The inter-confessional report¶
In December 2021, disappointed by the sinoditiim, I formed an second, “alternative” team because I still felt responsible for doing what the Pope asked me, which was more than what the Bishop asked me. During the next months I lead this team to write a 10 pages report where we synthesize “what all Estonians have to say about Synodality”. In this team we used the iterative method of starting with a draft and developing this document during working sessions.
Here is the final result of our work:
I submitted this document as our synodal report to the sinoditiim on 2022-03-31, the end of the consultation phase.
The document has four authors (three theologians and me). We met four times during 4 hours in a row (sinoditalgud) where we discussed about the content of our report. If it’s true that three Estonians who discuss about something have at least four different opinions, we can be proud of this result.
Our report is probably the most representative document about Synodality in Estonia that has been written during the consultation phase. It has not only four authors, it also has dozens of participants who contributed to the content, ten of which publicly confirmed our summary, among them two atheists.
Of course our synthesis is unfinished. We had limited time and resources. Some groups of people haven’t been invited at all. Some people were invited but didn’t want to contribute. Some people left during the process because they felt offended. Some contributors did not fully agree with the final result.
Background
Between December 2021 and March 2022, I asked a lot of people in Estonia: what do you have to say about synodality? I wanted to reach as diverse people as possible. I even wrote a special invitation for those who don’t care about the church.
I consider it an example of “synodal teamwork” despite the fact that it was my personal endeavour, I did it without having been asked to do it.
The story continues as explained in my message Thanks to all contributors.