"We have to encounter Jesus through prayer and adoration and to hear what the Spirit wants to say to the Church," he said in his homily.
Bishop Emmanuel Trance of Catarman in the central Philippines told Church-run Veritas 846 in an interview that the synod should be an "encounter and beginning of unifying our local Church."
He urged the faithful to "listen not only in our ears but also in our hearts.”
“Listening in this synodal process is to listen to the marginalized, even to the non-Christian community,” said the bishop.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines earlier announced that “small circles” will gather in parishes, schools, and ecclesial communities “to pray together” and discuss issues affecting the Church during the synodal process.
The current synod is not the first to be held in the Philippines. In 1582, Manila had its first synod under its first bishop, the Dominican friar Domingo de Salazar, to discuss the rights of the Indigenous peoples under Spanish rule.
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