Archbishop Bernard Hebda expressed his gratitude June 10 for parish staff and other lay ecclesial ministers, especially for their support for the Prayer and Listening Events of 2019-2020 that launched the 2022 Synod process underway.

“There was a tangible spirit of excitement that surrounded those events,” he said, speaking at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, where about 100 parish staff members and clergy gathered in-person for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. About another 150 parish staff members and clergy virtually joined the event, “Reconnect and Journey Forward Together.”

In his presentation and a Q&A session that followed, Archbishop Hebda updated the lay ecclesial ministers on the Synod process and clarified questions and concerns. He noted that Pope Francis recently asked dioceses around the world to engage in a Synod process this fall, which Archbishop Hebda finds affirming.

“We’ve been blessed that we’ve had a couple of years to prepare” through the 2022 Synod process, he said. “I really get inspired personally by what he has said about the importance of us being a ‘listening Church,’ so we can hear and respond to the needs of our day, that’s rooted in prayer and guided by the Holy Spirit. … Through you, I have confidence that the Holy Spirit desires to speak to this local Church, to speak to and through his people.”

Archbishop Hebda emphasized the importance of the Parish Consultation with Small Groups scheduled to happen at each parish this fall and the role of parish leaders and staff in their success. Over the course of six gatherings, Catholics will have the opportunity to explore and discuss the Synod’s three focus areas Archbishop Hebda identified last year: 1) Forming parishes that are in the service of evangelization, 2) Forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’s love and respond to his call, and 3) Forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young.

The six, two-hour small groups will be held weekly between Sept. 19 and Nov. 14. Each parish will determine its own small group schedule within that timeframe. Participants will complete an individual feedback form through a trained scribe. The information will be provided anonymously to the parish and to Archbishop Hebda.

In January and February, pastors and parish representatives will meet to learn, pray and discuss the focus areas, informed by the ideas and information gathered through the parish small groups. In June 2022, approximately 500 delegates from around the archdioceses will gather to further dive into the topic areas, informed by the parish and deanery events, and make recommendations on the three topic areas to Archbishop Hebda. Based on that feedback, the archbishop anticipates issuing a pastoral letter in November 2022, followed by a Pastoral Plan that will direct the work of the local Church for its immediate future.

“There are lots of ways that one could get to such a plan,” he said. “Some of those procedures might even be quicker, faster than what we’re doing. They might even seem more efficient than a Synod process. But in my own prayer and observation, I have come to realize that in the context of our archdiocese … in this point of our history, it is the best way to reach my ultimate goal of the process: to discern and establish clear pastoral priorities in a way that promotes greater unity and leads us to a more vigorous proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ in our Church.”

During the event, participants got a taste of what it will feel like to participate in the fall small groups. They viewed a video prepared for the small groups and discussed its themes with others at their table or virtual break-out room.

Archbishop Hebda said he realizes that the Synod’s three focus areas might seem predictable, but he anticipates “proposals for concrete action will emerge.”

“I’m convinced that the potential abounds when we put our heads and hearts together and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us,” he said. “The place where we begin to find those bold ideas comes in our parish. The parish is where the rubber hits the road for our Church, and particularly in sessions in which all Catholics will have a voice in the discussion.”