Bp Paul Hinder, Apostolic Vicar of southern Arabia (United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen) and Apostolic Administrator of the vacant seat of northern Arabia (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain) issued a pastoral letter ahead of the 2023 Synod.
In it, he writes: “As a Church of migrants amidst a Muslim society, comprising the faithful of different nationalities and traditions, our witness stands unique and important within the universal Church.”
Titled “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:23), the letter underscores the importance of a shared synodal journey of a Church that is one of a kind, made up of migrants in a Muslim majority region.
The prelate encourages “the active participation of all the faithful” in the synodal process in the vicariates of northern and southern Arabia, which will officially open on 15 October at St Joseph Cathedral in Abu Dhabi, a few days after Pope Francis leads services in the Vatican (9-10 October).
The Synod is divided in three phases, between October 2021 and October 2023. The first diocesan phase aims at listening to the people of God, while the second and third phases will focus on the continental and universal Church, so that the People of God can journey together in each, with the Synod as much a process as an event.