Mgr Keith Newton at the Tenth Anniversary Mass, 9 November 2019; Photo © Mazur/CBCEW

The Ordinary, Msgr Keith Newton, introduces the start of the process in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham:

As you will all know by now, the Catholic Church is engaged in a world-wide process of listening – a Synodal Pathway – and this will continue till 2023. Each aspect and part of the Church is being asked to participate in this process, and you may already be engaged in this via your parishes, chaplaincies, schools, etc. As a Personal Ordinariate we shall also play our part, arising out of the particular context in which we find ourselves.

The synodal process is not about an end goal in 2023 with a gathering of bishops in Rome, but about a new way of acting, of being the Church at every level where mutual listening is the cornerstone. It is not about endless debating about changing what cannot be changed, but is about the Church gathering together people and their pastors for a common journey.

There will be a package of electronic resources sent to each group [see below], and also placed on a new tab on the central Ordinariate website. We are asking Groups to meet together and consider a group of related questions, but you may wish to consider other aspects relating to your particular context. The timings of the process are as follows:

20 January Resources go live on the website and sent to Groups — see below.
5 March Discussion at the Pastoral Council.
12 March Deadline for Returns. Vicars to meet this week.
1 April Draft Ordinariate ‘diocesan report’ submitted to the Ordinary.
10 April Deadline for submitting the Ordinariate ‘diocesan report’ to the Bishops’ Conference.

As members of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham we are no strangers to the kind of ‘synodality’ spoken of in the diocesan and CBCEW documents. This is an opportunity to bring people together — either face to face or online — and giving an opportunity for those who feel isolated to contribute also.

Fr Paul Burch, Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation, introduces the Synodal Path within the Ordinariate:


In the Ordinariate, the process is a continuation of Growing Up, Growing Out and its successor Our Calling & Our Mission. The Synodal process within the Ordinariate during 2021–2023 is described in an Introduction document, and there’s a form to fill in which you can use to bring the results of your thoughts and prayer to the group sessions, or to send in directly if you can’t attend. Please read Our Calling & Our Mission and the introduction document first.