The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) welcomed the news from the Holy See’s General Secretariat of the Synod of the delegates appointed for the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be held this October. The two episcopal conferences serve as the coordinating entities for the North American region for the Synod, which is themed, For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission. The first session of the Synod will be held at the Vatican on 4-29 October 2023, and the second session is scheduled to be held in October 2024.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis announced that participation in the Synod in October 2023 would be expanded to include non-bishop members, which would be a group of individuals from each of the regional groupings of episcopal conferences.
Canadian voting members attending in this capacity: Sami Aoun, Nominee of the Maronite, Melkite and Syriac Catholic Churches in Canada; Catherine Clifford, Archdiocese of Gatineau; Sr. Chantal Desmarais, s.c.s.m., Diocese of Joliette; Linda Staudt, Diocese of London
Sister Elizabeth Davis RSM from the Archdiocese of St. John’s will also be a voting member, as a religious. More information about Sister Elizabeth’s involvement can be found in the following link:
Canadian Bishops attending are Archbishop J. Michael Miller, C.S.B., Archdiocese of Vancouver; Bishop William T. McGrattan, Diocese of Calgary and Vice President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Marc Pelchat, Archdiocese of Quebec; Bishop Raymond Poisson, Bishop of Saint-Jérôme-Mont-Laurier and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops; Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix, Archdiocese of Quebec.
More information about the Synod can be found at the following link: