About Synod
Address: Kaptol 31, pp 553, 10001 Zagreb
Phone: +385 1 4894 835
Fax: +385 1 4816 104
E-mail: sinoda@zg-nadbiskupija.hr
The Secretary of the Synod: Denis Barić
The Second Synod of the Zagreb Archdiocese was announced on February 10, 2002, on the Feast of Blessed Cardinal Alojzije (Aloysius) Stepinac. On this occasion, Josip Bozanić, the Archbishop of Zagreb, expressed his desire for the Synod to be an opportunity for the renewal of the local Church and a response to the need of a new light of the Holy Spirit.
According to the Archbishop, the goal of the Synod is to help the diocesan bishop in leading the community of the faithful. This goal determines the special role of the presbyters in the Synod, ‘as wise collaborators of the episcopal order’. The representatives of religious orders and lay members of Christ's faithful were invited to the Synod as well, which represents a special kind of responsibility that belongs to all faithful in forming the Body of Christ.
Community and mission, as inseparable aspects of the same goals of the Church's pastoral action, contribute to the welfare of the whole diocesan community, and they are marked as the final goal of the Synod (cf. CIC, can. 460).
The task of the Synod is to support the dynamism of all ecclesiastical powers under the leadership of their shepherds. Therefore, the Synod manifests, builds and achieves unity in the diocese. The purpose of Zagreb Synod is pastoral.
The Synod wants to encourage the development of pastoral efforts and animate the efforts of the archdiocesan community for uniform pastoral work.
The Synod should prepare us for the joint pastoral plans and programs. The motto of the Synod ‘Let us walk in the newness of life’ wishes to do just that, i.e. to encourage the church of the Archdiocese of Zagreb to be dynamic and uniform in its actions. This is what originally the Greek word ‘synodos’ means (to come together, to be together on the way).
‘The newness of life’ was achieved by baptism and is based on Christ's victory over death; ‘the newness of life’ is the ‘newness of the Spirit’ (Rom 7:6), because by the power of faith, that most precious gift of God, we became ‘a new creation’ (cf. 2 Cor 5:17, Gal 6:15). We were given a new living space to testify and change ourselves in his light.
The preliminary period of the Second Synod of the Archdiocese of Zagreb officially ended, and was conducted in two parts. In the first part of the preliminary period the proposals of priests, religious orders and lay members of Christ's faithful on the topics and issues that should be discussed at the synod were collected and analysed.
In the second part of the preliminary period discussions of the collected proposals were held at all levels of our local Church. In this way, the preliminary period of the Synod included all the faithful of our Archdiocese.
A total of 2499 minutes from the pre-synod meetings arrived to the Synod Secretariat. After a detailed examination and analysis, this resulted in a number of 66 summaries on various topics of the archdiocesan consultation, which served as a basis for drafting a working document of the Synod.
At the moment we are in the period of immediate preparation for the start of the synodal sessions. In addition to drafting a working document (Instrumentum laboris), and before the synodal sessions, there is still work on the Synod Statute and the election of members of the Second Synod of the Archdiocese of Zagreb before us.