More than 360 participants, including Archbishop Cupich, are expected to attend October’s Synod of Bishops on the family, according to the complete list of synod participants and papal appointees released Sept. 15 by the Vatican. “Accepting this nomination is both an honor and a responsibility,” Archbishop Cupich said in a statement. “Pope Francis has made clear that he is inviting the entire church to live the experience of ‘synod,’ meaning to walk together on a path of solidarity, on a journey together.” Archbishop Cupich was selected by Pope Francis as one of 45 synod fathers in addition to the 166 members elected by their national bishops’ conferences. Also participating are 22 heads of Eastern Catholic churches, 25 heads of Vatican congregations and councils and 10 heads of men’s religious orders in the Oct. 4-25 gathering. Attendees also will include 18 married couples from around the world. With the addition of Archbishop Cupich and Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, also appointed Sept. 15, the United States will have eight voting members. The pope had already appointed New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl to the synod last October. These four appointments will join the four others already elected by the U.S. Bishops’ Conference: Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, Galveston-Houston Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez. “These will be days filled with animated discussions, but also a time to discern where Christ is leading the church,” Archbishop Cupich said. “I ask all to pray with me in the days ahead that the Synod 2015 will be a time of grace and renewal for the church, and that all the delegates — with and under Peter — will be responsive to the Spirit of Christ, ever full of faith, pastoral and doctrinal zeal, and cheerful openness.” The ordinary synod will include many more people than last year's extraordinary synod, which met over the course of 15 days. The ordinary synod will bring together nine additional leaders of Eastern Catholic churches and six more "fraternal delegates" from the Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant communities. The pope also appointed 51 observers and 23 experts, including a total of 18 married couples. At the extraordinary synod, there were 38 observers and 16 experts, which included a total of 14 couples. Almost half of the 45 papally appointed voting members are from Europe with another 15 from the Americas, three from Africa, two from Oceania and one from Asia. At the extraordinary synod, almost all appointees were from Europe, and none of the papal appointees was from North America or other English-speaking countries. Other papal appointees include Canadian Cardinal Gerald C. Lacroix of Quebec; New Zealand Cardinal John A. Dew of Wellington; German Cardinal Walter Kasper, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Mechelen-Brussels, and Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, as well as Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, director of La Civilta Cattolica journal, and Msgr. Pio Pinto, dean of the Roman Rota, a Vatican-based tribunal that deals mainly with marriage cases. Among 51 observers and 23 experts appointed by the pope, the majority are laymen and laywomen, including 18 married couples. The 42 men and 32 women, who will not have voting rights, represent a more geographically diverse mix with fairly equal representation for Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East, and a slightly higher number from Europe. The synod's voting members include officials from the Roman Curia, heads of the Eastern churches, and archbishops of smaller Eastern Catholic churches, including Byzantine Archbishop William C. Skurla of Pittsburgh. Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Australian Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, were to attend as officials of the Roman Curia. Pope Francis will serve as president of the synod and will be assisted by Cardinals Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris; Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila; Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, Brazil; and Wilfrid F. Napier of Durban, South Africa. As he did at last year's extraordinary synod, Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest will serve as relator with the duty of introducing the discussion and synthesizing its results, and Italian Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto will serve again as special secretary. Among those elected to attend by their country's bishops' conferences: Many of the papally appointed observers and experts are active in family ministries and pastoral care, canon law and moral theology, and did not attend last year's extraordinary synod. Among the nonvoting members invited to attend are: Fourteen "fraternal delegates" will represent other Christian communities, such as the Lutheran, Anglican and Baptist communities. Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, director of foreign relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, also is expected to attend. The ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops is focusing on "The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and the Contemporary World." It will draw up pastoral guidelines responding to previous discussions looking at the challenges facing today's families. It is expected the pope will then write a postsynodal apostolic exhortation that takes up the themes of the synod and develops them further.