While Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are engaged in an Archdiocesan Synod, with Synod Small Groups currently underway, the archdiocese is also beginning its involvement in preparations for a Vatican synod, scheduled for 2023.

Pope Francis opened the Vatican synod with Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica Oct. 10, and he asked bishops around the world to offer Masses for the Vatican synod. Archbishop Bernard Hebda is celebrating a Mass in solidarity with the pope 5 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

The Cathedral Mass will pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the preparations for both the Vatican’s upcoming synod and the continued work of the local Archdiocesan Synod, Archbishop Hebda said. At the Mass, Catholics will have the opportunity to pray together for these important events in the local and universal Church, he said.

A synod is a formal representative assembly that helps a bishop lead the local Church. While it’s rooted in the councils of the early Church, its use as a process or event involving the laity has increased since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s called for its renewal.

From the beginning of the Archdiocesan Synod process in the archdiocese in 2019, Archbishop Hebda has emphasized listening as a key component. Its leaders have organized the Synod to include broad listening through 30 Prayer and Listening Events held throughout the archdiocese in 2019-2020. From the information gathered at those events, Archbishop Hebda discerned three focus areas around discipleship, evangelization, and youth and young adults in the Church. Now through mid-November, Catholics are meeting in their parishes for six small group sessions to examine, pray about and discuss how our local Church might respond to the needs highlighted by the focus areas.

That information will inform discussions on the deanery levels in January and February, and then the Synod Assembly, a gathering of parish representatives and Church leaders in June. From there, Archbishop Hebda plans to release a pastoral letter on the future of the archdiocese in November, followed by a pastoral plan in early 2023.

Some of the information collected for the Archdiocesan Synod will be applicable to what Pope Francis has requested from dioceses ahead of the Vatican synod, Archbishop Hebda said Oct. 6 in an interview for the Practicing Catholic radio show. The interview is scheduled to air Oct. 15 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.

For the 2023 Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, Pope Francis has chosen the topic: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission,” and the synod has become known as the “Synod on Synodality.”

As he has explained as part of the Archdiocesan Synod process, Archbishop Hebda said “synodality” means “journeying together,” and it takes the form of consultation rooted in prayerful discernment.

“Even though the history of synods stretches all the way back to the beginning of the Church, this discussion about consultation is something that’s extremely relevant in the Church post-Second Vatican Council,” he said, “because at the Second Vatican Council there was so much discussion about what flows from our baptism, this universal call to holiness, and how all people — not just priests, not just bishops, not just religious — all people, in virtue of their baptism, have something to contribute to the Church. Pope Francis’ emphasis on synodality is just a way of calling those gifts forward in a more organized way.”

The Oct. 17 Mass is an opportunity “to be praying for the whole process that the Holy Father has initiated on the universal level, but it’s also a moment for us to pray for a deepening of our efforts for our own Archdiocesan Synod. I really welcome it for both opportunities — to be able to be focus on what we’re doing and how it is that we’re doing it.”

WORLDWIDE SYNODS

In the past six years, Pope Francis has held two worldwide synods of bishops: a synod on the family in 2014 and 2015 and a synod on young people in 2018. Those synods led to the Church documents “Amoris Laetitia” and “Christus Vivit,” respectively. Prior to that, Pope Benedict XVI convened a synod on the new evangelization in 2012 and on proclaiming the word of God in 2011.

Unlike a Church council, which brings together all of the world’s bishops, the Synods of Bishops bring together bishops representing regions around the world to examine a topic together at the Vatican. Synods also can be held on regional levels to look at the needs of the Church in a particular area (such as the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region in 2019), or on diocesan levels, such as the Synod underway in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.