Pope Francis recently called for a Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in 2023 that has become known as the Synod on Synodality: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.”

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis began its own Synod process in 2019, with Synod Small Group sessions presently taking place in parishes across the archdiocese, as another step in preparing for an Archdiocesan Synod assembly in St. Paul in June 2022.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda

Archbishop Bernard Hebda

Archbishop Bernard Hebda recently joined Maria Wiering, editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit, to talk about both synods for an upcoming episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show. Among other highlights, they discussed how information gathered during the Archdiocesan Synod will be useful for what the pope has requested in advance of the Vatican synod.

Pope Francis reminds the faithful that a synod comes from “that sense of journeying together,” the archbishop said.

“In his great letter to youth, he spoke about how we use the word synod in the Scriptures when we talk about the group that Mary and Joseph were in, on the way back and forth to Jerusalem, the time when Jesus was lost in the crowd,” Archbishop Hebda said. “But it’s that idea of a group of people moving together.”

In the Church context, the archbishop said, people are moving together with a particular end in mind. They are trying to discern what God wants from the Church, and how people can get there. Pope Francis’ emphasis on synodality is a way of calling those gifts forward in a more organized way, he said.

Pope Francis is asking each diocese in the world to participate, and to begin discussions on synodality, Archbishop Hebda said. The pope gives “some wonderful hints through the Office of the Synod of Bishops for how a diocese might do that — and the things we’ve already been doing,” he said.

The archbishop said he believes anyone who participated in the parish-based Synod Small Groups this fall likely will be prepared to engage in much the same way with the types of questions the Holy Father is asking the faithful to discuss.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Pope Francis has a strong interest in synods, the archbishop said. The pope is a Jesuit, an order whose charism emphasizes the important role of discernment.

“That’s what St. Ignatius was so famous for, his rules of discernment, and not just in making those major decisions in life, but also in just how we live every day, but always bringing the Holy Spirit into that kind of decision-making process,” the archbishop said.

The archdiocese will provide information on its progress to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops by April 2022. Archbishop Hebda said the archdiocese is blessed to be conducting its own Synod experience. “We already have some structures in place, some ways of being able to relate to one another, where we’re accustomed to listening and we’re accustomed to prayerfully discerning,” he said.

The archdiocese will be well positioned to move forward with the Holy Father’s agenda in a way that will provide helpful information to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and help the USCCB prepare for its own pre-synodal preparations at the continental level, Archbishop Hebda said.

“So, I think the idea is that those from the United States would be meeting with those from Canada, and that that information would be discerned at that point and also forwarded to Rome for the Synod of Bishops,” the archbishop said.

Mass Oct. 17

Archbishop Hebda will celebrate 5 p.m. Mass Oct. 17 at the Cathedral of St. Paul to acknowledge the archdiocese’s involvement in the worldwide synod process and to pray for the Holy Father’s process at the universal level, he said.

“But it’s also a moment for us to pray for a deepening of our efforts for our Archdiocesan Synod,” he said. “I really welcome it for both opportunities – to be able to focus on what it is that we’re doing and how it is that we’re doing it. In my mind, it’s really exciting.”

To hear the full interview, listen to this episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show. It airs at 9 p.m. Oct. 15, 1 p.m. Oct. 16 and 2 p.m. Oct. 17 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.

Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Nick Chalmers from the Mirandola Ensemble, who describes sacred choral music, and Deacon Mickey Friesen, who gives an overview of 50 years of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Venezuelan mission.

Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at:

PracticingCatholicShow.com

soundcloud.com/PracticingCatholic

tinyurl.com/PracticingCatholic (Spotify)