One theme heard during the Archdiocesan Pre-Synod Prayer and Listening Events in 2019 and 2020, attended by thousands of local Catholics, was a desire to better understand Church teaching. Boosting knowledge of Church teaching would also benefit preparations for the archdiocesan Synod in 2022.

So, with an extra year added to the pre-Synod process due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders decided to use that time to address needs that could be met before the 2022 Synod itself.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda

“We recognize that if we’re going to have fruitful conversation when we come together in our parishes and at the deanery level, and certainly at the Synod itself, we have to have some basic understanding of what the Church teaches in different areas,” said Archbishop Bernard Hebda of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

He said many people at the Prayer and Listening Events said they didn’t have the best catechetical formation in school.

“A number of people spoke about what a great blessing the Catechetical Institute is, but there seemed to be some major issues that would be helpful for us to discuss — just to enable us to go deeper in the discussion next year,” Archbishop Hebda said, referring to The St. Paul Seminary’s Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute, which provides adult formation programs. “So, we came up with four topics that we thought were responsive to some of those needs.”

The archbishop discussed the upcoming four-part Faith and Culture Series, which begins Jan. 20, during his appearance on the Jan. 15 “Practicing Catholic” radio show.

Dates, topics and speakers for the Faith and Culture series follow:

  • 20: “Sources of Catholic Teaching (Scripture, Tradition and Magisterium)” presented by Bill Stevenson
  • 27: “The Church’s Teaching on Sexual Morality and the Family” presented by Dave and Cathy Deavel
  • 4: “The Church’s Understanding on the Dignity of Women” presented by Helen Alvare
  • 9: “The Priesthood (both baptized and ordained)” presented by Sister Esther Mary Nickel.

Stevenson is a theology professor at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. One area of his expertise is systematic theology, Archbishop Hebda said, “but he speaks in a way that people understand.”

Speakers for the second session, Dave and Cathy Deavel, also hold doctorates and teach at the University of St. Thomas, in Catholic Studies and philosophy, respectively. They have a strong commitment to the Church, to family and to being pro-life, the archbishop said.

“But they’re able to articulate teaching because of their work as professors and they’ve certainly given this a lot of thought,” he said.

Helen Alvare is a law professor at George Mason University in Virgina with a theology degree from The Catholic University of America, and has spoken on behalf of the bishops and the Holy See, the archbishop noted. “She’s a great thinker, a great interlocutor,” he said, “and she understands this issue very deeply,” he said of her topic, the Church’s understanding of the dignity of women.

Sister Esther Mary Nickel, with doctoral degrees in liturgy and agronomy, is particularly well versed “on this question of the priesthood and … how it is that the laity and the ordained priests are able to carry forth the mission of the Church,” Archbishop Hebda said. Besides her work with seminarians at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver, he lauded her expertise in liturgy. She is a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan.

During each Prayer and Listening Event, Catholics from the archdiocese will also give testimonies, similar to the virtual Praying with Scripture and Healing and Hope series, which the archdiocese presented in September and October. Those speakers “have thought deeply about these questions as well,” the archbishop said. “Those testimonies (from last fall) were spectacular.”

“Practicing Catholic” is produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and broadcast on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. Archbishop Hebda will appear on Practicing Catholic once a month, as will Bishop Andrew Cozzens.

To register to attend the series live, visit archspm.org and search for Faith and Culture.

Other guest interviews on the Jan. 15 Practicing Catholic show are Katie Walker and Maddie Schulte, who described the March for Life, Youth and Family Conference, and Bill Stevenson, who discussed the sources of Catholic teaching.

Listen to their interviews after they have aired:

PracticingCatholicShow.com

soundcloud.com/practicingcatholic

Practicing Catholic on Spotify