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Archdiocesan Synod June 6, 2019 Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis THE LISTENING CHURCH A mural of the Holy Spirit painted in the apse of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT Archdiocesan synod planned for 2021 Archbishop Hebda has Preparatory process begins this year On June 8, Catholics from around the Archdiocese of wanted to hold a synod St. Paul and Minneapolis will gather at St. Peter in Mendota to pray with a particular intention in mind: to invite the Holy since he took the helm Spirit’s guidance throughout an archdiocesan synod process starting this year. of the local Church in 2016. With the 7 p.m. Vigil Mass for Pentecost, our local Church will officially mark the beginning of the two-year process of What it is, why it matters and prayer and consultation that will culminate in the archdiocesan synod — the first the archdiocese has held how it aims to engage every since 1939. The process is designed for Catholics to have ample opportunities to share their views on the pastoral needs of Catholic in the archdiocese. the local Church, beginning this fall with prayer-infused Pages 1A–4A listening sessions. Scheduled for Pentecost weekend 2021, the synod assembly will gather delegates representing all facets of the local Church to help Archbishop Bernard Hebda discern and shape pastoral priorities for the following five to 10 years. 2A • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT ARCHDIOCESAN SYNOD JUNE 6, 2019 Moving forward together 2019 Synod process aims to be t this year’s Vigil of Pentecost, I will be formally announcing that collaborative, wide-reaching our archdiocese will be embarking on a synod, our first since 1939. JUNE 8 A synod is a formal representative assembly A PENTECOST VIGIL designed to help a bishop in his shepherding of the local MASS OF THE and led by Holy Spirit Church. It is my hope that the process outlined in these HOLY SPIRIT pages, involving every parish in our archdiocese, will help Begins the pre-synod By Maria Wiering us over the next two years to draw on the gifts that have process The Catholic Spirit MASS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT been bestowed in such abundance on the faithful of this n autumn 2015, Archbishop 7 p.m. June 8 • St. Peter, Mendota archdiocese to discern and establish clear pastoral priorities AUTUMN in a way that will both promote greater unity and lead us to a more Bernard Hebda was apostolic 1405 Sibley Memorial Highway PRAYER AND administrator of the Archdiocese vigorous proclamation of Jesus’ good news. I All are invited to attend a Mass on the Vigil of LISTENING EVENTS of St. Paul and Minneapolis, an When St. John Paul II promulgated the new Code of Canon Law in Pentecost celebrating the beginning of the Held at parishes and other interim role to help the local 1983, he recognized that the laws of the Church needed to take into archdiocesan synod process. Mass will be led by local sites across archdiocese Church transition between consideration the “new way of thinking” that had emerged from the Catholic charismatic communities. A prayer meeting archbishops. He held 10 listening Second Vatican Council. In particular, he identified a need for new with praise and worship music will follow Mass. sessions around the archdiocese to canonical structures to reflect the conciliar teaching that presented the gather information for the next Church as the “People of God” and as a “communion,” as well as the 2020 archbishop — only to have Pope doctrine by which “all members of the People of God share, in a manner and listening events is for Francis appoint him to the job the proper to each of them, in the threefold priestly, prophetic and kingly Archbishop Hebda, Bishop Cozzens following March. office of Christ.” WINTER and the synod’s consultative bodies During those listening sessions, One of the structures that took on a new prominence in that purposeful PRAYER AND to hear the needs expressed by the archbishop was struck by revision of the Code was the diocesan synod, a traditional structure for LISTENING EVENTS Catholics and to discern with the people’s care for the Church, their consultation and governance in the Church. The notion of the Synod was Held at parishes and other Holy Spirit which topics should be willingness to share their broadened and reconfigured precisely to serve as a tool for the bishop to sites across archdiocese addressed at the synod. experiences and ideas, and their engage the People of God (laity, clergy, consecrated men and women, and This approach is unique to the hopes for the future, despite bishops all walking together) in exercising the responsibility that flows MAY 31 archdiocese’s synod and pre-synod wounds inflicted by the clergy sex from our common baptism, always in the hope of strengthening the PENTECOST process, Bishop Cozzens said. abuse scandal. communion that is the Church. Since the reboot