By Charles Bertille
KUALA LUMPUR — The eleven Synod contact persons from Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei met together on Tuesday 18 January 2022 with the general coordinator, and an additional synod team member from Kuching and two from Malacca Johore dioceses.
The agenda was to:
• fix the timeline for diocese synod reports, diocese assemblies, and submission of diocese reports to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference Secretariat
• fixing the date for the National (Malaysian) Pre-Synodal event, and
• establishing the teams for synthesising the reports as well as preparing the programme for the Pre-Synodal event (Malaysian).
The meeting also gave the opportunity for the contact persons to share some learnings and experiences, particularly around analysing and compiling the reports and online submissions in their respective dioceses.
Summary of the decisions taken:
Timeline
• All dioceses can submit their draft report to the general coordinator or Conference secretariat beginning 1 May and latest by 1 June 2022.
• The National (Malaysian) Pre-Synodal event will be held on Monday 11 July 2022 (as it falls on Hari Raya Haji holidays).
Guide templates
• The team members requested for a guide template to write their diocese reports. The dioceses will adopt it for their use. It will be sent out with the method of work.
• Charles, Rita and Fr Jude will work on this by early February.
• Likewise, a guide for the Diocese Assembly & National Assembly will be compiled from the notes in the Vademecum especially Appendix C & D.
Diocese Timelines
The various dioceses will firm up their timelines as soon as possible and set-up the teams and processes to help draft their working report, assembly, and the final report after their assembly.
• The dioceses who complete their work early can begin to submit their reports to the coordinator. The latest date for Malaysian dioceses is 1 June 2022.
• All dioceses including Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei are required to submit their reports to Rome by 15 August 2022.
• It is recommended that the Reports be submitted through the CBCMSB Secretariat.
• The Bishops’ Conference (CBCMSB) will meet from 8 – 12 August 2022. There will be a final reading of the reports at the Conference.
Venue
• It is recommended to have the Malaysian Pre-Synod as a hybrid event, online by zoom; the delegates can gather in their respective pastoral centers to be together and to participate in the event.
• The team is doubtful about the possibility of travel and face-to-face meetings.
Delegates
• For the Malaysian Pre-Synodal event, the team decided on 10 -12 persons per diocese as official delegates. They should represent the cross-section of ministries and peoples.
• Singapore and Brunei are kindly invited to send their delegates to the event and be present as part of one larger Conference.
• They will gather in a spirit of prayer, participate in the discussions, discern the voice of the Spirit, reflect and make recommendations to the draft report, celebrate the journey and closing liturgy, and share the final document.
Programme
• The programme / animation team named below will come up with an outline for the Malaysian Pre-Synodal event by end January 2022, making reference to the Resource for Episcopal Conferences (sent out earlier and available on the CBCMSB website https://cbcmsb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/EN_Resource_for_Episcopal_Conferences.01.pdf).
• If the Conference decides to include a closing liturgy within the Malaysian Pre-Synodal event, it will be presided by either or both Presidents of the Conference – in Penang or KL.
Criteria for Work teams
The criteria for both teams were agreed upon as follows:
• They will liaise with the general coordinator from the Bishops’ Conference.
• They will consist of representatives from the 3 regions (Sabah, Sarawak, Semenanjung).
• They can co-opt members from the diocese Synod teams or wider in some cases – to ensure a good representation of voices.
• The persons will be selected based on their ability to contribute.
• The proposed names will be sent to the general coordinator.
Malaysian Synthesis Report Team core members
The names proposed based on the criteria were:
• Charles Bertille, CBCMSB (Coord)
• Rita Krishnan, Kuala Lumpur (Sememanjung)
• Fr Ivan Fang, Sibu (Sarawak)
• Fr David Garamon, Sandakan (Sabah)
• Others will be invited later
Malaysian Programme Team core members
The names proposed based on the criteria were:
• Fr Andy Lee, Miri (Sarawak) (Coord)
• Mr Anthony Lim, Kota Kinabalu (Sabah)
• Fr Jude Miranda (Semenanjung)
• Others will be invited later
