About

Now that the year of the Jubilee of Hope is drawing to an end, a Core Group has been established within the Archdiocese to formulate a Pastoral Plan. The Universal Church is currently providing direction for pastoral action within local Churches through the Synodality process and has requested that Episcopal Conferences form a Synodal Team to oversee the implementation phase. Synodality calls us to walk together in the same mission, one that includes the vital contribution of the laity in ministries and ecclesial structures and/or entities including parishes and schools (thereon referred to only as entities), as well as in their professional lives, within their families, and in everyday society.

In the local context, this process gains particular relevance in light of several realities we are already facing today and which we will need to keep on addressing in the coming years, mainly:

• A Church with fewer clergy
• The need to integrate lay people more actively into the running and life of the Church, in line with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council.
• The presence of diverse cultures in Malta such as communities of foreigners, and the digital world;
• The need of a higher catholic influence in the secular and professional world
• The growing need to welcome new perspectives from outside traditional Church structures, helping us to better understand and engage with the world around us

Apart from matters related to synodality, other emerging needs for the local community have been identified through various studies conducted by Discern, primarily through the study on religious affiliation.