of this ancient structure, Marks the beginning “Many other dioceses have done He had planned to recommend diocesan synods have consistently served as important instruments in of second year of very successful synods recently,” he to the incoming archbishop that he effecting conciliar renewal within the local Church. pre-synod process said. In those other dioceses, he hold a synod once he was added, the bishops and their In the time that I have served in this archdiocese, I have come to believe appointed here — and the idea SPRING/ leadership determined the synods’ that our local Church is particularly ripe for a synod. After the listening remained after Archbishop Hebda SUMMER themes at the onset. “What’s sessions that were held in 2015 when I was still serving as the temporary was given the role. Now, four years Archbishop Hebda unique to our process is that administrator, I drew up suggestions for the next archbishop, never later, the time is right, he said, and announces topics that Archbishop Hebda has decided he thinking it would be me. At the top of that list was the convoking of an planning is well underway, with will shape synod doesn’t want to determine those archdiocesan synod. We are blessed here with a particularly well-educated Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens priorities, but wants to spend time and articulate laity with a strong tradition of service to the Church, who the chairman of a 19-member AUTUMN broadly listening to the people to along with their clergy and consecrated brothers and sisters, want to be executive team commissioned with PARISH determine those priorities,” he said. involved in shaping her future, seeing that appropriately as both their determining and executing the CONSULTATION Archbishop Hebda described the right and their responsibility. logistics of the pre-synod process PROCESS local pre-synod and synod process After the pastoral pause necessitated by the bankruptcy and related and the synod itself. Small groups meet in as following Pope Francis’ issues, I have sensed that many of you seem to be ready to roll up your The central goal of that process parishes to pray and “listening Church” model. “It’s the sleeves to address some of the pastoral needs that had been placed on the has been to craft an archdiocesan- discuss synod topics confidence that comes from back burner. The enthusiasm surrounding the new Lay Advisory Board wide discernment process that believing that the Holy Spirit works would seem to confirm that. Without losing sight of either the critical allows the Holy Spirit to speak. in the faithful, and it’s in sharing importance of our Catholic schools or the urgency of creating safe “A synod is a consultation those things that are most environments and engaging in outreach to those who have in any way process that the Church gives as a 2021 important to us that we’re able to been harmed by the Church, we now need to be deliberate in moving tool for a bishop to be able to recognize the promptings of the forward on other fronts. discover what the faithful and Holy Spirit,” he said. It is in that context that I have been hearing Pope Francis’ repeated JANUARY & others think about particular articulation of the need for us to be a “listening Church.” While stressing FEBRUARY topics,” Bishop Cozzens explained. The executive committee decided to dedicate a year to the prayer and that “discernment is a gift of the Spirit to the Church, to which she DEANERY Archbishop Hebda wants to use a listening process. Once the priorities responds with listening,” he has concretely modeled for us how a more CONSULTATION synod to identify pastoral priorities are identified, a second year will be intentional “listening” might work in discerning and establishing pastoral PROCESS that can direct the Church in the priorities. In the six years of his pontificate, he has held three synods, plus Parish representatives coming years, he added. dedicated to listening to Catholics speak to the particular concerns and the recent global summit, and at each of them he has opened wide the meet at deanery Therese Coons, the executive ideas around those priorities process of consultation and encouraged even difficult discussion. (regional) level to pray committee director, calls the synod through a parish consultation The Holy Father has emphasized that he is not talking about listening and discuss synod topics a “spiritual strategic plan” for the process — which will include small that is merely “pro forma,” but rather a sincere and respectful “mutual archdiocese. Fellow committee groups — and a deanery listening” in which everyone has something to learn. Moreover, it is not MAY 21-23 member Debbie Keller, former consultation process, leading up to just listening to one another but to the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of truth” (Jn PENTECOST president of the Archdiocesan the synod assembly itself.
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