The Synod on Synodality - the big event that's been happening for the last few years in Roman Catholic Church - is finally coming to an end. The bishops (with a small addition of a few lay people, including, for the first time, women) gathered in Rome to bring together ideas and findings from their respective countries, continents and context, to discuss, and to vote.

At the same time a lot of lay people gathered to push their causes forward - among them queer, lgbt+, rainbow Catholics. A number of members of Roman Catholic Working Group of European Forum took part in Spirit Unbounded conference - among them a polish activist Uschi, who shares her experiences:

Quite unexpectedly I went to Rome - encourage by a person from Euroforum's RCC working group and I'm really glad I went!

Friday and Saturday we spent at Spirit Unbounded conference organised by We Are Church and GNRC (Global Network of Rainbow Catholics).

Many interesting presentations and debates, all with a common theme of ensuring equality in the Roman Catholic Church for everyone - women, LGBT+ individuals, divorced people, migrants... I was particularly intrigued by the debate involving rainbow Catholics (Miro, Marianne Duddy-Burke, Marc Guevara, Miki Harrlein, and Mara Klein), moderated by Jaimie Manson. Jaimie also had a separate presentation where she eloquently spoke about how patriarchy is the common denominator in all exclusions in the Church. Sister Joan Chittister's excellent presentation on discipleship and courage left me with the thought-provoking phrase, 'If the people of God lead, eventually the leaders will follow.' And, of course, Mary McAleese was absolutely extraordinary, especially since she was prominently mentioned during the launch of Marta Abramowicz's latest book [about de-catholicisation of Ireland].