance of synodality and for the church as well as the world and how everyone has something to offer in it, and also the importance of dialog – we have had lots of dialog this weekend.”

For example, there was a workshop was on women and men together for a synodal church, Sr. Maria mentioned:

“We had a conversation about how you do formation for that, how you build community and allow for the gifts of women and men together to be used, because the reign of God is vast - we need a lot of people for it.”

Obviously, new ideas came forth with the conversations, Sr. Maria observed. She realized that when we work together, “the recommendations are not only powerful, but there are so many things that people can already do on their own in their local church and who can offer a lot.”

Moreover, Sr. Maria Cimperman has recently travelled to Fiji in Oceania for a synodal gathering just before the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies. It included all aspects of the church: seminarians, priests, religious, bishops, single and married people, Sr. Maria enumerated.

All of us together “were discerning initial and ongoing formation”.