The Pope's appointees to the synod were announced Sept. 15 and included Canadian Cardinal Gerald LaCroix of Quebec and U.S. Cardinals Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, and Blase J. Cupich of Chicago.
The synod will meet Oct. 3-28 at the Vatican to focus on "young people, faith and vocational discernment."
Pope Francis also named as full voting members of the synod Blessed Sacrament Father Robert Stark, director of the Office of Social Ministry of the Diocese of Honolulu, and Canadian Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, undersecretary of the Vatican Section for Migrants and Refugees.
Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, will be synod members by virtue of their Vatican posts.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops elected: Archbishop Luc Cyr of Sherbrooke, Quebec; Montreal Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Dowd; Bishop Lionel Gendron of Saint-Jean-Longueuil, Quebec; and Bishop Stephen A. Jensen of Prince George, British Colombia.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had elected as their delegates to the synod: Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, conference president; Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, USCCB vice president; Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron of Los Angeles.
They also elected Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, but he is listed by the Vatican as an automatic member since he is part of the synod's permanent council.
The bishops of the Maronite Catholic Church elected Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles to be a synod member. And the bishops of the Ukrainian Catholic Church elected Bishop Bryan J. Bayda of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The Union of Superiors General elected 10 synod members – eight priests and two religious brothers – including U.S. Brother Robert I. Schieler, superior general of the De La Salle Christian Brothers, and Canadian Father Michael Brehl, superior general of the Redemptorists.
The synod rules do not foresee voting membership for women.
Pope Francis also named dozens of "collaborators" and "observers" to the synod, including 30 women and several young adults. They participate in the synod discussions, but do not have a vote on the final proposals given to the Pope.
Four young people working at Canada's Salt and Light Television also were named observers. They are Emilie Callan, who was a delegate to the pre-synod meeting; Julian Paparella, a theology student; Prevain Devandran, operations manager at Salt and Light TV; Allyson Kenny, associate producer at Salt and Light TV.
Congratulations @emicallan, Julian Paparella, @Prevain Devendran & Allyson Kenny of @saltandlighttv for being named to the @synod2018! You are great ambassadors of young people in Canada! @CCCB_CECC pic.twitter.com/urBq6atzVr
— Thomas Rosica (@FatherRosica) September 15, 2018