Professor Choi Hyeon-soon of the Sogang Institute for Whole Person Education

Appointed to the Editorial Board for the 1st Instrumentum Laboris of the "Synod of Bishops" Representing Asia

In June, the Synod of Bishops, an organization of the Vatican, appointed Professor Choi Hyeon-soon of the Sogang Institute for Whole Person Education to the editorial board for the 1st Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod of Bishops Conference, which will be held in 2023.

In 2023, the Catholic Church will host the Synod of Bishops, a gathering of all Catholic bishops around the world. Pope Francis hopes to begin the conference by listening to the voices of congregations from around the world. As such, each diocese worldwide partook in an orientation and held a Synod from 2021 to the first half of this year. During the Synod, church members gathered to discuss and reflect upon the life and mission of the church. In the Synod of Bishops Conference, Catholic bishops from around the world will meet with the Pope to discuss matters related to the church.

The Synod reports had been grouped by country as of last August, and the Vatican plans to draw up the first draft of the Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod of Bishops based on the reports collected from each country. The draft will serve as the basis for the conference in 2023. As such, the Vatican invited 24 theologians from around the world to Rome to finalize a final draft from Thursday, September 22 to Tuesday, October 4, 2022.

Sogang Institute for Whole Person Education. This is an important project which has been the focus of Catholic churches worldwide. It is a great honor not only for the Catholic Church in Korea but also for Sogang University, which practices Catholic educational philosophy, that a lay theologian from Korea will be representing Asia and participating in the conference.

"I'm greatly honored to be involved in this very important process in the Catholic Church," said Prof. Choi Hyeon-soon. "I hope to be able to faithfully serve the church and this world with experts from all over the world.”