CHURCH SOCIAL TIPS
In October, our church will begin the historic Synod on Synodality. This gathering of nearly 400 people will work to implement, according to a Vatican synod preparatory document, “synodality that entails receptivity to change, formation, and on-going learning. How does our church community form people to be more capable of walking together, listening to one another, participating in mission, and engaging in dialogue?”
One of the reasons this event will make history is that lay women and men will have a vote in deciding how the church responds to the challenges of ministry in a modern world. Oct. 4 is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi and one of the challenges we are facing is the environmental effects of climate change. The feast coincides with the release of the second part of “Laudato Si,” Pope Francis’ encyclical on the care of creation.
Above all, this is a spiritual event, of prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit who is the true guide for all the delegates. Pope Francis has invited all to join in a prayer vigil that will be live streamed from Rome Sept. 30. Visit the Vatican news website www.vaticannews.va/en or the synod website www.synod.va/en to watch it.
Here is a prayer that can be prayed during the synod:
Adsumus Sancte Spiritus
We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we gather together in Your name. With You alone to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts; Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it. We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder. Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path nor partiality influence our actions. Let us find in You our unity so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right. All this we ask of You, who are at work in every place and time, in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever. Amen.
A recent article in the National Catholic Reporter gives you an idea of some of the topics to be discussed, as summarized in a pre-synod document released in June by the Vatican’s synod office. See www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/synod-document-sets-stage-wide-ranging-debate-women-catholic-ministries-and
According to the National Catholic Reporter story, the more than 100 specific queries posed as a way of eliciting concrete responses to “questions of communion, mission and participation,” include the following:
- What concrete steps are needed to welcome remarried divorcees, people in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ persons, and others who feel excluded from the church?
- What reform in the church is necessary to enable a greater participation of women in governance and decision-making?
- Is it possible to envision women in the diaconate?
- Is there a way to open the possibility of priesthood for married men, at least in special circumstances?
- How should bishops solicit consultation, collaboration and participation in the decision-making processes of the people of God?
- How should the role of the pope and the exercise of his primacy evolve in a synodal church?”
Finally, you are invited by Pope Francis to attend a workshop about the synod on Sept. 30 and you may register here: together2023.net/themes-for-the-saturday-30-september-morning-workshops/
May God bless all the delegates and the future of our Holy Catholic Church.
Sherry Hayes-Peirce is a Catholic social media consultant based in southern California.
