This fall, Catholics across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are invited to join small groups at their parish to discuss issues important to the local church in preparation for the Archdiocesan Synod in June 2022.
Therese Coons, director of the Synod’s executive committee, told Patrick Conley, host of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show, that a pastoral plan for the archdiocese will be developed through the Synod process.
Therese Coons
In 2019 and 2020, Archbishop Bernard Hebda hosted Prayer and Listening Sessions across the archdiocese to gather input on challenges and opportunities facing the local Church. Last year, he announced three areas that the upcoming synod would address: Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization; forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call; and forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young. This fall, Catholics will come together to discuss those topics in small group formats over six weeks.
As the fall’s Synod small group meetings draw near, pastors have chosen about 1,300 Synod ambassadors who coordinate prayer, invitation and communication at their parish, Coons said. Pastors also have been asked to assign two small group process managers, who oversee the small group process at their parish.
Archbishop Hebda is encouraging people to listen to each other and to the Holy Spirit, Coons said. His vision throughout the Synod process has been one of “a listening Church,” she said.
“We’re listening to one another, and that’s where the small groups come in,” Coons said.
“The wonderful thing about small groups is you get to hear from people at your table what they’re thinking, and all of us have something valuable to add to the conversation,” she added. “All of us have a lens through which we’re seeing life. And I think it’s always valuable to hear other people’s perspective, and it makes you think about your own opinions on things.”
Coons said she finds small groups inspirational and fun. “I think anybody who makes that leap of faith and actually does this will find the same thing,” she said.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the pre-synod process timeline, but it allowed more time for teaching, based on what people shared during the Prayer and Listening Sessions. During the past year, four Synod series were offered virtually: Praying with Scripture, Healing and Hope, Faith and Culture, and Synod at Home. Each series is available on the archdiocese’s website.
To hear the entire interview, tune in to this episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show at 9 p.m. April 23 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. It also airs at 1 p.m. April 24 and 2 p.m. April 25.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Father Tad Pacholczyk, a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, who discusses the ethics of COVID vaccines; and a speech by Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who addressed the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s Catholics at the Capitol event April 15. Archbishop Gomez’s address also can be found at catholicsatthecapitol.com.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired:
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