A Diocesan Synod is an important event in the life of a Diocese in which Bishop, priests and lay-people come together in a spirit of prayer to discern together what God is asking of His Church in our Diocese and will help us to live out our calling to be Missionary Disciples.
The Vision of our Diocesan Synod is:
To enable true collaboration between the clergy and laity at diocesan and parish level by truly listening to each other to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church in Salford at this next stage of our journey.
It is important to remember that our Diocesan Synod is entirely distinct from the Universal Synod, called by Pope Francis. For more information on this, please click here.
Latest Update
Our Diocesan Synod drew to a close in March 2025, when Synod Members gathered to vote on 40 recommendations that would form a Pastoral Plan that would help steer our diocese in the years to come.
These recommendations emerged from the 30,000 responses to our Big Listen exercise, which were further refined through a series of Synod gatherings in our parishes, schools, and communities.
Synod members then voted on these recommendations to form a reordered list of priorities to guide our next steps.
To find out more about the recommendations, including figures from the votes, please click here.
Following the vote and a prayerful service to mark the end of the process, our focus turned to action as we began the Implementation Stage of our synod.
Over recent months, implementation groups have been formed to explore the recommendations in greater detail. Together with diocesan trustees and leadership teams, the groups were asked to discern and discuss what they thought our diocese should look like in 5 – 10 years and how we might achieve that.
Feedback from these groups, along with our 40 recommendations, have helped us identify six key areas of focus, with suggested actions to help us implement the findings of our overall Synod process.
Further information on this will be available during Advent.