More than 100 priests of the Archdiocese of Atlanta will gather Sunday night at the Cathedral of Christ the King to officially open the Archdiocesan Synod at 7 p.m.

A concelebrated Mass will be said by Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan, Bishop Joseph L. Bernardin and Dom Augustine Moore, O.C.S.O., abbot of the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Ghost at Conyers.

The synod, dedicated to a “decade of decision and deeds” will begin its working sessions Monday at the Cathedral Center and will continue through Wednesday if necessary. The public -- laymen, nuns, members of other faiths -- have been urged to attend the sessions by Archbishop Hallinan.

The synodal sessions will open with the prayer, “Adsumus Domine” (We are here, Lord), which was possibly composed by St. Isidore of Seville in the seventh century and was used at Vatican I and Vatican II councils. In addition, an open Bible will be enthroned at the synod as it was at Vatican II. The Bible will be the edition known as the Jerusalem Bible. The Documents of Vatican II will be displayed in a prominent place.

Father Michael Manning, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul parish, is chairman of the synod. At the closing session of the synod, the names of 11 priests who have been elected to the Priests’ Senate will be announced. The senate is being formed to promote communication between priests and bishops, to guide priest formation and to consider adjustment of salaries to meet rising costs.

A meeting of all interested priests has been called for Friday at 8:30 p.m. at St. Joseph’s High School library to discuss the second drafts of the synod. Two presynodal sessions have already been held.

Archbishop Hallinan convoked the synod in January; congresses of sisters, laymen and young adults have already been held and their recommendations have been made to the synod.

The synod, which is required to be called every 10 years by canon law, will consider “measures for the welfare of the clergy and people of the diocese.” (Canon 356). In 1939, Archbishop Gerald P. O’Hara called a synod for the diocese then known as Savannah-Atlanta. These statues retained their force when the Diocese of Atlanta was formed in 1956 under the direction of Bishop Francis E. Hyland, and in 1962 when the diocese was raised to the rank of archdiocese.

Under canon law, the bishop is sole legislator, but recommendations of priests, sisters and laymen will help decide the role of the Church in North Georgia.