Thirty-six nurses participated in the Nurses’ Synodal Process
By Rosalin Sulit
Apr 22 2022
ON 29 October 2021, two members of the Catholic Nurses Guild Kota Kinabalu Rosalin Sulit and Agnes Moniu participated in the first Synodal Consultation Process among the leaders of the various church groups held at Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish (SHC). They are the current Guild’s chairperson and secretary respectively.
Subsequently on Nov 12, three other members of the Guild participated in the Synodal Consultation Process conducted by Church of Mary Immaculate, Bukit Padang (CMI). They were Francesca Malantin, Sylvia Richard and Jessica Ng.
Taking on from there, a Nurses’ Synodal Process Group was formed to plan for its own Synodal Consultation Process, which took place at SHC on 19 February 2022.
The process was originally planned to be a physical one but the guild had to conduct the process via Zoom due to the worsening and worrying rise of COVID cases.
Thirty-six nurses participated in the virtual consultation. The session started with opening Mass celebrated by parish priest Fr Paul Lo, who encouraged the process to be conducted in a spirit-filled atmosphere.
He commended the Guild for conducting the Synodal Consultation for its nurses. He was happy to see the number of participants. Some were in their uniforms as they were either on duty or getting ready for work. The Synodal Consultation Process is a response to the call by Pope Francis for the church to be a ‘listening’ church.
Fr Paul also touched on the importance of journeying together and to listen to God, who speaks to all. God is telling us to listen to one another in a prayerful atmosphere. We were to reflect on the true image of God and to follow Him.
The hymn Come Holy Spirit I need You was sung to invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit. After the opening prayer the participants were put into six breakout rooms. Each group was led by a facilitator who had attended the Synod Process at the parish level.
Sixty minutes were allocated for the group discussion. The discussion and sharing were based on the questionnaires prepared by the parish. Upon completion, each group presented a summary of their discussions.
The whole process lasted two hours and the session ended at 1 pm with a closing prayer by Agnes Moniu.
Overall, it was a heart wrenching and emotionally felt session as members opened up their hearts to the various questions and topics discussed. It was a process of listening with an open heart and mind to the numerous comments and suggestions by each participant.
