By Father Alfred Omar Guerrero
Special to the Herald
VATICAN CITY — “The church is called to walk together, to be synodal,” Pope Leo XIV said in his homily at the closing Mass for the Jubilee of the Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies on Oct. 26 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The three-day event, held Oct. 24–26, gathered more than 2,000 participants from diocesan, national and international synodal teams to reflect on how the church can deepen its commitment to communion, participation and mission.
Call to faith, hope and love
The Jubilee event kicked off with an opening Liturgy of the Word presided by Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod.
An inaugural session was held following the liturgy, featuring several speakers.
In his welcome address, Cardinal Grech reflected on living as the church that listens, discerns and walks together in light of the theological virtues of faith, hope and love.
He began with love: “In the context of synodality, love is not (a) passive sentiment; it is an active commitment to communion, even when the path is unclear or the conversations are difficult. Only love can make us stay at the table when understanding fails.”
Faith followed: “Faith sees the church as it is — its vitality and its wounds, its traditions and its tensions, its unity and its polarizations.
“In a synodal journey, this means beginning with radical listening: to all the people of God, to the cries of the marginalized, and to the wisdom embedded in tradition. Faith anchors us in truth, and truth is the only soil in which genuine transformation can grow.”
Cardinal Grech ended with the virtue of hope: “In the synodal journey, hope sustains us along the delicate and strenuous path of discernment and conversion.”
Dialogue with Pope Leo
The first session went a little longer than expected, so Pope Leo wasted no time for his encounter-dialogue with us Jubilee participants. He entered from the side rather than the expected long aisle of the Paul VI Audience Hall.
Following the introduction by Congregation of Xavieres Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod, seven representatives from various parts of the world and the Council of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs each presented a report and posed a question to the Holy Father.
Representing the North America region of the world, Bishop Alain Fauber of the Diocese of Valleyfield in Canada reported that, “in the United States, the vibrant reception of synodal structures and styles in many local dioceses is a notable sign of hope. … At the same time, it is clear that during the implementation phase, under the guidance of the local bishops, we must continue to focus on formation of laity and clergy (with the) aims of increased participation and strengthened communion for the sake of the mission in parishes and for diocesan pastoral agents.”
Pilgrimage, workshops
On Oct. 25, we participated in a Jubilee pilgrimage into St. Peter’s Basilica by way of passage through the Holy Door. At the end of the pilgrimage, we broke into language groups and engaged in a “Conversation in the Spirit” — a process of active listening and speaking from the heart.
I was assigned to the diocesan and national synodal leaders of the English-speaking countries group.
In the afternoon, various workshops and seminars were offered for the synodal teams. The sessions in which I took part emphasized synodality as the spirituality of communion, where all are invited to accompany each other in authentic conversion as we live closer to Christ and are sent out as missionary disciples. This requires a shift in our mindset, as well as humility and openness.
Closing Mass
The last day of the Jubilee ended with Mass with Pope Leo in St. Peter’s Basilica. This was a personal highlight of the trip because I was able to concelebrate Mass with the pope and see him up close, along with hundreds of bishops, priests, deacons and thousands of laypersons who spilled over into the square.
A graced experience of communion
After the Jubilee, I joined a group of pilgrims representing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs on my last two full days in Rome. Faith Leasiolagi, a Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa parishioner, was also part of the group.
We visited the village and home of St. Maria Goretti in Nettuno, ending the day with Mass at the Pontifical Basilica of Our Lady of Grace and St. Maria Goretti over her tomb.
On the final full day, I joined the group in a private audience with Cardinal Grech at the General Secretariat of the Synod Office.
After introducing ourselves to the cardinal, we engaged in synodal dialogue. He said that the “synodal path is simply coming together with a purpose to discern what the Holy Spirit wants for the church.”
I am grateful for the opportunity to represent the Diocese of Honolulu at the Jubilee of the Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies. Synodality is not a technique but a spiritual experience of walking together in discernment and mission.
Father Alfred Omar Guerrero is director of the diocesan offices of Worship and Vocations.
Above: Faith Leasiolagi and Father Alfred Omar Guerrero were part of a group representing the USCCB’s Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs. (Courtesy Father Alfred Omar Guerrero)