But he noted that the website’s address does not end in “.va,” the internet country code top-level domain for Vatican City.
“It means that the content published doesn’t express the view of the General Secretary of the Synod or of the Vatican,” he explained.
“At the same time, even if we are open to receiving any useful resources without a particular censoring of the material, it is our desire to welcome inputs from officially recognized organizations by the Catholic Church.”
CNA asked Bonaventura Dec. 13 to explain the apparent reversal but he declined to comment further.
Resources currently linked to on the Synod of Bishops’ website include handbooks, videos, formation materials, webinars, and events in countries around the world. Most of the resources included on the page as of Dec. 13 originate from Catholic dioceses and bishops’ conferences.
New Ways is one of only four groups categorized as “informal organizations” featured on the page, which linked to a total of 99 resources as of Dec. 13.
New Ways is the only group focused exclusively on ministry to people with same-sex attraction.
The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops is currently overseeing what has been described as one of the largest consultation exercises in human history, ahead of the 2023 Synod on Synodality.
A handbook released by the Vatican in September urged dioceses to include “all the baptized” in the process, including those on the margins of Church life.
It said: “Special care should be taken to involve those persons who may risk being excluded: women, the handicapped, refugees, migrants, the elderly, people who live in poverty, Catholics who rarely or never practice their faith, etc.”
The Vatican announced in May that the Synod on Synodality would open with a diocesan phase starting in October 2021.
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A second, continental phase will take place from September 2022 to March 2023.
The third, universal phase will begin with the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, dedicated to the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission,” at the Vatican in October 2023.
The “About” section of synodresources.org says that the website is “a platform for sharing resources, stories, and experiences in the journey of the Synod 2021-2023.”
The synod website also links to a new group, based out of a Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, called Discerning Deacons, which says its mission is to “engage Catholics in the active discernment of our Church about women and the diaconate.”
On its website, Discerning Deacons says it is “a project fueled by love and fidelity to the Catholic Church.”
The group will launch a “Synodal Animators Cohort” in January 2022 to provide “integral formation" during the first phase of the synod, especially to those engaging people "who often are at the peripheries of our faith communities: young people and women (who are explicitly named in the preparatory documents), Black, indigenous and people of color, migrants, victims of violence, formerly incarcerated men and women, LGBTQ persons, along with ecumenical and interreligious dialogue partners.”