The Vatican last week presented the list of names that will make up the next General Assembly of the Synod, to be held in Rome during October 2023. Among the more than 360 summoned there are three members of the Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement.

As a Family, we are invited to pray and ask the Holy Spirit for each of them and for this very important moment in the life of the Church. They are:

Msgr. Ramon Alfredo de la Cruz Baldera, from the Dominican Republic

Bishop Ramón Alfredo de la Cruz Baldera is a member of the Institute of Schoenstatt Diocesan Priests. He is bishop of the Diocese of San Francisco de Macoris in the Dominican Republic.

In a letter to the priests of the diocese, he writes: “The mission of building the kingdom of God invites us to a continuous renewal of the Church. Today this has a name: the Church of synodality. Synodality presents us with many challenges, challenges that at times we do not know if we will be able to face, but on the other hand we are confident that the Lord has given Peter’s boat a good navigator who, together with many bishops, priests, religious and laity, will bring it safely to port.”

Msgr. Nicolas Nadji Bab, Bishop of Chad

Another of the bishops summoned is Bishop Nicolas Nadji Bab, who belongs to the Schoenstatt Federation of Diocesan Priests. He is responsible for the diocese of Laï, in the African country of Chad.

Nicolas Bab got to know the Schoenstatt Movement through the Swiss Father Alois Baumberger, who worked for many years in the diocese of Pala, in southern Chad.

His course brothers are priests of the dioceses of Pala, Moundou, Sarh and Laï. They were present in Schoenstatt in 2019 for the centenary celebration of the Hoerde journey.

Pedro Paulo Weizenmann, from Brazil

Among the lay people who will participate in the Assembly is young Pedro Paulo Weizenmann. He will work in the Secretariat of the Synod, as a volunteer, where he has been collaborating for some time. Pedro Paulo was part of the Schoenstatt Boys’ Youth at the Shrine of Vila Mariana, São Paulo, Brazil, for many years. With a family that has been part of the Schoenstatt Movement for many years, he actively participates in the Movements’s missionary works, forums, and groups in his diocese.

Pedro Paulo took the first image of the Pilgrim MTA to Harvard University, in the United States, where he studied. He also took the MTA on his internship at the UN in 2019.

Let us pray for all participants in the Synod

In total, 363 voting members will participate in the Assembly. There are 85 women, 54 of whom have voting rights. Let us accompany them all with prayers and offerings to the Capital of Grace, that this may be a Pentecostal periof in the life of the universal Church.