There is a conversation that the Church has been having for sixty years and that has gained prominence recently: the place, mission, and co-responsibility of laywomen and laymen. The Second Vatican Council incorporated it into ecclesial reflection, and the synodal process 2021-2024 has brought it back to the center of theological and pastoral debate.
The course returns to the conciliar documents with a critical reading and uncovers the keys that continue to fuel the discussion: the common priesthood of the faithful, the sensus fidei of the People of God (LG 12), and the tria munera, with the question still open regarding the munus regale of laywomen and laymen.
Understanding how their full ecclesial subjectivity was recognized, and how that recognition was received in the following decades, is the starting point of the program.
Women, protagonists of ecclesial life
The program dedicates a specific axis to the place of women. It reviews how the topic appeared in the Second Vatican Council and in the post-conciliar period, how ministries and female leadership are articulated today, what challenges their participation in decision-making spaces poses, and what possibilities for reform are discussed at a global level.
Noceti has been researching this field for decades: she is the author of Deaconesses. A ministry of women in the Church and a founding partner of the Italian Theologians Coordination.
The course also addresses how the relationship between ordained ministers and laywomen and laymen is articulated, what pastoral responsibility the community assumes as such, and what discernment lay preaching requires.
Co-responsibility does not mean distributing tasks, but sharing the weight of decisions. The proposal is aimed at pastoral agents, religious women, religious men, clergy, and laypeople committed to the transformation of their dioceses and parishes.
The moment is not casual. The Church is going through the implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality, a path that will culminate in 2028 with a Global Ecclesial Assembly in the Vatican, and whose guidelines explicitly call for promoting the effective access of laywomen, laymen, and consecrated persons to positions of responsibility.
The question is no longer whether communities should move in that direction, but with what theological tools they will do so.
An authoritative and close voice behind the course
This is the realm of "Instituted Ministries in a Synodal Church," the course offered by Cebitepal with the Italian theologian Serena Noceti, one of the most authoritative voices in the world on ecclesiology, theology of ministries, gender theology, and synodality.
Noceti is a full professor of systematic theology at the Higher Institute of Religious Sciences of Tuscany and coordinates the Research Institute on Theology of Ministries at the Theological Faculty of Central Italy, in Florence.
She was vice president of the Italian Theological Association and edited, along with Roberto Repole, the nine volumes of the Commentary on the documents of Vatican II. With Rafael Luciani, she signed Synodally. Form and reform of a synodal Church and A path that generates. The “Synod on synodality” explained to all, published by Editorial CELAM.
The course, in online mode, will take place from September 1 to November 17, 2026, with sessions on Tuesdays at the following times:
9:00 to 10:30 hrs (Colombia)
8:00 to 9:30 hrs (Mexico)
9:00 to 10:30 hrs (USA/Miami)
10:00 to 11:30 hrs (Venezuela/Bolivia)
11:00 to 12:30 hrs (Brasília/Argentina)
15:00 to 16:30 hrs (Madrid/CET)
Benefits and registration facilities
The investment is 150 USD, with up to a 30% discount and the possibility of payment in up to three installments. We invite you to explore the entire training offer of Cebitepal and learn about the scholarship and discount program: https://cebitepal.celam.org/politicas-de-becas-y-descuentoshttps://cebitepal.celam.org/politicas-de-becas-y-descuentos
Sign up today: https://cebitepal.celam.org/event/ministerios-de-laicas-y-laicos-en-una-iglesia-sinodal-24/register