The Union of Superiors General has announced the Third Intercontinental Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the theme “Toward a Constitutively Synodal Church”. All videos will be facilitated virtually and will be offered at no cost to participants worldwide. Utilising a fully online asynchronous format, the pre-recorded lectures will be available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian, Polish, and German and can be watched at any time throughout the month of March.

This initiative is a response to the ongoing Synod on Synodality, marking an exciting new phase in the life of the Church. The celebration of the first session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome, held in October 2023, provided an opportunity to listen to the voices of the local churches from all continents and to identify pastoral priorities. These priorities will be deepened in light of the second session of the Assembly, which will take place in October 2024. Navigating this new phase of the Synod will necessitate a process of discernment and formation.

The organisation of this third MOOC is led by the Latin American Members of the Theological Commission of the General Secretariat of the Synod and the Ibero-American Theology Group, with the co-sponsorship of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) and the Latin American Confederation of Religious Men and Women (CLAR).

In collaboration with a global network promoting synodality, this project is supported by the Consilium Conferentiarum Episcoporum Europae (CCEE), the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC), the International Union of Women Superiors General (UISG), the Union of Men Superiors General (USG), along with other peer ecclesial organisations and Catholic universities. The programme uses a digital platform created by the Department of “Formación Continua” at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

Small communities, parishes, seminaries, faculties of theology, and other institutions have benefited from Formación Continua’s videos, featuring distinguished international scholars. The previous MOOCs have reached nearly 100,000 people from all continents, especially pastoral agents, religious women and men, laity, priests, bishops, and many others.

Dr Christina Kheng from the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific will share her experience in Module 1 on Decision-Making Models during this year’s MOOC.

Registration is required to access all the videos, and detailed descriptions of the lectures and topics can be found on the course website.