I was grateful to receive from the Vatican last week the “Vademecum for the Synod on Synodality: Official Handbook for Listening and Discernment in Local Churches.” I welcomed the document not only because it outlines the way in which our archdiocese can participate in the preparations for the 2023 Synod of Bishops in Rome, which will be focused on synodality, but also because it confirms the thrust of our local efforts these past two years as we have been preparing for our Archdiocesan Synod.
The Vademecum reminds us that “synodality is not so much an event or a slogan as a style and a way of being by which the Church lives out her mission in the world. The mission of the Church requires the entire People of God to be on a journey together, with each member playing his or her crucial role, united with each other. A synodal Church walks forward in communion to pursue a common mission through the participation of each and every one of her members.”
Archbishop Bernard Hebda
Our Archdiocesan Synod has been a way for us to take the first steps toward adopting the synodal “style” and “way of being” that Pope Francis has so insightfully set forth for the Church. It has energized me. The participation of so many in our Prayer and Listening Events and the number of those who have come for the training sessions to assist in the small group parish consultation process that will be starting later this month both give me great hope that the Holy Spirit is indeed at work in our archdiocese.
Given that we are aiming to enable the participation of all who desire to be involved in the Synod, I hope that you will be generous in offering your time for this extraordinary effort. I realize that a commitment of six weeks is a “big ask,” but I am confident that the fruits will more than justify the investment of your time. Please check with your parish to see how and when you can participate, and bring some friends (particularly if they are no longer actively involved at the parish).
I am also hoping that many of you will also be able to join us at the Cathedral of St. Paul on Oct. 17 at 5 p.m. for the Mass that Pope Francis has directed us to celebrate in communion with him and dioceses throughout the world to liturgically mark the beginning of the synodal consultation he has asked us to embrace. As it finds us midway through our Parish Small Group consultation, I would imagine that our celebration will be particularly joy-filled and our prayers well-focused.
While some have voiced disappointment that we are having to engage in this effort at a very challenging time, given the resurgence of COVID in some of our communities, I nonetheless continue to receive spiritual confirmation that the Lord is really blessing our Church at this moment in a way that calls us to even greater generosity. Allow me to share with you some of the encouraging signs that I have witnessed in these recent weeks.
I recently had the opportunity to celebrate the opening Mass for this year’s crop of missionaries for NET Ministries. I am amazed that more than 150 young people have stepped forward to give a year of their time to serving the Church as full-time volunteers in the work of evangelization. Most of them will be heading out in teams to offer retreats to high school and junior high students across our country. As our Archdiocesan Synod discusses missionary discipleship, evangelization and youth and young adult ministries, we will be blessed to be able to draw upon the experience of NET Ministries, a lay-led ministry that has its origins here in St. Paul.
Equally inspiring was my experience at the opening Mass at the University of St. Thomas, where students packed the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on campus. The prayer was fervent and the energy obvious. I was stunned that many of those students came back a day later to join young adults from around the Archdiocese for Cor Jesu, the monthly evening of eucharistic adoration and confessions hosted at the St. Paul Seminary. If you ever need a spiritual boost, I encourage you to come for Cor Jesu, which is held the first Friday evening of each month.
Our seminaries continue to be a source of great hope. It was recently a great pleasure to install one of our priests, Father Jon Kelly, as the new rector at St. John Vianney College Seminary. The packed chapel that morning, with students drawn from 16 dioceses, illustrated why SJV is presently engaged in a building project that will not only provide a larger chapel but also other space to meet the formational needs of college seminarians in 2021.
At The St. Paul Seminary, the overall enrollment of seminarians experienced an uptick of nearly 25%, reflecting great confidence in the formation offered at our major seminary. The increase was notable when I recently celebrated the opening Mass there. Sixteen of the new men are pioneers in the propaedeutic program, requested by the Vatican to help with discernment and to prepare students to be open to the formation offered in a formal seminary program. Knowing how I am tied to my cellphone and computer, I am eager to see how these pioneers do with the “technology detox” that is an important element of their program.
The increase in seminarians is only one indicator of the Holy Spirit’s work in our archdiocese. Enrollment of lay students in The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity continues to be strong, representing approximately half of those studying for degrees at the institution. The seminary’s Catechetical Institute, moreover, will be serving 450 adult students this year. I am excited to think about the ministry these women and men will be offering to our Church in the days to come.
The importance of well-formed laity was particularly evident at the recent evening prayer service for racial justice at St. Peter Claver parish on the occasion of their patronal feast. Bishop Cozzens and I were delighted to participate, but it was really the phenomenal gospel choir and the insights from the three lay speakers that carried the day. The testimonies were both challenging and inspiring.
Please continue to pray for the success of our Synod, for the young people who serve as missionaries in our archdiocese and elsewhere, for the students in our local universities, for the seminarians at our two seminaries, for their many peers in formation for consecrated life here in the archdiocese, and for the many members of the lay faithful who are preparing for ministry or already serving our parishes and schools.
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