In preparation for the final global Synod on Synodality this fall, the Archdiocese of St. Louis will host a listening session in March.
Dioceses across the United States have been asked to hold additional listening sessions in the next few months, following a request from the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops, which is preparing for the second global assembly.
The archdiocesan listening session will take place from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, March 23, at the Cardinal Rigali Center, 20 Archbishop May Drive in Shrewsbury. All are welcome to attend. A virtual listening session for Catholic high school teens is planned in April.
Father Mitch Doyen, chair of the archdiocesan synod task force, said that the listening session is part of Pope Francis’ desire to continue a dialogue after the first global Synod on Synodality held in October 2023.
• Why is the archdiocese hosting these listening sessions? “The Holy Father is encouraging us to become a more synodal Church,” Father Doyen said. “He wants us to continue listening after the Synod on Synodality. Offering that experience for folks is important.” A second point is that the October synod yielded feedback on people’s concerns, hopes and fears that require a deeper level of discussion, Father Doyen said.
• Two guiding questions for the listening sessions: “Where have I seen or experienced successes — and distresses — within the Church’s structure(s)/organization/leadership/life that encourage or hinder the mission?” and “How can the structures and organization of the Church help all the baptized to respond to the call to proclaim the Gospel and to live as a community of love and mercy in Christ?”
• What’s next? Feedback generated from the local listening sessions will be included in a report to be sent to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops by early April. The synodal process will unfold with an intercontinental phase, followed by the global synod in Rome, scheduled for Oct. 2-27.
• What is a synod? The word “synod” is rooted in Greek, meaning “same road” or “journeying.” A synod is a meeting of Church leaders and has a centuries-old history within Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches. It caught on in the Roman Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council, with bishops’ synods held every four years to discuss issues within the Church. The synod ultimately serves as a consultative body for the pope, with the Holy Father making the final decisions.
• Pope Francis has convened other synods about topics such as the family, young people and the Amazon. Before each gathering, the pope has asked bishops to hold local listening sessions in their dioceses, and he has invited laypeople to participate in the bishops’ meetings in Rome.
• The Synod on Synodality timeline: The process for this synod began in October 2021 and culminated with an assembly of bishops from all over the world, held in Rome in October 2023. The Archdiocese of St. Louis participated in the process using feedback from the All Things New Disciple Maker Index survey. Interviews, listening sessions and targeted surveys were synthesized and included in a local synod report.
• What came out of the 2023 global synod: A 41-page synthesis report summarizing discussions at the assembly noted that the Church may need more welcoming pastoral approaches, especially to people who feel excluded, but also acknowledged fears of betraying traditional Church teachings and practices. Among other topics addressed in the report were clerical sexual abuse, women’s roles in the Church, outreach to poor and the concept of “synodality” itself. The assembly’s discussions set the stage for a yearlong period of reflection, which will culminate in the second and final global Synod on Synodality in Rome this October.
• What does it mean to be a synodal Church? Pope Francis has been very consistent about how we encounter one another, and specifically how we encounter Christ in one another, Father Doyen said. “The work of becoming a synodal Church is how we as a Body of Christ relate to one another as disciples of Christ,” he said.
Read previous stories about the Synod of Bishops on Synodality at stlreview.com/435h1he