“We Are Here to Listen,” Says the Archbishop of Accra about the Synod

In this Salt & Light Media video, Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, Ghana, says the most important task for the bishops at the Synod on the Family is to listen—to each other, as well as to the laypeople who have presented, and to the husbands, wives and children who have shared with them over the years about their challenges.

The archbishop’s personal message to the synod was that “the family is a gift from God.” He says the family provides checks and balances and is the place we learn to love and be loved, to support and be supported, to make mistakes and to be corrected and  correct others. It is a place that gives hope.

The archbishop, one of 12 children who lived among extended family, credits his family with who he is. He admits he finds it beautiful to see the “communion of experiences” brought to the synod. “It shows that the family is the same, whether it is in Asia, or Latin America, or North America, or Europe, or Africa … it is the same unit.”